Alabama
Puerto Rico Classic
Alabama Men’s Golf Transitions into Spring Season
2/16/2018 9:42:00 AM | Men's Golf
Crimson Tide opens the 2018 spring campaign at the Puerto Rico Classic on Sunday morning
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's golf team enters its spring season rated as the top-ranked team in the nation, according to Golfstat.com following a stellar fall campaign. The Crimson Tide will begin the second half of the 2017-18 season this weekend at the Puerto Rico Classic – a three-day, 72-hole event that begins on Sunday morning.
"It was a great fall season, and I am very proud of our team for that," Alabama head coach Jay Seawell said. "We do hope we can transition well from the fall to the spring. We want to talk about the things we did positive in the fall so you can build off that, but we don't want to rest upon it because we want to continue to try and get better.
"Puerto Rico will give us a chance to go up against some incredible competition and see what kind of team we'll be this spring. It will set a standard for what kind of team I think we can be. This is a challenging field that features maybe 10-12 teams who will play in the NCAA Championships, so I am excited for the opportunity."
Alabama has two players ranked in the Golfweek.com top-50 individual rankings heading into the season, including junior Davis Riley, the No. 2 player in the nation, and senior Lee Hodges, who is rated No. 34 nationally.
Alabama began the fall season at No. 19 in the polls before moving to the top spot after four events and three team wins. The Crimson Tide claimed victories in the season-opening Carpet Capital Collegiate hosted by Georgia Tech, its own Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate (JPNI) and the Steelwood Collegiate hosted by South Alabama. The Tide placed second in the Olympia Fields/Illini Invitational (OFCC) in September, its only finish not atop the leaderboard.
Riley led the charge throughout the fall, highlighted by a first-place finish at the OFCC to claim his first career individual win. He shot a career-low 54-hole score of 10-under par 200. Each of Riley's 12 rounds last fall counted towards the team score, while he finished no lower than seventh in any of the Tide's four tournaments.
Hodges had his season-best performance at the JPNI, finishing the event in third overall with a team-leading 9-under par 201. Senior Jonathan Hardee, who is in 101st overall in the national rankings, matched a career-best finish with a second-place result at the Steelwood Collegiate Invitational, shooting 4-under par 212.
In its four tournaments last fall, Alabama compiled a record of 48-1-1 and averaged 281.9 strokes per round. Individually, the Crimson Tide had nine student-athletes finish among the top 10 and 14 individuals place among the top 25 throughout its four fall events.
Now, head coach Jay Seawell will turn his focus to a challenging spring schedule that begins in late-February with the goal of returning to the pinnacle of collegiate golf.
After this week's Puerto Rico Classic, which will take place Sunday through Tuesday, February 18-20 in Rio Del Mar, Puerto Rico, Alabama will compete at the Southern Highlands Masters on March 5-7 in Las Vegas, Nev., followed by the Linger Longer Invitational on March 18-20 in Greensboro, Ga. The Tide will then travel to Bryan, Texas to compete in the Aggie Invitational on April 7-8, before closing out the regular season at the Mason Rudolph Championship on April 13-15 in Franklin, Tenn.
This year's postseason will begin with the SEC Championships on April 25-29 in Sea Island, Ga. NCAA Regionals will be held May 14-16, while the 2018 NCAA Championships will take place in Stillwater, Okla., on May 25-30.
Live scoring throughout the Puerto Rico Classic can be found on 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.
