Alabama
SEC Championships
Alabama in Fifth Through 36 Holes of the 2017 SEC Men’s Golf Championship
4/21/2017 6:32:00 PM | Men's Golf
Riley in a tie for eighth after opening event with 30 consecutive bogey-free holes
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Behind the play of sophomore Davis Riley, the Alabama men's golf team got off to a fast start and ended the day in a tie for fifth through the opening 36 holes of the 2017 Southeastern Conference Men's Golf Championships on Friday. As a team, the 37th-ranked Crimson Tide carded a score of 3-over par 563 (275-288) and is in a tie with No. 24 Missouri for fifth place after two rounds of play.
Both the Tide and Tigers enter Saturday's final round of stroke play eight strokes behind clubhouse leader and No. 15-ranked Texas A&M (-5, 555). Third-ranked Vanderbilt (-3, 557) is second, followed by No. 6 Florida (-2, 558) and No. 7 LSU (+2, 562), respectively. The top eight teams following 54 holes of stroke play will advance to the match play portion of the championship, featuring the quarterfinals and semifinals on Sunday and the championship match on Monday.
During Friday's opening 18 holes, it was Riley who was swinging the hot club. The Hattiesburg, Miss., native went bogey-free over his first 30 holes of the championship, while also collecting seven birdies in the process. It wasn't until he was 7-under par and playing his 31st hole of the day (13th hole of the second round) that he recorded his first bogey. Riley carded a career-low 18-hole score of 4-under par 66 in the opening round and finished the day at 2-under par 138 (66-72), tying his career-best 36-hole total.
Junior Lee Hodges rebounded from an opening round of 3-over par 73 to shoot the Tide's best score of the second round, a 1-under par 69. He finished the day in a tie for 19th overall at 2-over par 142 (73-69). Hodges has now shot par or better in 17 of his last 20 rounds, including a team-leading 12 rounds in the 60s.
Redshirt freshman Josh Sedeno (68-75) and junior Jonathan Hardee (69-74) are tied for 26th with both shooting a 3-over par 143. Junior Steven Setterstrom rounds out the Tide golfers in a tie for 35th position at 5-over 145 (72-73) on the par-70, 7,005-yard Seaside Course.
Alabama will tee off the third round of play on Saturday morning at 8:20 a.m. ET (7:20 a.m. CT) off Hole No. 1. The Tide will be paired alongside LSU and Missouri for the final round of stroke play.
Live scoring throughout the championship will be available on golfstat.com.
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Players Mentioned
