February 28, 2008

Tuscaloosa, AL (UWIRE) -- As temperatures in Tuscaloosa drop, the Crimson Tide has headed south to Rio Grande, Puerto Rico where Friday they begin competition in the 2008 Puerto Rico Classic.

"We're going to paradise, and so the mindset sometimes can be, 'oh, you want to get away and go to warm weather,' or whatever," said Tide head coach Jay Seawell.

"That might be a little bit of the case but basically you go there because the best teams are there. We'll be there. Georgia will be there. Oklahoma State and there are a couple of other top 15 teams. So you've got a chance again to play against the best teams on a very good golf course where they played the World Amateur a few years ago."

This weekend's tournament will be the first opportunity of the year for the No. 2 Tide to square off against the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Though they haven't competed in a tournament since late October, the Bulldogs hold the nation's top spot in both the GolfWeek and Nike coach's polls.

The Bulldogs, led by junior Brian Harmon and freshman Harris English, are the defending champions at the Puerto Rico Classic. They will return three of the five golfers from last year's team, which finished one stroke better than Clemson and Stanford.

The Tide finished fourth in Puerto Rico in 2007 but return all five players from last year, including junior Matthew Swan who shot 5-under par to finish in fifth place individually last year.

Swan will be the youngest in the group, which also features seniors Michael Thompson, Mark Harrell, Joseph Sykora and Gator Todd.

"We haven't played this lineup yet," Seawell said. "This is the first time we've played it, and so I'm interested to see how it goes. We had a very successful team. This team won many tournaments last year and did some great things."

Thompson, a finalist in last year's U.S. Amateur Championship, recently ascended to the top of the NCAA individual rankings. Last Sunday Golfstat named Thompson the new No. 1 golfer in the NCAA. He has finished under par and in the top five in all four tournaments he's competed in this year.

Last week Thompson and his teammate Harrell were named to the Ben Hogan Award watch list. The annual award is collegiate golf's top honor and includes all NCAA divisions, the NAIA and JUCO golf when it selects the lone winner.

Tide alum Marten Olander won the Hogan Award in 1993 before moving on to a successful pro career in Europe.

The Puerto Rico Classic not only features Georgia against Alabama, but it also pits Thompson against several Hogan Award candidates, including the golfer Thompson recently deposed as the nation's top amateur, Oklahoma State's Rickie Fowler.

Fowler was the youngest member of last year's U.S. Walker Cup team and enjoyed victories at the prestigious Player's Amateur and the Sunnehanna Amateur. Fowler's Oklahoma State team is ranked No. 4 in the country this week.

Play begins Friday at the Rio Mar Beach Resort and the final round will be held on Sunday.

(C) 2008 The Crimson White via UWIRE