MILTON, Ga. — Redemption is never easy, but when it comes, it is always more satisfying. At least that is what the players and coaches at Alabama said after the Crimson Tide defeated Illinois 4-1 to lock up the school’s first men’s NCAA golf championship.
One year ago, the Tide lost the championship to Texas on the final hole of the last match. The pain from that loss was a big factor as they beat Illinois this time around.
“They had a fire in their eyes from the beginning,” Illinois coach Mike Small said. “After what happened to them last year, they came out here with a purpose and just played some fantastic golf.”
That purpose began at a team meeting in the hotel room on Saturday night, when Jay Seawell, the normally quiet Alabama coach, gathered his team in a room and said, “Let’s go get it.”
“I normally don’t say things like that — haven’t ever said to a team before — but I could see it in their eyes,” Seawell said. “They were ready for this.”
During Sunday warm-ups, Alabama assistant Rob Bradley walked up to junior Bobby Wyatt, who was out in the first match against Illinois’s freshman Thomas Detry, one of two Belgians playing golf for the Illini. Bradley’s conversation with Wyatt was brief. The assistant walked over to Seawell immediately afterward and said, “I wouldn’t want to be playing Bobby today. I’ve never seen him look like that.”
Prior to Sunday, Wyatt was most famous for shooting 57 in the Alabama boy’s state championship. But before the clocked slipped past noon on Sunday, he had beaten Detry 6 and 5, an emphatic win that could have been worse. Wyatt was 7 up through 7 holes before Detry knew what hit him. Then the youngster closed out the match with a birdie on the par-3 13th.
Wyatt’s scores sent a jolt through the rest of his teammates.
“It was amazing to see,” junior Cory Whitsett said. “Bobby is a streaky player, but it’s great having him go out first because when he gets hot nobody in the world can beat him. To see him doing what he did really pushed the rest of us.”
Whitsett didn’t need a lot of extra motivation. He was the player who lost the final match to Texas last year.
“That was the loneliest feeling in the world,” he said. “I remember the entire Texas team running out onto the green celebrating and there I was sitting on my bag. I think people were afraid to come near me because they didn’t know what to say.”
They knew what to say this time. After Trey Mullinax made a four-foot par putt at 18 to win his match 1 up, Alabama only needed one more win to clinch the title. Whitsett gave them that victory when he made a four at the 15th to beat Alex Burge 4 and 3.
Inside a minute later, senior team captain Scott Strohmeyer turned a close match into a rout when he made a four-foot putt to beat Brian Campbell 3 and 2.
“I remember the pain from last year,” Strohmeyer said. “It was awful. But golf is about experiences. You have good experiences and bad experiences and you learn from both. Before we teed off today I told Cory (Whitsett), ‘We got a second chance. Not many people get that. We have to get it done now.’”
As a team, Alabama won all three of its matches 4-1, beating New Mexico on Friday and Georgia Tech on Saturday to advance to the finals. This was the golf equivalent of the Tide’s 42-14 win over Notre Dame in the BCS Championship Game.
It also spoke volumes about the culture in Tuscaloosa. In the last two academic years, the Crimson Tide has won two football national titles, a women’s gymnastics title, the softball World Series, the women’s golf championship and now the men’s golf crown.
No one will say what led to such a explosion of championship talent, but Seawell inadvertently gave a hint.
“Last night [football] coach [Nick] Saban sent me a text message saying, ‘Do you want me to come coach tomorrow?’” Seawell said. “Heck I would have loved it. He’s got a lot more championship experience than I have.”
Then a phone rang, and Seawell excused himself. It was Alabama president Dr. Judy Bonner. During the call, Seawell teared up for the first time since being handed the national championship trophy.
“I can’t thank you enough for all your support,” Seawell said to Bonner. “We couldn’t do it without you.”
Then he paused, caught his breath, and said, “That is how we get it done at Alabama.”
