TUSCALOOSA ?? The University of Alabama golf team won its fourth tournament victory out of six played so far this season on Tuesday, but the celebration has ended as a quest for championship number five begins on Sunday.
Alabama, which dropped from No. 1 to No. 4 this week in the Golf World/NIKE Golf Coaches Association Poll and is ranked No. 6 in the GolfWeek Sagarin Rankings, will be in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico competing in the February 25-27 Puerto Rico Classic. The tournament, which begins on Sunday at the 6,945-yard, par 72 River Course at the Rio Mar Golf Club at the Westin Rio Mar Beach Resort, is hosted by Purdue. Fifteen of the 18 teams in the field, including Alabama, are ranked in GolfWeek’s Top 50 including five of the top six ranked teams. Georgia, ranked No. 5in both polls, is the tournament’s defending champion.
Competing along with Alabama will be No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Georgia, No. 6 Alabama, No. 12 Clemson, No. 16 East Tennessee State, No. 19 Georgia Tech, No. 22 Texas, No. 23 Duke and No. 28 Minnesota as well as Purdue, Northwestern, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Kent State, Illinois and Michigan.
Alabama won the John Hayt Collegiate Championship held at Sawgrass Country Club earlier this week to tie the school record with four single season team victories.
