Alabama Fourth at NCAA Championships; Three Shots Back of Leader

The second-ranked Alabama men’s golf team fired a 4-under-par 274 in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Golf Championship on the par-70, 7,319-yard Crabapple Course at the Capital City Club Wednesday morning.

The Crimson Tide are 9-under 551 after 36 holes, three shots back of tournament leader and host Georgia Tech. Top-ranked California is second at 11-under 549 with defending national champion Texas in third at 10-under 550. Arkansas and Illinois are tied for fifth at 557 (-3) while Arizona State (558) is seventh and Texas A&M (560) eighth.

The field will cut to the top eight teams following Thursday’s final round of stroke play and an individual medalist will be crowned. The top eight teams will then move on to three rounds of match play with the finals scheduled for Sunday.

“We get all of these birdies early, the golf course is perfect, then on these really hard holes everyone tends to struggle a little bit,” Alabama head coach Jay Seawell said. “But I was proud of how we came out this morning.”

Justin Thomas and Cory Whitsett both carded 2-under-par rounds of 68 to pace the Crimson Tide. Thomas is 5-under 135 and tied for third position with six other players. Arizona State’s Jon Rahm, who shot 61 on Tuesday, leads all individuals at 7-under 133.

“This is a championship venue,” Seawell said. “That is one of the biggest things our guys need to take from this – this is a really, really good golf course. It is so perfect, the conditions are so perfect that there are birdies, but it is still very demanding.”

Thomas, from Goshen, Ky., played the front nine in 2-under and then birdied the par-4 10^th hole to move to 3-under. He made bogey on the 14^th hole and closed with four straight pars for a 2-under 68.

Whitsett, from Houston, Texas, also go to 3-under on his round with back-to-back birdies on the 12^th and 13^th holes. He then made back-to-back bogeys on the 15^th and 16^th before a closing birdie on the 18^th that moved him into a tie for 16^th at 3-under 137.

Senior Scott Strohmeyer and junior Trey Mullinax both carded even-par rounds of 70 on Wednesday to count toward the Alabama team score. Junior Bobby Wyatt’s 1-over 71 was dropped in round two. Wyatt is tied for 31^st at 1-under 139 while Strohmeyer is tied for 43^rd at 141 and Mullinax tied for 56^th at 142.

Alabama will play with Arkansas and Illinois in the third round and final stroke-play round on Thursday at the Crabapple Course. The Crimson Tide will tee off at 11:20 a.m. (CDT) on the first hole.