Alabama Men's Golf Struggles In Third Round of NCAA Championship

The tough par-4 18th hole on Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. took a toll and helped put the Crimson Tide' season in jeopardy.

For the second straight day, the University of Alabama men's golf team was left playing the waiting game at the 2023 NCAA Championship, but this time it wasn't a good thing. 

The play of Nick Dunlap aside, as the freshman shot the third round at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. at -4 on Sunday, bringing his tournament total to -2 and into a tie for eighth place on the individual leaderboard, the Crimson Tide struggled. 

Alabama shot +9, which was the highest score among the top teams playing in the morning session, for a +21 total on the Par-70, 7289-yard course. With the completion of the afternoon session it ended up in 13th place with the field cut down to 15 at the end of the day.

However, only the top eight teams will advance beyond the fourth round to play in the match-play quarterfinals. Alabama is eight strokes in back of No. 7 Florida State and top-seeded Vanderbilt, which were tied for that final spot. 

"Little disappointed," Crimson Tide head coach Jay Seawell told Alabama's social media. "Dunlap was great."

Five teams had separated themselves from the pack to put themselves into commanding positions to advance: Illinois (-6), Pepperdine (-3), Florida (-1), North Carolina (+1), and Georgia Tech (+2). Stanford was sixth (+10) and host Arizona State seventh (+11).

Alabama wasn't the only SEC team to struggle in the desert on Sunday as Auburn (+16) and Texas A&M (+17) were both able to hang on to top-15 spots. Georgia (+24) got some needed help to make the cut, but Arkansas (+30) and Mississippi State (+40) did not.

Canon Claycomb shot +3 on Sunday while Thomas Ponder, Jonathan Griz and JP Cave were all +5. Claycomb was +5 for the tournament, Griz +7, and Cave +11. Ponder was +14. 

The key stretch for the Crimson Tide, which began the round on the back nine, happened with Griz. Due to Ponder having the team low score, as only the top four count toward the team total, the freshman's mishaps on the turn had to count when he double-bogeyed the par-four No. 18, and then posted a snowman 8 on the first hole. 

No. 18, one of the most challenging holes on the course at 520 yards, also victimized Ponder, who scored a 7, while Claycomb and Dunlap each had a bogey-5 Sunday. 

"It put us behind the eight-ball all day," Seawell said of the 18th hole. 

Griz bounced back to notch three subsequent birdies, only to give another stroke back with a bogey on No. 9. 

SEE ALSO: Live Updates: Alabama Men's Golf in NCAA Championships (Stroke Play)