Gator Todd Collects Another Top 5 Finish
10/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
JONESBOROUGH, TENN. ?? Florence’s Gator Todd shot 73-74-69/216 to finish at even par and collect his fourth top 15 finish of the season Sunday at The Bank of Tennessee at the Ridges Intercollegiate. His play helped pace the University of Alabama to a fourth-place finish among a field of 15 teams that included 11 ranked teams.
Alabama shot 304-290-281/875 to finish at 11 over par, overcoming a rough opening round Saturday morning where it shot 16 over par under windy conditions where the morning round play was delayed by frost. Alabama came out in Sunday’s third round and shot seven under par, the day’s low round, allowing it to pull within six strokes of the tournament champion, Tennessee. The 10th-ranked Vols’ Philip Pettitt birdied on the final hole to break a tied with ETSU to win, shooting 294-290-285/869, a five over par finish. Host team East Tennessee State was second (870), followed by North Carolina (874), Alabama (875), Wake Forest (882), Auburn (884), South Carolina (885), Kent State and Virginia (891), North Carolina State (892), TCU (893), Virginia Tech (894), UAB (896), Pepperdine (913) and Kentucky (934).
ETSU’s two-time All-American Rhys Davies was the tournament’s medalist for the second year in a row, finishing at five under par on the par 72 The Ridges Golf and Country Club course and carding round scores of 71-69-71/211 for a three shot win over Tennessee’s Pettitt (73-69-72/214).
Todd had Alabama’s best finish, tying for fifth place. It was the fourth top five career finish for the Tide junior, the second top five finish this season as he finished fifth at the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate on September 26. In his other two tournament appearances this season, Todd finished T-9th at the Carpet Capital Collegiate and T-14th at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate.
Joining Todd in the top 10 was his teammate Michael Thompson who collected his third top 10 finish in four tournaments this season, his first with the Tide. Thompson finished seventh, shooting 77-68-72/217, one over par. Mark Harrell finished T-13th at four over par, carding round scores of 78-72-70/220. Joseph Sykora finished T-21st, shooting 76-76-70/222, and Thomas Hagler finished T-67th, shooting 79-78-75/232.
After playing four tournaments between September 15 and October 15, Alabama now gets a break. Its next and final fall event will be November 22-23 in Hawai’i at The Aloha Purdue Classic. Alabama has won three of its four fall tournaments.
