Ninth-Ranked Alabama Women’s Golf Prepares for 2022 SEC Championship in Birmingham - Alabama Athletics
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After a grueling regular season that included four fall events and four spring events, the No. 9 University of Alabama women's golf team w...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After a grueling regular season that included four fall events and four spring events, the No. 9 University of Alabama women's golf team will at last compete in the 2022 Southeastern Conference Women's Golf Championship at the Greystone Golf and Country Club Legacy Course (par 72, 6,331 yards) in Birmingham, Ala., April 13-17.
The Crimson Tide is one of 14 teams in the field that features nine teams in Golfstat's Top 25 – No. 3 South Carolina, No. 9 Alabama, No. 10 Florida, No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 14 LSU, No. 19 Arkansas, No. 20 Auburn, No. 22 Kentucky, No. 23 Ole Miss, Georgia, Mississippi State, Missouri, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Alabama will tee off hole No. 1 Wednesday at 9:40 a.m. CT paired with the Gamecocks and the Gators.
All 14 teams will compete in a 54-hole, stroke-play format, which includes 18 holes Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Eight teams will advance to the match-play quarterfinals Saturday morning, while four teams will improve to the match-play semifinals Saturday afternoon. The final two teams will go head-to-head in the match-play finals on Easter Sunday.
The team championship will be awarded to the winners of match play, while the individual medalist and runner up will be awarded based on stroke play.
Alabama has won the SEC Women's Golf Championship on three occasions (2010, 2013, 2016) and has finished runner up on six occasions. The Crimson Tide has produced one individual medalist Stephanie Meadow in 2013.
All three of UA's team titles and three of its six runner-up finishes have come in the last 12 years under head coach Mic Potter.
Last season, Alabama finished in seventh place in the stroke-play competition on a 14-under-par 850. It reached the semifinals of the match-play competition, falling to eventual-champions Auburn, 3-1-1.
The Crimson Tide can expect some incoming weather to begin this year's event, with chances of rain and thunderstorms Wednesday and Thursday. The skies are expected to be sunny with a high of 78 degrees Friday, followed by a chance of more rain throughout the weekend.
From Head Coach Mic Potter
"We are always excited to begin the postseason with the SEC Championship at Greystone Golf and Country Club Legacy Course in Birmingham. We love the golf course and the people at Greystone, and we have always felt very comfortable there. We have had a solid year so far and are looking forward to continued improvement and the opportunity to compete for championships in the postseason."The Lineup
- The Crimson Tide lineup will include Polly Mack, Benedetta Moresco, Angelica Moresco, Isabella van der Biest and Emilie Øverås, while Sarah Edwards will travel as an alternate.
- Mack and both Moresco sisters have competed in all eight tournaments this season, while Edwards has competed in seven tournaments, Øverås has competed in five tournaments and van der Biest has competed in four tournaments.
- Mack leads the Crimson Tide in rounds counted, contributing all 23 of her rounds to the team score. Rounding out the Tide's top scorers, A. Moresco has contributed 21 of her 22 rounds and B. Moresco has contributed 21 of her 23 rounds.
- Mack and B. Moresco are nearly tied for the team lead in scoring average with medians of 71.30 and 71.35, respectively, this season.
- Mack is considered the eighth-ranked player in the nation with an adjusted scoring average of 71.08 and a 14-5 record against top-25 players, according to Golfstat, while B. Moresco is considered the 16th-ranked player in the nation with an adjusted scoring average of 71.12 and a 9-10 record against ranked foes.
- Both players earned their first collegiate wins this season, as B. Moresco won The Ally to cap last fall (19-under-par 197) and Mack won the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic to cap this spring (3-under-par 213), while each of them led their respective fields wire-to-wire.
- B. Moresco is coming off a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Augusta National Women's Amateur in April, turning in a 1-over-par 217 tournament total and becoming one of just three players in the field to record at least two rounds under par.
- A. Moresco is averaging a 73.55 scoring average through 23 rounds, while Øverås has a 73.82 scoring average through 17 rounds.
- Moresco has three top-20 finishes this season, including tying for 10th place at the Moon Golf Invitational on a 2-under-par 214 in February.
- Øverås is coming off a seventh-place finish at the Auburn Tiger Individual on a 4-over-par 148 (36 holes) in April.
- Alabama's two newcomers Sarah Edwards (75.00) and Isabella van der Biest(75.93) are both averaging rounds of just three over.
- Edwards' best finish of the season came at The Ally when she finished tied for 20th place on scores of 74 and 79 in the first and second rounds, respectively, followed by an impressive 65 in the final round.
- As just a freshman, van der Biest made the Crimson Tide lineup all four tournaments this spring, collecting a pair of top-30 finishes.
Tournament Preview
- The SEC Women's Golf Championship has been held at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Ala., since 2013.
- Carved into the valley of Double Oak Mountain, the Legacy Course features placid lakes, rolling hills, and wandering streams that wind throughout the entire course.
- Since its inaugural year at Greystone Golf and Country Club, the Crimson Tide has went under par in the stroke-play competition three times, including 2016 (5-under-par 859 for first place), 2017 (9-under-par 855 for second place) and 2021 (14-under-par 850 for seventh place).
- Alabama has met every SEC team in 2021-22, defeating each conference foe at least once this season.
- The Crimson Tide is 28-7 against the field this season – 3-0 against Arkansas, 3-1 against Auburn, 3-0 against Florida, 2-0 against Georgia, 4-0 against Kentucky, 2-2 against LSU, 3-0 against Mississippi State, 1-0 against Missouri, 1-1 against Ole Miss, 1-3 against South Carolina, 2-0 against Tennessee, 1-0 against Texas A&M and 4-0 against Vanderbilt.
- Four players are ranked in Golfstat's Top 25, including No. 4 Ingrid Lindblad of LSU (70.23), No. 8 Polly Mack of Alabama (71.08), No. 10 Hannah Darling of South Carolina (71.57), No. 16 Benedetta Moresco of Alabama (71.12), No. 20 Kajal Mistry of Arkansas (71.89), No. 21 Chiara Tamburlini of Ole Miss (72.02) and No. 22 Julia Lopez Ramirez of Mississippi State (71.00).
