The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Men's Golf Aiming For C-USA Title
4/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 17, 2005
SAUCIER, Miss. - UAB enters this week's Conference USA Men's Golf Championships with hopes of a pair of upsets. Should the Blazers knock off No. 11 TCU, the team favored to win the league title for the fourth straight year, UAB would likely have an excellent shot at its first C-USA crown.
The Blazers would also earn a spot in the NCAA East Regional in mid-May.
The tournament takes place with 18-hole rounds Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the par-72, 7,200-plus yard Grand Bear Golf Course just north of Gulfport, Miss.
"I keep thinking about the tournament two years ago," UAB head coach Alan Kaufman said of the 2003 Conference USA Championships. "TCU was supposed to run away with it. We were tied after the first round, down three strokes after the second and only lost by seven shots. We've got what I think is as good or better a team this year. We still haven't hit on all cylinders. If we do this week, we'll make a run for the title."
Even if UAB doesn't win the league's automatic bid, it is on the bubble for a regional berth and hopes for a strong showing this week.
"The odds are stacked against us a bit, but it's possible," Kaufman said. "We would have to play very well, come in a close second and hope some of the teams on the bubble with us do the opposite. The regional committee has a hard task picking those last few teams. I hope we do enough to warrant an invitation."
Junior Clark Brown is hitting his normal end-of-season stride after a career-best round of 68 in the final round of Auburn's Billy Hitchcock Invitational last weekend. Brown turned heads at last year's Conference USA Championships with a three-round total of 218 and a tie for fourth place. Sophomore Garrett Osborn is averaging 73.7 strokes over his last nine rounds and has had a breakout second season for the Blazers.
Seniors Ryan Thomas and Chris Cousins will be instrumental in UAB's charge this week. Thomas has notched at least one round at or under par in each of his last three tournaments. Cousins, who was ranked in the top-50 individuals in the nation before suffering a wrist injury last year, has yet to return to his top-50 form, but has the potential to have a breakout tournament. Freshman Kaylor Timmons, who started the year with a top-five finish at the Mason Rudolph Championship, will be the Blazers' fifth player.
UAB placed fourth out of 12 teams in last year's league championships behind Brown's performance and a top-20 finish for Thomas. Adam Meyer of TCU won the individual title with rounds of 68-68-69. The Horned Frogs' J.J. Killeen enters this year's tournament ranked No. 20 nationally according to the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings.
