Fresh faces may be the key to the Crimson Tide men’s golf team’s chances to advance to the NCAA tournament this year. The Tide opened up its season with a win at the Carpet Capital Collegiate in Rocky Face, Ga. this weekend. The team finished with 8-under par 856.

Head coach Jay Seawell earned his 16th tournament title this weekend.

“Winning is always fun,” Seawell said. “It was a great start. It was important to do well the first tournament, and winning will give us some confidence to grow into the rest of the season.”

Freshman Bobby Wyatt proved to be a strong new addition to the team. Wyatt finished fourth individually in the overall tournament with a 69-71-71 and for a 5-under par total of 211, leading the team this weekend at the tournament. His efforts included 15 birdies and an eagle.

“I wasn’t really surprised to see Bobby do so well, even though he’s a freshman,” Seawell said. “With him being a freshman, you wonder a little bit, but he’s just really, really talented. To see him do that well is what we recruited him for, so he could be an immediate help.”

Junior Bud Cauley finished tied for fifth at 4-under par 212, finishing one stroke behind Wyatt. Cauley’s weekend included 13 birdies and an eagle.

“I struggled some this weekend,” Cauley said. “I definitely didn’t play my best, but I was able to manage it and put up decent scores every day. I just was never able to go really low, but I managed my mistakes, made some birdies and was able to shoot under par.”

Freshman Cory Whitsett finished tied for 12th at even-par 216. He finished with 14 birdies.

“I did as well as I expected this weekend,” Whitsett said. “I felt like we had a good chance of playing well and I’ve been playing well. I didn’t putt as well as I would have liked to, but I was pretty pleased with the start to my college career.”

By winning the tournament Alabama earned Golfweek’s “Team of the Week”.

“Our team is playing great,” Cauley said. “It feels great to win. It’s a great way to start off the year. It was a great group effort last week; nobody carried the team or shot really low. It was a bunch of solid scores. I think it shows the depth of our team.”

Sept. 17-19, the Tide will be in Illinois participating in the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational. The Tide will be facing No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Augusta State, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin preseason rankings. Other teams competing in this tournament are Florida, Duke, Texas, Florida State and Illinois, along with others. The tournament will take place Fri.- Sun.

“None of us have played Olympia Fields or been there, not even me as a coach,” Seawell said. “This is our first tournament there. We have one practice round, and we’ll try to do the best we can to figure it out it in one day.”