Wyatt, Thomas pace Alabama to NCAA lead

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. (WALA) - The University of Alabama men’s golf team has the opening-round lead at the NCAA Championships on the par-71, 7,292-yard Riviera Country Club on Tuesday after shooting a 1-over-par round of 285.

The second-seeded Crimson Tide has a three-shot lead on Florida and Auburn heading into Wednesday’s second round. It was an eventful day for Alabama’s five-man lineup who recorded 17 birdies, one eagle, 18 bogeys and two double bogeys. UCLA and Oklahoma are tied for fourth at 5-over 289 while Iowa, Florida State, North Florida, UCF and Texas are tied for sixth at 6-over 290.

Alabama, who teed off on the 10 ^th hole Tuesday afternoon, finished on the par-4, 458-yard ninth hole. The Tide played the hole at 2-under par with a 24-foot birdie from Bobby Wyatt and a 14-foot birdie from Justin Thomas to finish at 1-over 285 as a team.

“We had a nice round and I was proud of how we finished, making a couple of birdies on our final hole,” Alabama head coach Jay Seawell said. “This is a hard golf course and the guys just kind of hung in there. I was pleased with the way they were able to stay focused on the job at hand. Those two birdies are going to be huge at the end of this round.”

Thomas, a freshman from Goshen, Ky., played his final 11 holes at 3-under par after a rough start. He is tied for 10 ^th after posting the Crimson Tide’s lowest round of the day at 1-under 70.

Wyatt, a native of Mobile, Ala., finished at even-par 71 with his closing birdie. He went out in even par and made birde on his 10 ^th and 18 ^th holes with two bogeys in between for his even par round. He is tied with teammate Scott Strohmeyer in 13 ^th place after carding an up-and-down first round.

Strohmeyer, from Auburn, Ala., made an eagle, four birdies and six bogeys to go along with just seven pars in his first round. Sophomore Cory Whitsett and senior Hunter Hamrick tied for Alabama’s final counting score of the day with 2-over-par rounds of 73. They are in a tie for 46 ^th place after 18 holes.

“This is a great, hard golf course. It is very fair. It is probably the fairest course we have every competed on. You hit a bad shot; you are going to get penalized for it. You hit a good shot; you have a chance to make birdies. The pins were fair. You have a 300-yard par-4 (No. 10) and you can make a three of a six with no water or out-of-bounds.”

Alabamawill play with Texas and California again in the second round at Riviera on Wednesday. The Crimson Tide will tee off at 9 a.m. (CDT) on the first hole. The field will be cut to the top eight teams after three rounds on Thursday and then play three rounds of match play to crown a national champion.

--University of Alabama Student Athletics--