Crimson Tide Women’s Golf Breaks to Begin Preparations for SEC Championship
4/12/2017 3:10:00 PM | Women's Golf
Conference championship will take place in Birmingham, April 21-23 at Greystone Golf & Country Club
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama women's golf team will be off this weekend as it begins preparations for the 2017 SEC Women's Golf Championship, which will take place April 21-23 at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. Alabama is the defending conference champion after capturing its third SEC title at the 2016 tournament, which was also held at Greystone.
Crimson Tide Boasts Three of Nation's Top-15 Golfers
Sophomore Cheyenne Knight is the nation's No. 4-ranked golfer in the Golfstat individual statistical rankings released April 11. Knight (70.41) is joined in the top 15 by two of her teammates: sophomore Lauren Stephenson (71.05) is 11th and freshman Kristen Gillman (71.14) is 14th. Knight (third), Stephenson (fifth), Gillman (15th) are also among the leaders in the Golfweek women's rankings released April 6.
Alabama Tops the National Rankings
The Tide is No. 1 latest Golfstat rankings released April 11. Stanford, UCLA, Florida State and Arizona State round out the top five of the Golfstat Relative Rankings. The Tide's rating of 70.46 tops the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index released April 6. Alabama is followed by Arizona State (70.66), Florida State (70.71), Stanford (70.77) and UCLA (70.87).
Last Outing
The Alabama women's golf team was seeking a second consecutive Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic title entering the championship round on April 9 at the par-72 6,300-yard University of Georgia Golf Club but strong play by the No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs on the back nine gave the host team a 3.5-1.5 win over the Crimson Tide.
Sophomore Cheyenne Knight posted the Tide's only victory on Sunday, downing Jillian Hollis, 1-up. Senior Mia Landegren played her opponent, Rinko Mitsunaga to a draw to account for Alabama's points. Freshman Kristen Gillman dropped a 1-up decision to Bailey Tardy after Tardy birdied the final two holes to clinch the victory. Sophomore Lauren Stephenson fell, 3-and-2, to Mary Ellen Shuman and junior Lakareber Abe dropped a 1-up decision to Harang Lee to round out the day.
Alabama reached the championship match with wins over USC and Denver in the quarterfinals and semifinals. The No. 3 seed Crimson Tide recorded a 3.5-1.5 win over No. 7 USC as freshman Kristen Gillman, sophomore Cheyenne Knight and junior Lakareber Abe posted wins and senior Mia Landegren halved her match to clinch the Tide the win.
Alabama returned to the course later the same day and defeated No. 2 seed Denver. Knight, Abe and sophomore Lauren Stephenson picked up wins while Gillman and Landegren halved their matches to close out the victory and put the Tide in position to defend its match play title from a year ago.
The Tide opened the tournament by tying for second place in the long stroke-play round. Alabama (303) finished at 15-over par, tying with Denver, six shots behind host Georgia (297), which finished first at 9-over par. Arkansas (304) finished fourth at 16-over par. Auburn, Oklahoma State and USC (310) tied for fifth at 22-over par.
Kristen Gillman was the low finisher for the Crimson Tide for the second weekend in a row. The freshman carded a 2-under par 70 to finish second in the individual standings. Sophomore Cheyenne Knight (74) was 10th at 2-over par. Junior Lakareber Abe (77) tied for 18th at 5-over par. Sophomore Lauren Stephenson (82) tied for 43rd at 10-over par. Senior Mia Landegren (87) finished 58th at 15-over par.=
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaWGolf, 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
