Alabama Captures the 2020 Blessings Collegiate Invitational Championship - University of Alabama Athletics
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Four Alabama men's golfers finished among the top-20 individuals to help the Crimson Tide capture the 2020 Blessings Collegiate Invitational
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Four Alabama men's golfers finished among the top-20 individuals to help the Crimson Tide capture the 2020 Blessings Collegiate Invitational team title on Wednesday afternoon. UA finished five shots better than second-place Tennessee, closing the event with a team score of 4-over par 868 (291-282-295).
With the win, Alabama claimed its first outright season-opening title since the national championship season of 2013-14. That year, the Crimson Tide won a school record nine tournaments on its way to securing the program's second straight NCAA Championship.
After taking a two-stroke lead after 36 holes, Alabama continued its stellar play for much of Wednesday and never relinquished the lead. The Tide would go on to lead by as many as 11 strokes before settling for the five-stroke victory.
The Volunteers (873) finished runners up, bettering tournament host Arkansas (876) by three strokes. South Carolina (878) finished fourth, while Texas A&M (882) and Vanderbilt (882) rounded out the top five teams.
Head Coach Jay Seawell's Comments
"Our guys did a great job of feeding off each other, which is something we talked about all week. I couldn't be more proud of how they handled themselves throughout the tournament.
"I think the 14th and 15th holes yesterday really just flipped the switch for us. I thought we played pretty well in round one but just had a couple of bad holes which is easy to do on this course. I was really proud of how we stayed in it, and I think the winning golf we played yesterday got us in the spot where we are today.
"I can't thank the Blessings Club, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, our AD Greg Byrne and the Golf Channel enough for putting this tournament together and getting us all in a position to play golf this season. We have the best conference in the country and we knew that coming in here. I challenged our guys by telling them if you want to play against the best, then you better play your best and our guys did an incredible job this week."
Individual Highlights
- Senior Wilson Furr, the 2020 U.S. Amateur stroke play champion, picked up where he left off this summer as he finished the 54-hole event tied for 10th overall at even par 216 (71-71-74). It marked his sixth career top-10 finish and 12th top-20 result in his career.
- Sophomore Tyler Lipscomb, playing in just his second career collegiate tournament, collected his first career top-10 result as he matched Furr with an even par 216 (75-69-72). Additionally, the Carrollton, Ga., native collected his first collegiate round in the 60s when he carded a career-best 18-hole score of 3-under par 69 on Tuesday.
- Sophomore Thomas Ponder also played solid throughout the three-day tournament, as he finished in 12th overall with a 1-over 217 (70-71-76). Meanwhile, senior Davis Shore gave UA four top-20 finishers as he tied for 16th overall with a 3-over 219 (75-71-73).
- Freshman JP Cave finished the event with his best round by carding a 76 on Wednesday on his way to a 54-hole score of 242 (82-84-76).
- Alabama was the only team in the 14-team field to finish the event with four individuals among the top-20. In fact, no other team had more than two golfers among the top-20.
- Ponder finished second in the field in par 4 scoring at 3.97 (-1) and tied for sixth overall in total pars (35). He was the only golfer in the entire field to record a bogey-free round, doing so in the first round when he recorded two birdies and 16 pars.
- The event, which features simultaneous play from all 14 Southeastern Conference men's and women's teams, was played on the par 72, 7,503-yard Blessings Golf Club.
- With the win, head coach Jay Seawell guided Alabama to its 54th tournament win across his 19 seasons at the Capstone, which includes two NCAA championships (2013 and 2014) and four SEC titles (2008, 2012, 2013, 2014).
- Alabama will return to action with another All-SEC event when it travels to Nashville, Tenn., to compete at the Vanderbilt Legends Collegiate on Oct. 25-27.
