PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — After the University of Alabama finished 10th in a 12-team field at the Watersound Invitational on Feb. 21, which the Crimson Tide hosts in Panama City, graduate senior Canon Claycomb began to give his teammates a few quiet pep talks about rallying themselves in the wake of Nick Dunlap making his sudden departure for the PGA Tour three weeks earlier after winning the American Express as an amateur.
Claycomb put it in baseball terms after a discussion with assistant coach Forrest Schultz.
“We started talking about playing ‘small ball,’” Claycomb said. “In baseball, you go back to your fundamentals, bunt, steal, do all the little things. That’s what we needed to do … go to work on the little things.”
It began in practice sessions over the past 10 days and worked like a charm on Saturday for the Tide, ranked 21st in the lastest Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll.
The weather and the Sawgrass Country Club threw all it had at the field of 15 teams in The Hayt, an invitational hosted by the University of North Florida but led by Claycomb’s 69, the Tide posted five rounds of 73 or lower and took the first-round lead at 6-under 282, four shots ahead of Ohio State and seven clear of No. 2 North Carolina.
No. 12 Virginia is 6 over, Louisville 7 over, Liberty 9 over and Jacksonville University is 12 over.
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Claycomb eagled the par-5 fourth hole on a chip-in from the back of the green, rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 17 and two-putted the par-5 18th for birdie to highlight his day. Junior Jonathan Griz and sophomore Jones Free both shot 2-under 70 and sophomore J.P. Cave and senior Thomas Ponder posted 73s.
The Tide maintained consistency throughout the lineup despite hot and windy conditions for most of the round, followed by a brief but heavy shower that halted play for around an hour.
On a rugged golf course in a variety of weather, it’s likely no accident that Claycomb and co-leaders Neal Shipley of Ohio State and Alexandre Vandermoten of JU, all seniors or graduates, are on top of the leaderboard.
They can’t get too comfortable in Sunday’s second round. Griz and Free are tied with David Ford of North Carolina and Adam Wallin of Ohio State. Seven more players are 1 under or even par and 21 enter the second round within four shots of the lead.
Losing Dunlap, who will start in his first Players Championship in five days across A1A from Sawgrass at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, resulted in some soul-searching, according to coach Jay Seawell.
After all, the Tide won two fall tournaments and finished fifth in another, with Dunlap coming in as the low player in three of the four events, with a first and a second.
But Seawell said the rest of the team had to come to a realization that they had enough good players to still be competitive anywhere they teed it up.
“They’ve kind of had to regroup … we don’t have Nick but we’re still a good team,” said Seawell, who has brought the Tide to The Hayt 10 times, winning in 2007 and 2008 and posting four other top-five finishes.
“They’re trying to get their new identity and I’m really proud of how they played today,” he continued. “We’re an older team and I think they kind of looked at each other and said, ‘you know, we’ve got good players.’ We’re getting great leadership from Thomas and Canon and they’re helping keep us in a good place.”
It’s only one round in one tournament but Claycomb, who was second-team All-SEC last season, thinks his teammates have built some confidence.
“We lost a really good player, but he was just one guy,” Claycomb said. “We’ve still got a good team.”
The host North Florida Ospreys, ranked 24th in the coaches poll, are tied for eighth with UCF at 13-over as senior Nick Gabrelcik (75), third on the PGA Tour University rankings, shot 75. It matched his highest score this season and it was his first over-par score in eight rounds.
Gabrelcik has posted seven top-10 finishes in a row and has won twice this season, the Gator Invitational and the Williams Cuo.
Freshman Chase Carroll, playing as an individual, led UNF with a 71. Senior Robbie Higgins tied for 13th with a 72.
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