Alabama Men's Golf Advances to Match Play Quarterfinals of SEC Championship

The Crimson Tide will face the No. 1 Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday morning.

Alabama men's golf advanced to the SEC Men's Golf Championship match play quarterfinals after finishing tied for fourth overall in the final round of match play. The No. 17 Crimson Tide finished with a three-round total of 832 (270-278-284).

Alabama's fourth-place finish puts the team among the top eight teams to reach the match play portion of the championship. The Crimson Tide will face No. 1 Vanderbilt on Saturday morning in the quarterfinals and will advance to the semifinals on Saturday afternoon should it win.

Here's the full press release from Alabama Athletics:

Alabama Advances to SEC Men’s Golf Championship Match Play Quarterfinals

The Crimson Tide finished tied fourth overall after the final round of stroke play.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — The No. 17 Alabama men’s golf team concluded the stroke play portion of the 2023 Southeastern Conference Men’s Golf Championships Friday afternoon, finishing tied for fourth overall with a 54-hole total of 832 (270-278-284).

With its fourth-place result, the Crimson Tide is among the top eight teams to advance to the match play portion of this year’s championship. Alabama will square off against No.1-ranked Vanderbilt in Saturday morning’s quarterfinal with the winner advancing to the semifinals that afternoon.

Canon Claycomb led the charge in stroke play with a fourth-place finish at 6-under 204 (67-66-71), one of three Crimson Tide golfers who finished among the top-20 individuals at the event. Nick Dunlap (69-72-69) and Jonathan Griz (70-70-70) tied for 19^th with identical tournament totals of even par 210.

The Crimson Tide will now move onto the match play quarterfinals Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. CT, paired alongside Vanderbilt on holes Nos. 11-15.

Round Three Highlights

• Canon Claycomb his fourth top-10 finish of the year and has now totaled 12 rounds in the 60s and a team-best 22 rounds (out of 30 played this season) of par or better
• Nick Dunlap continues to shine during his rookie season by collecting his team-leading eighth top-20 result across his 10 tournaments played this year

• Jonathan Griz earned his second consecutive top-20 finish with the result from SECs, and has combined to shoot 10-under par during the stretch with six consecutive rounds of par or better
• Claycomb carded a score of 1-over 71 for round three, finishing tied for fourth and marking his second top-five finish of the year and fourth career top-five result
• Dunlap finished the round tied for 19^th with a 1-under 69, earning his team-leading 14^th round in the 60s
• Thomas Ponder finished the day in a tie for the 28^th position at 1-over 211 (64-70-77), while JP Cave finished tied for 62^nd with a 14-over 224 (77-73-74)

Team Highlights

• Tennessee (-14) will be the No. 1 seed in SEC Match Play, with Texas A&M (-13) earning the No. 2 seed
• Florida (-9), Vanderbilt (-8) and Alabama (-8) round out the top five teams
• Ole Miss (-1), Missouri (E) and Mississippi State (+1) finished above the cutline to earn a qualifying spot in Saturday’s match play quarterfinals

Up Next

• Alabama will tee off in the quarterfinals of match play Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. CT off holes Nos. 11-15
• Live stats will be available on Golfstat.com throughout the championship, with Sunday’s championship match being televised live on SEC Network