Crimson Tide Owns Three-Shot Lead after 36-Holes Played at Steelwood Collegiate

LOXLEY, Ala. – The No. 13 Alabama men’s golf team holds the clubhouse lead after two rounds of play at the Steelwood Collegiate. The Crimson Tide carded back-to-back rounds of 284 Saturday and finished the opening 36 holes with a team score of 8-under par 568.

The Tide will take a three-shot lead over Kentucky (-5) into Sunday’s final round and is six shots better than No. 27 Chattanooga (-2).

Third round action will begin at 7:45 a.m. CT, with Alabama teeing off the final grouping at 9:15 a.m. on the par 72, 7032-yard Steelwood Country Club. Live stats can be found at Golfstat.com.

Individual Highlights

• Three Crimson Tide golfers rank among the top-10 individuals to pace the team on day one
• Thomas Ponder carded consecutive rounds of 2-under 70 and is in fourth overall at 4-under par 140 to lead UA
• Austin Coggin is in a tie for seventh overall at 2-under 142 (72-70), while Canon Claycomb is in a tie for ninth at 1-under 143 (67-76)
• Claycomb, whose opening round 67 was the team’s lowest score of the day, leads the field in par 5 scoring average, going 6-under par on par 5 holes (4.25)
• Coggin is tied for first on par 3 scoring (-2, 2.75) while his 26 total pars is tied for third-most in the field
• Ponder leads the team with nine birdies across the 36 holes played which is tied for seventh-most among all golfers
• After an opening round 78, Jonathan Griz improved 10 shots in the second round to end the day in 20^th overall at 2-over 146 (78-68)
• JP Cave rounds out the Tide’s starting five in a tie for 48^th overall at 151 (75-76)
• Two Alabama golfers are competing as individuals as Jones Free (75-75/150) is in a tie for 42^nd while Luke Coyle (78-73/151) is in a tie for 48^th)

Team Highlights

• As a team, Alabama leads the field in total pars (115) and par 3 scoring (+3, 3.08), while ranking second in par scoring (+6, 4.06)
• Alabama (-8), Kentucky (-5) and Chattanooga (-2) are the only teams to finish below par
• Memphis (+5) is in fourth while Kansas State (+12) and Virginia Tech (+12) round out the top five
• The Crimson Tide will be paired alongside Kentucky and Chattanooga and will tee off at 9:15 a.m. CT off Hole No. 1
• The Steelwood Country Club course was…