Tide Golf Team Opens Spring Season in Gainesville Saturday
2/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
 |
|
TUSCALOOSA – The low temperatures and rain in Tuscaloosa over the last couple of weeks have not made for good golfing conditions. In fact, there have been a couple of days when area courses were closed because of the cold.
So the University of Alabama men’s golf team has had to brave cold weather and, upon occasion, sit out when they’d planned to be on the golf course. But, ready or not, the Crimson Tide opens its 2003 spring season this weekend at the University of Florida’s SunTrust Gator Invitational.
“The weather lately hasn’t been conducive to practice,” said first year Tide coach Jay Seawell who came on board in September, just days before the start of the fall season. “But I am excited to get back to competition. It’s been a long time since October (when Alabama last competed).”
The tournament, hosted by the Gators, will be held at University Golf Course. Play begins Saturday with a long day of golf, two rounds of 18 hole championship play. The third and final round is Sunday.
The 16 teams in the field include Alabama, UAB, Augusta State, College of Charleston, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, North Florida, Ohio State, Purdue, South Florida and Vanderbilt.
“It’s a good field to start out after a layoff,” said Seawell. “There’s a good mix of teams. On the stronger side you have the host, Florida, is on their home track and they’ve got a great team. So you have to be very prepared. And then Augusta State is going to be there and they’re going to be the number one or two ranked team in the country. So you’ve got those two amid a solid field. I think it’s going to be a great training ground for the rest of the year.”
The five golfers representing Alabama in the tournament include Lars Brovold, Clint Provost, Daniel Creel, Austin Hynson and Mac Butler.
Alabama played three fall tournaments—a fourth at LSU was cancelled because of heavy rains---and had two top five finishes out of the three events. The team was led by Brovold who, along with Provost, played all three tournaments. Brovold was the team’s fall low stroke leader with a 70.75 average that included a school record low round score of 63.
Seawell, who was both getting to know and seeing his team play for the first time in the fall, was pleased with his men’s production.
“I liked our attitude. I felt like our guys really believed that they could play. I think we’re starting to get that in their mindset. I really like their attitude, their work on trying to make this a powerhouse team. The things I worry about---our short game. I think as a coach you worry about that all the time anyway. We need to start chipping and putting a lot better because that’s what wins golf tournaments. So I’m a little bit worried about our short game. We haven’t had the best weather in the world to practice it.”
Alabama’s start this weekend will be followed by another break in play. Its second spring tournament is March 7-9 at the UNLV Invitational in Las Vegas.
