These
last couple weeks have been filled with detailed preparation for the 2014
Linger Longer Invitational tournament. With 15 different universities in
attendance, we have made a point to leave the players with the best course conditions
as possible. With the cold winter that we have experienced we knew that our
fairways and rough would not be at the level that we would like for them to be
so most of our focus was on preparing the greens. We did mow tees, fairways, and perimeters to
clean up the divots and mow what little grass is growing on them but we did a
few extra things on greens. The players and coaches were very happy with green
speeds and firmness.
Due to
the level of talent that the golfers had, the already difficult course was set
up in a way that would push each person to their full potential. Utilizing
rarely used alternate tees, and placing pins in very difficult locations, the
tournament was sure to test the abilities of each player. Saturday’s set up was
not too hard with a few tees moved up and a few pins in some easier locations.
This was done to ensure that everyone finished both rounds. The shotgun start
went off at 8:30 and the players played 36 continuous holes that day. The
University of Oklahoma was in the lead after round 1 with -19 but slipped to 3rd
after a second round score of +5. At the end of play on Saturday Georgia and
Alabama were tied at -20. The final round on Sunday led to the University of
Georgia taking the title, finishing the round at 7 under par with an overall
score of -27. The closest team to them was the University of Alabama finishing
Sunday’s round at 3 over par and an overall score of -17. On Sunday the course
was set up very difficult. There were only 3 rounds under par that day and Georgia
had all three of those on their team.
