Alabama
Puerto Rico Classic
Alabama Men’s Golf Finishes 13th at Puerto Rico Classic
2/21/2017 5:46:00 PM | Men's Golf
Crimson Tide forced to play shorthanded due to Davis Riley injury
RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – The Alabama men's golf team finished play at the 2017 Puerto Rico Classic on Tuesday, closing the three-day, 54-hole tournament with a team total of 889 (296-297-296) to place 13th overall.
The Crimson Tide was forced to compete nearly the entire event without sophomore Davis Riley, who only played the first three holes of Sunday's opening round before withdrawing from the tournament due to an injury. Without Riley, who earned honorable mention All-America honors and All-SEC recognition a year ago, the Tide had to play with a four-man lineup, meaning each individual's score counted toward the team total.
"This was a tough tournament with Davis getting injured," Alabama men's golf head coach Jay Seawell said. "We learned a lot about our team. It's tough to play 4 vs. 5, which is essentially what we had to do for the entire event. That said, I'm proud of the guys. I thought we had some bright spots; Jonathan (Hardee) played great for it being his first competitive tournament this year and we had some guys who stepped up at certain times. At the end of the day, these situations is what will make us better. We have to learn from it and get back to work this week."
Junior Jonathan Hardee led Alabama as he tied for 20th overall with an even par 216. Hardee, who was competing in his first tournament of the year after being sidelined during the fall season while recovering from an injury, began the event with a 2-over par 74 and followed with back-to-back rounds of 1-under par 71.
Junior Steven Setterstrom also had a solid tournament, closing play tied for 29th overall with a 3-over 219. Setterstrom began the third round in a tie for third overall after opening play with consecutive rounds at 2-under 70, but stumbled during the final 18 holes to finish the day with a 79.
Junior Lee Hodges carded the low round for the Tide on the day with a 1-under 71, as he tied for 52nd overall with a three-day total of 10-over 226 (71-84-71). Redshirt freshman Josh Sedeno rounded out the Crimson Tide at 12-over par 228 (81-72-75).
Clemson (845), ranked No. 21 in the nation, captured the team title with an 11-stroke victory over No. 10 Georgia (856). North Carolina State (859) and Georgia Tech (859) tied for third, while Ohio State (865) rounded out the top five teams.
The Tide will return to action on March 4-5 when it competes at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate in Scottsdale, Ariz.
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Players Mentioned
