No. 20 Alabama Men’s Golf Shares Clubhouse Lead after Opening Round of the Linger Longer Invitational

EATONTON, Ga. – The No. 20 Alabama men’s golf team finished the day at 5-under par 283 and is in a tie for first after the opening round of the Linger Longer Invitational. All five starters carded rounds of par or better to lead the Crimson Tide in Sunday’s opening 18 holes.

As a team, Alabama collected a total of 19 birdies and two eagles on the day, which ranks third and first in the 16-team field, respectively.

The freshmen duo of Jonathan Griz and Nick Dunlap lead the way as both rank among the top-10 individuals. Griz leads the team after carding a 3-under 69 to end the day in a tie for fourth, while Dunlap’s 2-under 70 has him in a tie for ninth overall.

The three-day, 54-hole event, hosted by Kennesaw State, is being be played at the par 72, 7,436-yard Great Waters Golf Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee.

Round One Highlights

• All five Crimson Tide starters rank inside the top-20 individuals after day one
• Jonathan Griz collected five birdies and a double bogey on his way to his fourth career round in the 60s
• Nick Dunlap also had five birdies to share the team lead in the opening round, however, battled through consecutive bogeys on holes 13, 14 and 15 to result in his 15^th round this year of par or better
• Canon Claycomb, who also had five birdies to tie for most on the team, Thomas Ponder and JP Cave each carded rounds of even par 72 and are tied for 16^th entering the second round of play
• Ponder and Claycomb both had an eagle on the day, with Ponder’s coming on the 557-yard sixth hole and Claycomb’s on the 543-yard 18^th hole
• Jones Free, who is playing as an individual, finished at 1-over par 73 and is in a tie for 27^th overall

Team Highlights

• Alabama shares the clubhouse lead with No. 34 Georgia (-5)
• Top-ranked Vanderbilt (-2) is in third, one shot ahead of No. 16 Virginia (-1)
• No. 11 Georgia Tech (+4) rounds out the top five teams
• The 16-team field features seven squads ranked inside the nation’s top 40
• This marks the Tide’s 12^th appearance in the annual event (five team championships)

Up Next

• The Crimson Tide will tee off the second round at 10:30 a.m. ET (9:30 a.m. CT) with staggered tee times off Nos. 1 and 10
• The tee times…