Tide Men's Golfers Head to SEC Championships
4/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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TUSCALOOSA – The University of Alabama men’s golf team has a quest two-fold this weekend. Alabama will not only chase the Southeastern Conference’s championship title but will also play to remove its status as a bubble team for the May 2004 NCAA Championships.
The Crimson Tide is one of 12 teams who will gather at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course in St. Simons, Ga., this weekend to compete for league honors. Joining the Tide in the title quests for team and individual league honors will be Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. One of those teams, Florida, is the No. 1 ranked team in the country, and Georgia, at No. 4, South Carolina at No. 12, Arkansas at No. 20 and Kentucky at No. 24 are all ranked among the Top 25 in the Sagarin/Golfweek.com Top 25 and LSU, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are receiving rankings votes. Those five teams are also ranked in the Top 25 in this week’s Golf Coaches Association of America/Precept Coaches Poll.
Teams will have a practice round on Thursday, April 15. The 54-hole tournament begins with the first round on Friday and continues through Sunday. It marks the fourth consecutive year the championships have been played at Seaside.
“It’s my favorite time of year, the postseason” said second year Alabama men’s golf coach Jay Seawell. “One of the main reasons I came to Alabama was to get a chance to play in the SEC Championship, and a chance to bring that back to the University of Alabama is what gets me excited.
“We’re playing pretty good right now. The University of Florida is the best team in the country, something they’ve proven all year and the rankings are acknowledging, so we’re going to have to play very well to dethrone them. But that’s why you play the game. That’s what makes it exciting. Anything can happen starting on Friday. And I think we’re playing well enough and we’re talented enough that if we put it together for three days with no margins of error than we can give it a run.”
Alabama’s golfers have been led for the past two seasons by Lars Brovold. Owner of a 72.91 four-year career stroke average in 44 tournaments at Alabama, Brovold’s is playing the best golf of his career this season. His stroke average is 71.38 after 32 rounds. In his 11 tournaments played this season, he’s won one championship, finished second in two more, including a 13-under-par finish among a field full of All-Americans and nationally ranked teams at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate. Brovold has six top 10 finishes this season and has only strayed out of the Top 25 once in his 11 tournaments.
He will be among the contenders vying for the league’s individual championship.
“Lars has had a fantastic year,” says Seawell. “Winning the league’s championship would be a great way to cap off a great four-year career here. We’ll see what happens, but he is ready. He is prepared and he could make a run for the individual crown for sure.”
Powering the Tide along with Brovold will be junior Clint Provost who finished eighth as a sophomore in the SEC Championships. Provost and Brovold are the only two golfers who have competed in all 11 tournaments for Alabama this year. Provost has a 73.63 stroke average this season and has two top three career finishes, including his recent third place finish at four under par at the March 12-14 Conrad Rehling Spring Invitational. Austin Hynson has been among Alabama’s playing five in eight tournaments this season and has a 75.47 career stroke average in his four seasons at Alabama. Sophomore Lance Walker has competed in seven tournaments and has a 76.05 stroke average this season and has four top 25 career finishes in his two seasons at Alabama. And freshman Max Alverio will make his first appearance in the league championships. His first season of college golf has found him averaging 76.38 with a best finish of 13th at the Tulane Invitational on February 10th.
“We need to have a good SEC Championship showing to get into the (NCAA) regionals,” said Seawell. “We’re a bubble team. If we play well at the Southeastern Conference Championships, we’re going to go, and if we don’t, we’re going to have to rely on the (NCAA) committee and you don’t want to have to do that. You don’t want to have to wait it out, you want to play your way in and leave no question.
“They’re (Alabama) good. They’re much better than we were after the fall. We were dead in the water and all of a sudden we’ve got a pulse. So if we play well this weekend, we’ve got a great chance to move on to the NCAA’s.”
