Men's Golf Notes: NCAA Regionals
5/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 18, 2010
Men's Golf Notes: NCAA New Haven Regional 
Crimson Tide Headed to Connecticut for NCAA Regional
The Crimson Tide men's golf team makes its sixth straight trip to the NCAA postseason and its seventh in the last eight years under head coach Jay Seawell. The 2010 New Haven Regional tees off on May 20-22 and will be played at the par-70, 6,753-yard Course at Yale in New Haven, Conn. Alabama swept through the NCAA Northeast Regional a year ago at the Galloway National Golf Club in Galloway, N.J., taking home team honors while Hunter Hamrick captured medalist honors. UA returns with two of the nation's top collegiate golfers from last year's regional-winning team in sophomores Hamrick and Bud Cauley, who finished tied for third in the 2009 NCAA Regional. Alabama will play its practice round on The Course at Yale Wednesday, May 19 before beginning its first-round on Thursday, May 20. Live stats can be found at www.golfstat.com.
Three Tide Golfers Earn SEC Postseason Awards
Alabama men's golfers Bud Cauley and Hunter Hamrick were named first-team All-SEC while redshirt freshman Lee Knox was selected to the SEC All-Freshman Team. It is the second straight year for Cauley to earn first-team All-SEC honors after winning SEC Freshman of the Year accolades a season ago. The first-team All-SEC honor is a first for Hamrick, who was selected to the All-Freshman Team in 2009. Cauley has six top-10 finishes with two victories during the 2009-10 season, coming at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational and the Linger Longer Invitational. Hamrick led the Crimson Tide at the SEC Championships with a tie for fourth place at 3-under-par 207. He is ranked 31st in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and ranks second on the team with a 72.38 stroke average. Hamrick also captured medalist honors at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate, the Western Refining All-America Golf Classic and lost a playoff at the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational. Knox finished strong down the stretch this season to earn SEC All-Freshman accolades. He finished with a 74.96 scoring average with two rounds in the 60s while playing in nine tournaments for the Tide. Knox turned in his top finish of the season with a tie for 16th at the SEC Championship, posting a 4-over-par 214, which was a career low by three shots.
Sophomore Bud Cauley a Finalist for The Ben Hogan Award
Following an impressive sophomore season in which he collected two wins, three top fives and three more top 10s, Bud Cauley has been selected as finalist for The 2010 Ben Hogan Award. As the most prestigious award in college golf, the Hogan Award is presented annually to the nation's top collegiate golfer, taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during a 12-month period. Cauley, a two-time first-team All-SEC selection and a first-team Golfweek All American his freshman year, will be joined by Georgia's Russell Henley and Washington's Nick Taylor at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 24 for The Hogan Award Presentation.
Alabama in the NCAAs
The Crimson Tide's bid to the New Haven Regional marks the seventh NCAA Regional appearance in the last eight years under head coach Jay Seawell. The 2009 team picked up Alabama's first-ever NCAA Regional Championship with a 22-over-par 874 at the Galloway National Golf Club in Galloway, N.J., while Hunter Hamrick tore through the field to claim medalist honors after a final-round 4-under 67 to finish at 1-under-par 212. Bud Cauley finished tied for third place at 4-over 217. The Tide has made six straight trips to regional action under Seawell since 2005 and also made an appearance in 2003 during his first year at the helm of the Tide. Prior to capturing the regional title a year ago, Alabama's previous best was a second-place finish in 2007 and again in 1992 under head coach Dick Spybey. UA also participated in regional action in 2002, 1997, 1996, 1994, 1993 and 1991 for a total of 14 appearances.
Prior to the NCAA Tournament switching to regional format in 1991, Alabama made five NCAA Finals appearances in 1973-75, 1981 and 1983 under head coach Conrad Rehling. The 1975 team that featured Crimson Tide legend Jerry Pate earned UA's best finish in the NCAA Finals with a tie for third place. Following Rehling's last trip in 1983, Alabama didn't make its return to the NCAA Finals until 1992 when Spybey's squad finished 11th. Following trips to the Finals in 1993 and again in 1996, UA would not return for another eight years until Seawell's 2005 team advanced out of the East Regional. The 2007 season marked the beginning of three straight trips to the NCAA Championship as well as the Tide's best finish (6th) since the tie for third in 1975. Alabama has been to the NCAA Finals a total of 12 times.
Tide Faces Tough Draw
As the case with any NCAA Regional, the competition in New Haven figures to be stiff, as nine of the 14 teams competing are ranked in the top 50 according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings Index. Top-seeded UCLA is ranked eighth nationally, while the No. 2 seeded Texas Longhorns rank ahead of the Bruins at seventh in the nation. Regional three seed South Carolina is ranked 15th, followed by Virginia (20th), Alabama (27th), East Tennessee State (31st), Southeast Louisiana (42nd), Charlotte (43rd) and Kent State (45th).
The Course at Yale
Not only will the Crimson Tide be challenged by the 13 other teams in the New Haven Regional, The Course at Yale will present demands of its own. Designed by the father of American golf course architecture and co-founder of the USGA, Charles Blair Macdonald, The Course at Yale opened for play in 1926 and is recognized by many as one of the finest examples of early American golf course architecture, characterized by large, deep green-side bunkers and narrow, rolling fairways. The par-70, 6,753-yard layout is ranked 76th in Golf Magazine's top-100 courses in the U.S., while the 432-yard par-4 fourth and the 238-yard par-3 ninth have been ranked among the 100 most difficult holes. The Course at Yale last hosted an NCAA Regional in 1992 and only 21 subpar rounds were recorded of the 360 played during the three-day event.
High Ranking Individuals
The Crimson Tide's lineup features two the nation's top golfers in sophomores Bud Cauley and Hunter Hamrick. Cauley ranks second in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, while Hamrick ranks 31st according to the latest ratings.
Crimson Tide Under Seawell
Head Coach Jay Seawell has transformed Alabama into perennial contender in his eight years at the Capstone. Since taking the Crimson Tide to NCAA Regionals during his first year, 2003, this year's trip marks the sixth straight and seventh in the last eight years. Four of those eight regional appearances resulted in top-10 finishes, including a second-place finish in 2007 and a first-place finish last year. Alabama claimed sixth place in 2008 and a tie for sixth in 2005. Seawell has taken four regional teams a step further to the NCAA Finals in the last five years (2005, 07-09). Alabama finished sixth in 2007, the best for a Seawell-coached team.
