University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
SEC Championship - Stroke Play Round 1
Men's Golf Central: SEC Golf Championships
April 23, 2024 | Men's Golf
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The seventh-ranked Tennessee men's golf team begins postseason play Wednesday, taking part in the SEC Championships at Sea Island Golf Club.
The event, which runs from Wednesday through Sunday, features three rounds of stroke play followed by three rounds of match play. The top eight teams following the final round of stroke play will advance to the match play portion of the tournament, with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Saturday and the championship round on Sunday. Semifinal matches can be streamed digitally on SEC Network+. The final match play round will be televised live on SEC Network for the fifth consecutive year.
This marks the 23rd year of the SEC Championship at Sea Island Golf Club's Seaside Course. In addition to hosting the SEC Championship, the par-70, 7,005-yard Tom Fazio re-designed course is home to the PGA Tour's annual RSM Classic.
According to Scoreboard's collegiate rankings, nine of the SEC's 14 teams are ranked inside the top 25, including five in the top 10.
During the 2023 SEC Championships, former Vol and current LIV Golfer Caleb Surratt claimed the SEC Individual championship after shooting a three-round total of 14-under to cruise past the field by six strokes.
Surratt became the fifth Vol in program history to win an SEC Individual title and was the first freshman to earn individual medalist honors since Alabama's Justin Thomas in 2012.
Additionally, UT finished first following the stroke play portion of the tournament after shooting 14-under, which marked the program's lowest 54-hole score in relation to par at the SEC Championships. Following stroke play, the Vols advanced to the match play semifinals for the first time since match play was added to the event in 2017, but eventually fell to Vanderbilt in the semis.
WINNING WITH WEBB:Â Tennessee men's golf head coach Brennan Webb became the first coach in program history to have three triple-win seasons following the team title at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial Tournament, where the Vols shot 27-under to earn the win. Additionally, Webb now has 11 tournament titles at the helm, which ties him with former head coach Mike Malarkey (1976-89) for the third-most team titles in program history.
LEWIS AND HALL GIVE THEIR ALL FOR TENNESSEE:Â The Tennessee men's golf redshirt senior duo of Bryce Lewis and Jake Hall has been a consistent force. They are Tennessee's No. 1 and No. 2 season stroke average leaders amongst each Vol golfer who has participated in each tournament as a lineup member and have shot 34 rounds of par or better this season alone. Lewis currently has three top-10 finishes during the 2023-24 season, with two being podium finishes at the 2023 Fighting Irish Classic (3rd) and the 2024 Lewis Chitengwa Memorial (2nd). Hall has two top-10 finishes on the season, with the most recent being a tied for fourth place finish at the Cabo Collegiate inside a field with 18 of the top 50 amateurs in the world, according to World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).Â
SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE TELLS ME THEY'RE NOT DONE: Prior to the spring season, Caleb Surratt signed a professional contract to join Jon Rahm's LIV Golf Team, Legion XIII. At the time of his departure, Surratt was the No. 10 amateur in the world and was deemed Tennessee's best golfer. Following his departure, the Vols have remained inside the top-10 in Scoreboard's collegiate rankings and have been ranked No. 7 a majority of the spring. In its four regular season spring events, UT notched a team win (Lewis Chitengwa Memorial), third-place finish (Puerto Rico Classic) and fourth place finish (The Goodwin).Â
TALKIN' TENNESSEE: In eight of its nine team tournaments, the Vols have had a five-man lineup that featured four Tennessee natives–Bryce Lewis (Hendersonville), Jake Hall (Knoxville), Lance Simpson (Knoxville), and Evan Woosley-Reed (Shelbyville).
THE VOLS' LINEUP
Jake Hall
Hall enters the postseason with a 70.08 season stroke average and has shot a team-high 18 rounds of par or better. Additionally, the redshirt senior has five top-25 finishes on the season.
Evan Woosley-Reed
Woosley-Reed is coming off a top-five finish at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial after tying for third and shooting 7-under overall with three rounds of par or better.
Bryce Lewis
Lewis logged his second podium finish of the season and the sixth of his career after posting a runner-up performance at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial in which he shot 10-under overall, with a second-round score of 63.
Lance Simpson
Simpson is coming off consecutive top-15 finishes at The Goodwin (T-11th) and Lewis Chitengwa Memorial (14th) where he finished even-par and 1-under respectively.
Bruce Murphy
In just his second lineup appearance, Murphy notched a sixth-place finish at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial after shooting 6-under overall, which earned him SEC Freshman of the Week honors.Â
*Josh Hill - Alternate
PARTICIPATING TEAMS (Rankings according to Scoreboard)
No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 9 Alabama, No. 11 Arkansas No. 15 Florida, No. 22 Texas A&M, No. 23 Georgia, No. 35 LSU, No. 37 Missouri, No. 38 Mississippi State, No. 62 South Carolina, No. 86 Kentucky
TEE TIMES
Round One - Wednesday, April 24 (starting on hole 10)
8:20am ET - Bruce Murphy
8:30am ET - Lance Simpson
8:40am ET - Bryce Lewis
8:50am ET - Evan Woosley-Reed
9:00am ET - Jake Hall
Players Mentioned
