Women's Golf Hoping to Continue Winning Ways in Tennessee
10/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
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The Alabama women’s golf team will return to action this weekend after a well-earned layoff following the Tide’s stunning come-from-behind victory at their own Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate in late September. Alabama will compete in the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Knoxville, Tenn., on Oct. 21-23.
“I wish we had gotten only one week off after winning our tournament,” Hall-of-Fame head coach Mic Potter said. “But it gave us a chance to make some improvements and play a lot of golf in the meantime, so hopefully that will translate to better play this weekend.”
The 14-team field at the Mercedes-Benz Championship includes some of the best in the nation. Thirteen of the 14 are ranked in the most recent Golfweek/Sagarin polls, while six of the teams in competition are placed in the top 20.
Among these are SEC rivals Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee. The Razorbacks are the highest-ranked team in the field with a No. 3 rating. Georgia stands at No. 4 and the host-Lady Volunteers are 19th in the polls.
“In the SEC Georgia and Tennessee are both very good teams and Arkansas is playing extremely well,” Potter said.” This is always a strong field and a great tournament. We have to do our best job on the golf course and save shots when we can in order to have a chance.”
Several of the nation’s best players will be competing at the event as well. Heading the pack is Alabama’s own Jenny Suh, a pre-season top 10 selection by Golfweek. Georgia’s Whitney Wade and Taylor Leon, as well as Arkansas’ Courtney Mahon, all ranked in the nation’s top 20 individual polls, will also likely be in contention for the individual title at the Mercedes-Benz Championship.
"Jenny is playing a lot better going into this tournament than she had going into the last tournament,” Potter said. “I think she’s gotten settled down in Tuscaloosa, so that helps. More importantly, she is a little more confident with her putter. She hit the ball very well at the Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate, but didn’t putt as well as she is capable of. Hopefully that will continue to get better for her in Tennessee. ”
The Tide will compete at this weekend’s event for the seventh time in school history. Alabama has struggled at the event in recent years. The Tide’s best showing at the Mercedes-Benz Championship came with a sixth-place finish in 1998.
The last time the Crimson Tide captured back-to-back team titles at an event was in the 1988-89 season, when Alabama won the Susie Maxwell Berning Classic and the Gulf Shores Invitational in consecutive outings.
Alabama is slated to tee-off at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 21. The three-day event is scheduled to feature 18 holes of play on each day of competition, with the concluding round scheduled to be played on Sunday, Oct. 23.
