Alabama Misses Final Round Cut at NCAA Championships
6/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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OWINGS MILLS, MD. – The good news? There are 289 Division I schools that field a men’s golf team, only 30 of which advanced to the 2005 NCAA Championships, and the University of Alabama was one of those 30-best teams in collegiate golf.
The bad news? The Crimson Tide will have to wait until next year for a title. Alabama did not make the final round cut of 15 teams after 54 holes Friday evening at the championships held here at Owings Mills, Maryland’s Caves Valley Golf Club.
The best news? This Alabama golf team that played its way into the championships should only improve as three of the five who played in all 13 spring tournaments for Alabama are freshman, and four of the five who competed here are underclassmen who will be back to compete for the Tide again next season.
Alabama was in contention to make the cut after 36 holes Thursday when it was among a tie for 17th place at 24 over par among a field where only one team out of the 30, leader Georgia, was still under par after 36 holes. But on Friday the course and the conditions out-played the Tide’s golfers. Steady rain and temperatures in the low 60’s sent every team, including Georgia, into the plus side. The Bulldogs went from two under after two rounds to 15 over par after three rounds. Alabama, which shot 11 over, 291, in the first round and 13 over, 293, in round two, stumbled in the third round, shooting 33 over par as a team, 313. Even Tennessee, a team that did make the final cut, shot 33 over par on Friday. Alabama’s individual round scores included five triple bogeys. As teams are allowed to toss out the high round and count only four of the five scores, Alabama had to count an 80 on Friday.
The day was not without its highlights, however. Daphne’s Joseph Sykora eagled No. 7, sending the ball into the cup in three shots on the par 5 hole.
In the 54-hole standings, Alabama’s Mark Harrell finished T-42nd (70-72-78/220). Sykora was T-85th (74-73-78/225), Clint Provost, the team’s lone senior, was T-105th (73-73-81/227), Gator Todd was T-114th (74-77-77/228) and Thomas Hagler was T-126th (75-75-80/230).
While Alabama did not make the final cut, two teams coached by former Tide golfers did. Tennessee, coached by Jim Kelson, is T-12th. And, in just his second year as head coach there, former Tide golfer and assistant coach Matt Clark is now two-for-two as a head coach in not only advancing his Georgia State golf team to the team finals but has now made the final cut two straight years as Georgia State goes into the final round T-10th.
Georgia, which shot 17 over par on Friday, is the tournament’s leader (274-284-297/855). Also making the cut for the final 15, in order, are Georgia Tech (864), Southern California (875), UNLV (876), Duke, Arizona State, Washington, Kentucky and Augusta State (all at 877), Georgia State and Brigham Young (879), New Mexico and Tennessee (880), top-ranked Oklahoma State (882) and Georgia Southern (883).
The next 15, in order, were Wake Forest (884), Arizona (885), Florida and Stanford (888), Missouri and Coastal Carolina (890), SMU (892), San Diego State (893), Texas, Texas A&M and Arkansas (894), Purdue (895), Alabama (291-293-313/897), Tulsa (899) and UCLA (903).
Pepperdine’s Michael Putnam leads the pack for the second day at three under par. He shot three over on the par 70 course Friday, coupling that with two 67’s in the first and second rounds and is three under par, 207, going into the final championship round. He leads Georgia Tech’s Roberto Castro (69-68-71/208) and Augusta State’s Major Manning (65-70-73/208) by a stroke.
