Gamecocks Fall to Alabama in SEC Match Play, 3-2

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — South Carolina fell 3-2 to Alabama in the match play quarterfinals at the 2021 SEC Men’s Golf Championship on Saturday at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course. The Gamecocks took an early 2-0 lead, but Alabama won the final three matches to advance to the semis.
 
Super senior Jamie Wilson got Carolina on the board first with a dominant 5&4 win over the Crimson Tide’s JP Cave. Fellow super senior Caleb Proveaux put the second point on the board for the Gamecocks with a comeback 2&1 win over Thomas Ponder. Proveaux was 2-down through eight holes but was able to swing momentum with a long birdie putt at hole nine. He hit it close on 14 to make another birdie then sunk another long putt on 15 for a red number to go 3-up with three holes to play. Ponder made birdie at 16 to extend the match but Proveaux won on 17 with a halve on the hole.
 
Alabama knotted things at 2-2 as Canon Claycomb defeated Ryan Hall 3&2 and Wilson Furr beat Jack Parrott, 2&1. South Carolina trailed in both of those matches for most of the back nine.
 
Everything came down to the fifth and final match between Jack Wall and Davis Shore. Wall was 2-up through 11, but Shore came back to tie things up all square heading to the 16^th tee. Shore won 16 to go 1-up. Both players then hit great tee shots at the par-3 17^th above hole, Wall’s ball just inside Shore’s. Shore made birdie and then Wall just missed his putt left and Alabama won 3-2 in a heartbreaker for the Gamecocks.
 
With the loss, South Carolina will finish T-5^th with Texas A&M, Tennessee and LSU. In 14 SEC Championship appearances under head coach Bill McDonald since 2007, the Gamecocks have now finished in the top-five eight times with a trio of runner-up finishes.
 
South Carolina now awaits to find out where it will be headed for NCAA Regionals. Golf Channel will host the men’s selection show live at 2 p.m. ET on May 5. Regional play for the 2021 Division I Men’s Golf Championships will be held May 17-19, with play taking place at The Sagamore Club in Noblesville, Ind., hosted by Ball State; Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee, Fla., hosted by Florida State; Championship Course at UNM in Albuquerque, N.M., hosted by New Mexico; Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla., hosted by Oklahoma State; Golf Club of Tennessee in Kingston Springs, Tenn., hosted by Vanderbilt; and Tumble Creek Golf & Country Club in Cle Elum, Wash., hosted by Washington. Three of the six regional sites will have 13 teams and 10 individuals competing, while three will have 14 teams and five individuals. The top five teams (30 teams total) and the low individual not on an advancing team from each regional site (six individuals total) will advance to the national championships at Grayhawk.
 
2021 SEC Match Play Quarterfinals
1. Caleb Proveaux (SC) defeats Thomas Ponder (ALA), 2&1
2. Wilson Furr (ALA) defeats Jack Parrott (SC), 2&1
3. Canon Claycomb (ALA) defeats Ryan Hall (SC), 3&2
4. Jamie Wilson (SC) defeats JP Cave (ALA), 5&4
5. Davis Shore (ALA) defeats Jack Wall (SC), 2&1
 
2021 SEC Men’s Golf Championship Stroke Play Gamecock Leaderboard
T5. Jamie Wilson – 210 (E)
T12. Ryan Hall – 213 (+3)
T28. Jack Wall – 216 (+6)
56. Jack Parrott – 222 (+12)
T61. Caleb Proveaux – 225 (+15)
 
2021 SEC Men’s Golf Championship Stroke Play Leaderboard
1. No. 10 Georgia – 842 (+2)
T2. No. 37 Alabama – 850 (+10)
T2. No. 19 Tennessee – 850 (+10)
T2. No. 23 LSU – 850 (+10)
5. No. 22 Arkansas – 852 (+12)
6. No. 15 Vanderbilt – 853 (+13)
7. No. 48 South Carolina – 855 (+15)
8. No. 11 Texas A&M – 856 (+16)
T9. No. 14 Auburn – 860 (+20)
T9. No. 17 Florida – 860 (+20)
11. Kentucky – 866 (+26)
12. No. 40 Ole Miss – 874 (+34)
13. No. 49 Missouri – 877 (+37)
14. No. 44 Mississippi State – 879 (+39)
 
*Rankings via Golfstat as of 4/13/21
 
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