The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Kaufman Inks West Twins, Oswalt For UAB Golf
11/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Nov. 18, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB head men's golf coach Alan Kaufman landed three of Alabama's top amateur golfers in the fall signing period. Wetumpka High School's standout twins, Adam and Blake West, and Faulkner State Community College's top golfer Jon Oswalt have signed National Letters of Intent to play college golf at UAB.
"These three young men are outstanding individuals and strong golfers," Kaufman said. "We've steadily been climbing back to national prominence with our performance on the course with this year's team. These young men will hopefully help us maintain that level of excellence."
The Wests have been the top golfers for Diane Searcy's Wetumpka golf team since their seventh grade years. Wetumpka has won the county title and appeared in the Alabama State Championships for five straight seasons. Both Adam and Blake have finished in the top 25 in the Alabama 5A State Championships each of the last three years while leading their team to a fifth place finish in each of the last two.
Blake tied for 13th in last year's 5A boy's championships with rounds of 73-84. Adam tied for 18th with rounds of 77-82. In 2004, Blake placed fourth and just behind current Blazer Zack Sucher in the 5A boy's championships with a five-under 139, while Adam placed 11th with a one-over par 145. Blake qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateurs last year as well.
Oswalt, the 2004 Alabama 6A Individual title winner, has been Faukner State's low golfer in all three of the Sun Chief's fall tournaments. He went for a season-low 67 in the Northwest Shoals Community College Tournament in late October at the Robert Trent Jones-The Shoals golf course.
"We only lose one senior this year in Clark Brown," Kaufman said. "With the talent we've got coming back and these three young men, we should put ourselves in position to progress closer to our goals of qualifying for the NCAA National Tournament again."
Kaufman has guided UAB to two NCAA National Tournament appearances in his eight years at UAB. The Blazers finished the fall season ranked No. 42 in the Golfweek/Sagarin computer ratings with a 46-17 head-to-head record. Junior Garrett Osborn has two tournament wins this fall and is the second-ranked golfer in the NCAA behind Oklahoma State's Pablo Martin according to Golfweek.
