Alabama Crimson Tide golf

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Alabama Crimson Tide golf
UniversityUniversity of Alabama
ConferenceSEC
Head coach
  • Men's: Jay Seawell (22nd season)
  • Women's: Mic Potter (20th season)
LocationTuscaloosa, Alabama
CourseOl' Colony Golf Complex
Par: 72
Yards: 7,544
NicknameAlabama Crimson Tide
ColorsCrimson and white[1]
   
NCAA champions
Men: 2013, 2014
Women: 2012
NCAA individual champions
Women: Eleanor Dudley (1941), Emma Talley (2015)
NCAA match play
Men: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018
Women: 2018
NCAA Championship appearances
Men: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023
Women: 1987, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022
Conference champions
Men: 1979, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014
Women: 2010, 2013, 2016
Individual conference champions
Men: Bobby Hill (1952), Michael Thompson (2008), Justin Thomas (2012), Bobby Wyatt (2014)
Women: Stephanie Meadow (2013)

The Alabama Crimson Tide golf teams represent the

Division I and the Southeastern Conference
(SEC). The Crimson Tide currently has two of the best teams in the country with the men and women consistently ranked inside the top 5 by Golfweek.

History

Men

The Alabama Crimson Tide men's golf program has a rich history that dates back to the program's inception in 1952. That first season saw Crimson Tide golfer Bobby Hill capture the SEC Individual Championship.

NCAA Tournaments and advanced to the finals 12 times; and have had 13 players garner 21 All-America honors.[2]

Jay Seawell, the 2008 & 2012 SEC Coach of the Year, arrived in 2002 and has steadily taken the Tide to some of its greatest heights in program history.

NCAA Tournaments appearances and four berths in the NCAA Championships. Under Seawell's guidance in 2008, Alabama captured its first SEC Championship since 1979 and its first SEC medalist – Michael Thompson – since Bobby Hill in 1952.[4] Over the past eight years, the Crimson Tide has garnered seven All-America honors by five players, had eight All-Region selections and 15 All-SEC honors, including 9 first-team choices.[2] Bud Cauley, an All-American his three years at Alabama (2009–2011), was named the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2009 and was a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award.[2] Thompson was also a finalist in 2008. In 2011, Cory Whitsett was named SEC Freshman of the Year and First-Team All-SEC. The 2012 team made it to the final match at the NCAA Championships before losing on the final hole and finishing second. Freshman Justin Thomas was also named the SEC Freshman of the Year and the SEC Player of the Year for the 2012 season. In 2013 the team repeated as SEC Champions and for the second straight season made it to the final match at the NCAA Championships, where they defeated Illinois 4-1 to win the program's first NCAA National Championship. In 2014 the Tide once again won the SEC Championship, with Bobby Wyatt
becoming just the fourth Crimson Tide golfer to win a SEC Individual Championship. The Tide would go on compete in their third consecutive NCAA finals match and repeated as NCAA national champions by defeating Oklahoma State 4–1.

Women

Alabama first had a women's golf team in 1974, but has reached heights of success over the past five years never seen in the program's history.

NCAA Women's Golf Championship just once in the program's history before his arrival.[5] In 2010, Alabama won the SEC Women's Golf Championship and posted a then school-best third-place finish at the NCAA Championships.[5] In 2011, the Crimson Tide won its first NCAA Regional title in school history, and qualified for the 2011 NCAA Golf Championship at the Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas, where they finished tied for 8th.[7]

In 2012, the Tide won their first-ever

NCAA Championship, when senior Brooke Pancake made a par on the final hole to clinch the title, winning with a score of 1,171 strokes (19-over-par) over four rounds at the Vanderbilt Legends Course in Franklin, Tennessee.[8] The championship was the first for the University of Alabama in a sport other than football or gymnastics. The Crimson Tide continued their success in 2013 where they won the SEC Championship as a team while Stephanie Meadow
won the individual title.

In 1941,

Tour professionals

Men

The Crimson Tide has had numerous great players that have come through the program over the years. One of the best known is

Champions Tour.[10] Pate also designed Alabama's current home course, Ol' Colony.[11] Another successful alum is 2017 PGA Championship winner, 2017 FedEx Cup Champion, 2021 Players Championship winner, and 2022 PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas. As of July 2023, Thomas has won 15 times on the PGA Tour. Besides his 2 Major Championships, FedEx Cup, and Players Championship, other highlights include the 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, the Dell Technologies Championship (a FedEx Cup playoff event), and the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
.

Other players that played with the Tide include Trey Mullinax, Steve Lowery, Bud Cauley, Spike McRoy, Jason Bohn, Dicky Pride, David Kirkpatrick, Mårten Olander, Michael Thompson, Davis Riley, and Lee Hodges.[2] Olander captured the 1993 Ben Hogan Award. Besides Jerry Pate, the only other Alabama Crimson Tide golfer thought to earn first team All-America honors is David Kirkpatrick.[12]

Women

LPGA Tour.[13] Other LPGA Tour players include Kathleen Ekey, Sofia Grönberg-Whitmore (who won three times on the Ladies European Tour), Camilla Lennarth (one LET win), Stephanie Meadow, Brooke Pancake, Leslie Spalding, and Emma Talley.[5] The Tide has some success on the LPGA developmental Epson Tour, with 13 all-time members and four total wins.[5]

Ol' Colony Golf Complex

The Crimson Tide golf team's home course is Ol' Colony, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The course, which opened in 2000, was designed by former Crimson Tide golfer Jerry Pate.

state-of-the-art Jerry Pate Practice Center dedicated to the Crimson Tide golf teams.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Alabama Crimson Tide Logo Sheet" (PDF). June 28, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "2010-11 2010-11 Alabama Men's Golf Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
  3. ^ Jay Seawell
  4. ^ Tide & Thompson Sweep SEC Golf With Championship
  5. ^ a b c d e "2018–19 Alabama Women's Golf Media Guide" (PDF). Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  6. ^ Mic Potter
  7. ^ Women's Golf Captures NCAA East Regional Crown
  8. ^ National Champions: Women's Golf Wins First NCAA Championship
  9. ^ "Alabama's Emma Talley wins NCAA individual golf title". ESPN. Associated Press. May 26, 2015.
  10. ^ "Jerry Pate - Career Highlights". Archived from the original on November 23, 2010. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
  11. ^ a b Jerry Pate Golf Design
  12. ^ "Crimson Tide Golf Through the Years" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  13. ^ "Cheyenne Knight Becomes the First Former Alabama Women's Golfer to Win on the LPGA Tour". Alabama Crimson Tide. October 6, 2019.
  14. ^ Ol' Colony yardage
  15. ^ The Jerry Pate Golf Center

External links