April 2, 2008

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama remains at the top spot as the nation's No. 1 ranked team in collegiate golf in the third Golf World/Nike Golf Division I Coaches' Poll of the spring. The poll was released on Wednesday. Alabama received 19 of 23 first-place votes. The Crimson Tide has won five team tournament championships out of eight events played this season.

This gives the Crimson Tide a sweep, ranking it No. 1 in all three major golf polls this week.

Alabama, coached by Jay Seawell, has one regular season tournament remaining, the Morris Williams Intercollegiate which will be held April 7-8 in Austin, Texas.

The Top 25 in the latest Coaches' Poll finds Alabama holding on to 1st place for the second straight poll, and Georgia, which received one first-place vote, remaining at No. 2. Southern California received two first place votes and jumped from No. 6 to No. 3. Charlotte is at No. 4, dropping one spot despite receiving a first-place vote, and UCLA remained at No. 5 to round out the Top Five. At No. 6 is Oklahoma State, followed by Stanford, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Auburn, South Carolina, Duke, Clemson, UNLV, Chattanooga, Wake Forest, Texas A&M, Indiana, Michigan State, Texas Tech, East Tennessee State, Central Florida and Louisville.

The Southeastern Conference, of which Alabama is a member, had six teams ranked among the top 13, including No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Georgia, No. 8 Florida, No. 9 Tennessee, No. 12 Auburn and No. 13 South Carolina, making for a powerful gathering at the league championships which will be held April 18-20 at Sea Island, Ga.

Alabama is ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings this week as well as the Golf Stat team rankings. Both of those are formulaic, statistical rankings.

The Crimson Tide's low stroke leader is senior Michael Thompson who averages 70.10 strokes per round in seven tournaments played. The Tucson, Arizona native will leave Saturday for Augusta, Ga., where he will compete as an invited amateur in the 2008 Masters Tournament. Matthew Swan, a junior from Montgomery is next with his 72.44 stroke average in seven tournaments. He and two of his Tide teammates are just fractions away from one another in stroke averages as senior Mark Harrell of Hazlehurst, Ga., is averaging 72.53 in eight tournaments and junior Matt Hughes of Dalton, Ga., has a 72.53 stroke average in five tournaments played. Stewart Whitt of Athens is averaging 73.17 in two events. Daphne's Joseph Sykora, who has won two individual tournament championships in his last two seasons at Alabama, is averaging 73.33 in six tournaments and Florence's Gator Todd has a 74.06 stroke average in six tournaments played this season. Alabama is so deep in talent this season that it has won the five team tournament championships using five different lineups. Harrell, a 2007 U.S. Open participant as an amateur, is the only Alabama golfer who has played in all eight tournaments this season.