Tide 12th of 30 After Opening Round at NCAA Golf

WILLIAMSBURG, VA. ?? The No. 3 ranked and third-seeded University of Alabama men’s golf team opened play Wednesday at the 2007 NCAA Golf Championships, shooting 4-over par, 284, in the opening round. The Crimson Tide is among a four-way tie for 12^th with Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Tulsa.

Stanford emerged as the first round leader, shooting 5-under, 275. Coastal Carolina is second at 3-under, 277, followed by Florida, Minnesota and Texas all at 278, Charlotte, 279, ETSU, 280, Georgia, 282, Michigan State, UCLA and Florida State, 283, Alabama, Tulsa, Vanderbilt and Tennessee, 284, Lamar, 285, Georgia State and Arizona State, 286, Oklahoma State, 287, Georgia Tech and Louisville, 288, North Carolina and Southern Cal, 289, Arizona, 290, South Carolina, 291, New Mexico and Texas Tech, and Wake Forest, 293, Duke, 294, and Auburn, 295.

The 72-hole tournament began on Wednesday and continues through Saturday. It is being played at the par 70 Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va., a 6,803 yards layout. Thirty teams are among the field. The NCAA held three regional qualifiers, each with a field of 27, to narrow the finals field to these 30 teams competing for the national championship.

Stanford’s Rob Grube is the early leader, opening at 6-under, 64. Alabama has two men tied at 27^th at even par, Joseph Sykora and Matthew Swan. Two more, Michael Thompson and Gator Todd are 2-over and among a tie at 65^th. And Alabama’s Mark Harrell is 4-over, 74, and T-1007^th.

“Gator (Todd) got off to a really fast start today which was carrying us for a while, and then everybody kind of settled down after that,” said Crimson Tide head coach Jay Seawell. “We had a solid round. We shot four over today on a day that was kind of indifferent, especially when Gator played the back nine. This is a four leg tournament. There are four rounds. We usually play three, so it’s a little longer so we’ll learn from our mistakes today and try to make a few more birdies tomorrow and try to get back in this thing.”

Todd was leading the entire field through his first nine holes, making the turn at four under par. Alabama, playing in the afternoon wave with top-ranked and top-seeded Georgia and Tulsa, started out on No. 10. Todd’s first nine holes played found him opening the day with two straight birdies on holes 10 and 11. He birdied 13 and 14 as well. After he made the turn at four under, he shot par in the first two holes but bogeyed No. 3, a par 3. And then he double bogeyed holes 4, 7 and 9 in a back nine holes that included only one birdie for the junior from Florence. He finished the round at 2-over par, 72.

“I think this course suits all the teams if they learn to plot around the golf course,” said Seawell. “It’s not a straightforward golf course and it’s got a lot of indecisive shots in there and you’ve got to really get used to it. What I hope will happen to our team is that we will be a little more decisive in our decision making, trust the club we’re using and yardages and when you do that, if you can get yourself in the fairway, there are a lot of birdies to be made.”

Two Tide golfers opened at even par, Matthew Swan of Montgomery and Daphne’s Joseph Sykora.

“I think the team played alright today but I think we can certainly play a lot better, and we’re going to have to play better if we’re going to win this week,” said Sykora who shot 70. “I think we showed a lot of good things. Gator started off really well. Didn’t close, of course, how he probably wanted to. I think Swan and I played alright and hung in there. I think the golf course sets up well for us. I know it sets up well for me. I think we’ll play better tomorrow (Thursday), hopefully, and hit a few more fairways. I think we’re in good shape. We’re not maybe where we wanted to be but we’re right in the middle of things. So that’s good.”

Sykora opened by birdying the first hole then parred the next eight. He turned at one under. On the backside he bogeyed hole No. 1, birdied No. 6 and bogeyed No. 7.

Swan’s round included three birdies on Nos. 4, 6, and 9.

“We played pretty well,” said Swan. “We’d liked to have done better but overall it was a good start. We didn’t shoot ourselves out of it and that’s kind of the main thing for a tournament like this that’s over four days. You just try to play well and kind of stay relaxed the first few days and don’t shoot yourselves out of it. I felt like I played pretty well. Kind of had some trouble at the start but I had a lot of pars and made some birdies coming in so, for me personally, it left me feeling kind of good about the rest of the days.”

Alabama played in the afternoon round on Wednesday, starting out at 11:12 a.m. CT at No. 10. For Thursday’s second round, Alabama, again playing with Georgia and Tulsa, tees off from the No. 1 tee at 6 a.m. CT or 7 a.m. Williamsburg time, a timeslot that suits Seawell just fine.

“I love our tee times,” said Seawell Wednesday after Alabama finished its opening round play. “We’ve just finished the first round. It’s almost 6 o’clock now. We’ll go get something to eat, go to bed and get up at 5, have breakfast at 5:30 and start playing. The greens will be perfect. It’ll be a little bit cooler, a little less wind, a little more scoring conditions first thing tomorrow morning.”

University of Alabama Athletics

Tide 12th of 30 After Opening Round at NCAA Golf

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