Tide Golfers Head To Arizona's National Invitational Tournament
3/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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TUSCALOOSA – The University of Alabama men’s golf team will travel to Tucson, Arizona this weekend to test its mettle against a field peppered with teams from the West when it competes at the National Invitational Tournament March 30-April 1.
The tournament, which kicks off with Saturday’s practice round followed by Sunday’s opening round, is being held at the Tucson National Golf Course, a par 72 with a layout of 7,138 yards. The tournament will use the same set up the course uses for its PGA Tour stop, the Chrysler Classic of Tucson.
The five players who will make up Alabama’s team in the tournament include Lars Brovold (71.59 stroke average), Clint Provost (73.64), Wesley Pate (73.18), Lance Walker (73.60) and Mac Butler (74.56).
The field of 15 teams features nine teams that are nationally ranked in the current Precept/Golf Coaches Association of American Top 25 and eight 2002 NCAA Championship team participants. The field includes seven golfers who are nominated for this year’s Ben Hogan Award which is given annually to college golf’s top student-athlete.
Among the teams Alabama will compete against are host Arizona, Arizona State, Houston, Kent State, Minnesota, New Mexico, Northwestern, Pepperdine, Texas Christian, Texas, Tulsa, UNLV, Southern California and Washington.
The National Invitational Tournament begins a busy final regular season stretch for the Crimson Tide. Within a couple of days of returning from Arizona, Alabama will be back on the road to compete in the April 5-6 August State Invitational followed by the regular season finale’ at Auburn’s Billy Hitchcock Invitational April 11-12. Alabama and the 11 other Southeastern Conference Schools will gather in Sea Island, Ga., for the April 25-27 SEC Championships, and then the Crimson Tide will hope to receive a bid to the NCAA Championships which begin with regionals on May 15.
It’s a stretch that Alabama head coach Jay Seawell is looking forward to for this team that has had three top four finishes out of its six tournaments this season.
“We’re looking forward to competing at the National Invitational Tournament,” said Seawell who is in his first season with the Tide. “Anytime you go to Arizona to play golf, you can look forward to a good trip because the weather is perfect for golf. It’s a good field and another good mix of teams for us to compete against. This is the start of our home stretch. This is a chance for us to compete against teams from the West which is important because if we go to the NCAA Championships, we are going to have to compete there against these teams.”
The tournament format includes 18 holes of competitive golf through Tuesday’s third and final round. Texas is the tournament’s defending champion.
