Trey Mullinax
WINDERMERE, Fla. - The top-ranked Alabama men's golf team tied the school record with its third straight victory to open the 2013-14 season, earning a 12-shot win at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational Tuesday on the par-72, 7,387-yard Isleworth Country Club.
The Crimson Tide has won a staggering nine straight tournament titles dating back to the 2013 Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters in March where they finished second. Alabama shot 2-under 286 in the final round Tuesday to defeat UCF by 12 shots (-14, 850), breaking the tournament-scoring record by three shots (-23 by Georgia in 2007). No. 3 California finished third at 5-under 859 while Florida State was fourth at 4-over 868.
"I'm really proud of them - we battled California and Central Florida on their home golf course," Alabama coach Jay Seawell told Golfweek. "They're really great teams, so we knew it was going to be a battle. The wind came up, Central Florida came within a couple of shots of us - we had a couple of stumbling blocks - but I'm really proud of how we turned the tide, no pun intended, back around."
Senior Trey Mullinax captured medalist honors by tying the tournament record at 11-under 205. It was his second career medalist honor and third top-four finish this season. The No. 1 player in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index is 14-under for the season (-1.56 strokes per round) with a scoring average of 69.11. Mullinax fired rounds of 66, 68 and 71 to complete the four-shot win.
"It was a great feeling to come out and get a victory, and to tie the individual record is obviously great," Mullinax said. "For the team, it was a great victory overall. To break that tournament record at a prestigious event like this is really good for us. Now we're really looking forward to the next event and the spring to see what happens then."
Despite a quadruple-bogey seven on the 11th hole, where he hit two tee shots in the water, senior Bobby Wyatt finished third at 6-under-par 210. He made back-to-back birdies after his seven and another on the 16th to finish with a 74.
Fellow senior Cory Whitsett shot the team's lowest round of the day at 4-under 68, rebounding after a difficult second round to finish tied for 28th at 4-over 220. Tom Lovelady also tied for 28th after a 1-over 73 in third round for a total of 4-over 220. Freshman Robby Shelton's 76 Tuesday was dropped from the team totals. He finished tied for 13th at even-par 216.
Alabama will conclude its fall schedule at the Gifford Collegiate at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Beach, Calif., on Nov. 4-5.
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ABOUT THE Isleworth Collegiate Invitational
54 hole men's college tournament co-hosted by
the University of Central Florida and West Virginia
University.
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