Men's Golf Prepares for Mason Rudolph Championship
4/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The No. 23-ranked Alabama men's golf team will participate in the 2015 Mason Rudolph Championship this weekend at the par-71, 7,100-yard Vanderbilt Legends Club South Course. The event will be the last regular season tournament and the final tune-up before the 2015 SEC Championships, which is set to take place in mid-April.
The Tide will look to defend the tournament title it won last season, capturing a nine-shot victory over tournament host Vanderbilt.
The three-day, 54-hole tournament format will be 18 holes on Friday through Sunday, with fixed tee times on number one and 10 starting at 8 a.m. CT on Friday and Saturday and 7:30 a.m. CT Sunday.
"We are looking forward to going back to Nashville," Alabama men's golf head coach Jay Seawell said. "We won the title last year and I think it was the tournament that set us in motion on our way to a national championship. The golf course is a great test and you are going up against some outstanding teams. It's the final challenge I want to put our team in before the SEC Championships and that is to compete against some of the best teams in the nation on a challenging course. I feel good, we've had a great week of practice and I am excited to compete this weekend."
Sophomore Robby Shelton, who enters this weekend's tournament ranked fifth in the nation in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, will headline the Crimson Tide's lineup. Shelton claimed medalist honors at the Southern Highlands Masters and is averaging a 70.33 strokes per round on the year.
Junior Tom Lovelady, who is ranked 64th nationally and coming off a seventh-place finish at last week's Linger Longer Invitational, will join Shelton along with freshman Jonathan Hardee and sophomores Dru Love and William Sellers.
This year's Mason Rudolph 14-team field features eight teams ranked among the top 50 in the nation. In addition to the Crimson Tide, the field is highlighted by tournament-host and No. 4-ranked Vanderbilt, No. 11 Georgia Tech, No. 28 SMU, No. 29 Kennesaw State, No. 40 East Tennessee State, No. 42 Georgia Southern and No. 48 Louisville along with Ball State, College of Charleston, Indiana, Liberty, Mercer and Notre Dame.
Live scoring for this year's tournament can be found at www.Golfstat.com.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaMGolf, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
Players Mentioned
