No. 24 Alabama in Third Place After Opening Round at the Watersound Invitational

Monday, February 17

Panama City, Fla.

Alabama

Watersound Invitational

No. 24 Alabama in Third Place After Opening Round at the Watersound Invitational

2/17/2025 5:51:00 PM | Men's Golf

Day One Results Season Stats

Three Crimson Tide golfers finish under par to end the day inside the top 10 individuals

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – The No. 24 Alabama men's golf team ended the opening round of play at the Watersound Invitational on Monday, finishing the day in third place at 3-under par 285.

Nick Gross carded his lowest round of the season to lead UA with a 3-under 69 and is in a tie for third, while Jones Free (-2) and Jonathan Griz (-2) are tied for sixth overall. The trio went a combined 7-under on the day to lead the Crimson Tide.

Second round action continues on the par 72, 7,246-yard Sharks Tooth Golf Club course in Panama City, Fla. Live stats can be found on Golfstat.com.

First Round Highlights

Nick Gross started his round with a bogey on his second hole, but rallied with birdies on four of his final 10 holes of the day to result in his season-best score
Gross is two shots behind co-leaders Gary Albright and Michael Mays of Florida State
Jones Free led the Tide with four birdies to go with a bogey and double bogey on his way to recording his fourth round of par or better this season
Jonathan Griz collected his team-leading eighth round of par or better on the year
Dominic Clemons (4-over 76) and Connor Brown (6-over 78) rounded out the UA starting five
Luke Coyle led the Tide's three competing individuals, carding a 3-over 75 on the day
Michael Crocker (84) and William Jennings (92) round out the UA golfers

Tournament Highlights

Alabama leads the 12-team field with 60 pars on day one
Tournament host and No. 27 Florida State (-10) leads the field, owning a three-shot advantage over No. 12 UCLA (-7)
Along with the top two teams, No. 24 Alabama (-3) and Michigan State (-1) are in third and fourth, respectively, and join the Seminoles and Bruins as the only teams to finish under par on day one
The field features seven teams ranked in the Bushnell/Golfweek DI top-30 national rankings
In addition to No. 24 Alabama, the field includes No. 14 Georgia Tech, No. 12 UCLA, No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Mississippi State and No. 25 Notre Dame and No. 27 Florida State
Clemson, Kentucky, Michigan State, Navy and NC State round out the tournament field