Alabama
Watersound Invitational
Alabama Trio Finishes Inside Top 10 to Lead Men’s Golf Team to a Fourth-Place Result at the Watersound Invitational
2/21/2023 3:37:00 PM | Men's Golf
Thomas Ponder finished in sixth overall, while Canon Claycomb and Nick Dunlap tied for ninth to pace the Crimson Tide
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – The trio of Thomas Ponder, Canon Claycomb and Nick Dunlap each finished inside the top-10 individuals to lead the No. 17 Alabama men's golf team to a fourth-place finish at the Watersound Invitational. The Crimson Tide carded a 14-under par in Tuesday's third round of play to close the three-day, 54-hole event with a team score of 23-under par 841 (282-285-274).
The 11-team field featured eight teams ranked inside Golfstat.com's top-40 national rankings, including six among the top 25.
Ponder highlighted the individual play as he finished the tournament alone in sixth place with an 11-under par 205 (67-71-67) to earn his team-leading third top-10 finish of the year. Both Claycomb (72-69-68) and Dunlap (69-71-69) also shined as they tied for ninth after carding identical scores of 7-under par 209.
In addition to the three starters, Jones Free, who competed as an individual this week, also performed well with a career-best showing. After collecting a single-round personal-best 5-under 67 in round two, Free as he carded a career-best 54-hole total of 3-under par 213 (73-67-73), which included.
Head Coach Jay Seawell
"I am really proud of our guys and I think we took another step towards getting better. There are a lot of things for us to build off and learn from. I think our guys showed improvement from our first tournament in the spring. We are going to need to continue to improve to get to the top of leaderboards like playing consistent throughout, but we certainly finished on a high note. So, we learned some lessons that we will take and try to get better on and are looking forward to getting back to work and preparing for a terrific another strong field at the Cabo Collegiate in two weeks."
Individual Highlights
- Thomas Ponder earned the second-best finish of his career with this week's result, while also collecting his third career top-five showing and eighth top-10 result
- Ponder led the entire field on par 3 holes (-4, 2.67) and ranked third in par 4 scoring (-6, 3.80)
- With three sub-par rounds on the week, Ponder now has 13 rounds this season of par or lower and seven rounds in the 60s
- Canon Claycomb carded his best round of the event on Tuesday with a 4-under 68 to finish
- Claycomb is now second on the team in rounds in the 60s (8) and leads the squad in rounds of par or better (14), including six consecutive heading into the Tide's next tournament
- Nick Dunlap finished second in the field in par 5 scoring (-8, 4.33) while earning the third top-10 result of his freshman season
- With a pair of 69s on the week, Dunlap continues to lead Alabama in rounds in the 60s with nine
- Jonathan Griz's final round of 2-under 70, which included an eagle on the par 5 13th hole, gave the Tide four players who finished under par on the final day of play
- Griz finished tied for 38th with a 4-over 220 (74-76-70)
- JP Cave rounded out the UA golfers tied for 46th at 6-over 222 (74-74-74)
- Jack Goldasich, also playing as an individual, tied for 51st place with a 226 (79-75-72)
Team Highlights
- Top-ranked Vanderbilt (-38) won the tournament by one shot over No. 12 Georgia Tech (-37)
- Tournament host No. 11 Florida State (-24) finished one shot better than the Crimson Tide (-24), with No. 24 Mississippi State (-7) rounding out the top five
- As a team, Alabama finished second-best in par 5 scoring (-21, 4.65) and third-best on par 3 holes (+1, 3.02)
- The Tide's three eagles (Nick Dunlap, JP Cave, Jonathan Griz) led the field for the week
- Alabama finished fourth in total pars (168) and total birdies (56)
Up Next
- The Tide will next be in action March 5-7 when it travels to Los Cabos, Mexico to compete at the Cabo Collegiate
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 Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
Players Mentioned
