Alabama
Mason Rudolph Championship
No. 7 Alabama Men’s Golf Ready to Compete at Mason Rudolph Championship
4/12/2018 3:09:00 PM | Men's Golf
Crimson Tide tees off its regular season finale on Friday morning
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The seventh-ranked Alabama men's golf team will travel to Nashville, Tenn., this weekend to participate in the 2018 Mason Rudolph Championship. The event, which will be the last of consecutive tournaments played on back-to-back weekends to close the regular season, will be played on the par-71, 7,100-yard Vanderbilt Legends Club South Course.
Alabama's lineup for the weekend is led by senior Lee Hodges and junior Davis Riley, both of which are ranked among the top 15 golfers in the nation according to the latest Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings.
Hodges, who has been playing his best golf of the year as of late, enters the event ranked No. 7 in the nation. Hodges has won medalist honors twice this spring (Puerto Rico Classic and Linger Longer Invitational) and has finished no lower than 11th in the Tide's four spring tournaments. Entering this weekend's event, the Ardmore, Tenn., native has carded below-par scores in 10 of his last 12 rounds and currently tops the team with a 70.33 per round stroke average and a -1.04 average vs. par.
Meanwhile, Riley, who is ranked 13th nationally, has been equally as impressive, entering the Mason Rudolph ranked second on the team in both stroke average (70.54) and average vs. par (-0.83). Through the Tide's eight tournaments this season, the Hattiesburg, Miss., native owns six top-10 finishes and four top-five results.
Senior Jonathan Hardee ranks third on the team with a 72.88 per round average, while freshmen Davis Shore (73.38) and Wilson Furr (75.13) round out the Tide's starting five. In addition, seniors Steven Setterstrom and Tyler Hitchner will compete as individuals this weekend.
This year's tournament features a 14-team field, which includes four teams ranked among the top-10 teams in the nation, according to Golfstat.com. In addition to No. 7 Alabama, tournament host No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Georgia and No. 6 Florida are all among the top-10 teams in the nation. Other teams ranked among the top 80 nationally include No. 46 Liberty, No. 47 Louisville, No. 67 Middle Tennessee and No. 78 East Tennessee State, while Ball State, Charlotte, High Point, South Dakota, Tennessee Tech and Troy round out the field.
The Tide won the tournament title in 2014 and 2001, and finished runner-up at the event in 2017 and 2015.
The tournament was originally scheduled for three days, 18 holes per day. However, due to the threat of inclement weather on Saturday, the format will now consist of 36 holes on Friday beginning with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. CT. If the weather holds off, 18 holes will be played on Saturday and Sunday, making it a 72-hole tournament. However, should Saturday's round be canceled, the final 18 holes will take place on Sunday.
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
