Alabama
SEC Championships
Alabama in Ninth after Opening Day of SEC Men’s Golf Championships
4/24/2024 2:56:00 PM | Men's Golf
Ponder leads the Crimson Tide at 1-under par after 18 holes of play
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The No. 9 Alabama men's golf team opened played Wednesday at the 2024 Southeastern Conference Men's Golf Championships, ending the day in a tie for ninth overall with a 3-over par 283
Thomas Ponder paced the Crimson Tide on day one, ending in a tie for 18th overall with a 1-under par 69. All five of the UA golfers in the starting lineup finished within four strokes of one another (all between -1 and +2).
This year's championship is taking place in St. Simons Island, Ga., at the par 70, 7,005-yard Sea Island Golf Club. The second round of stroke play is set to tee off Thursday with the final round coming on Friday.
Eight teams will advance to the match-play quarterfinals Saturday morning, while four teams will move on to the match-play semifinals Saturday afternoon. The final two teams will go head-to-head in the match-play finals on Sunday.
Individual Highlights
- Thomas Ponder ended his round with four birdies, along with a bogey and a double bogey, and finished as one of 26 golfers in the 70-man field to close the day under par
- With his round of 69 Wednesday, Ponder scored in the 60s for the seventh time this season and earned his team-leading 17th round of par or better this year
- Canon Claycomb and Jonathan Griz each ended the day in a tie for 35th with identical 1-over par 71s
- Griz shined on par 3 holes in round one, leading the team and ranking tied for second in the field (2.50, -2)
- Claycomb finished the day with a team-leading 15 pars which is tied for the fourth-most among all individuals
- Meanwhile, JP Cave and Jones Free both finished a stroke back with matching scores of 2-over 72
- Cave, along with Ponder, are tied for sixth in the field with four birdies apiece
- Cave led the team in par 5 scoring on day one (4.00, -2)
Tournament Highlights
- No. 2 Vanderbilt (-11) owns a one-stroke lead ahead of No. 23 Georgia (-10) after the opening day of championship play
- Top-ranked Auburn (-6) is in third with No. 22 Texas A&M (-4) and No. 7 Tennessee (-3) rounding out the top five teams
- Alabama is tied with Kentucky for ninth position overall, just two shots back of the top eight teams in the field
- The 2024 SEC Championship will be awarded to the winners of match play, while the individual medalist and runner up will be awarded based on stroke play
- Live stats throughout the event can be found on Golfstat.com
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaMGolf, on X, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama
Players Mentioned
