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NCAA GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPSMay 27, 2014Tom LoveladyTrey MullinaxJay SeawellRobby SheltonCory WhitsettBobby WyattHUTCHINSON, KANSAS THE MODERATOR: Welcome, everyone. We're joined by the University of Alabama, who will be making a third straight trip to the national championship match. Congratulations to the Crimson Tide. With us today are head coach Jay Seawell, student athletes Bobby Wyatt, Robby Shelton, Tom Lovelady, Trey Mullinax and Cory Whitsett. JAY SEAWELL: Wow, what a great day for our team and for our program. Really proud of all five of these guys. It's a big deal to get a chance to play for a national championship, and to be able to be in that final match three straight years, I'm really proud of them. I think it's a credit to our seniors, Cory, Bobby and Trey. They came to school here to do things like this. They are the engine. They are the energy that allows us to do that, and with that being said, I'm just really proud for them. They get one more round in an Alabama Crimson Tide shirt, and I'm glad today wasn't their last round, so tomorrow we get to do that together with the other two guys that have learned a lot this year, too, with Robby and Tom. I'm very proud of them. It's a great day for our university, I'm excited about it, and we look forward to a great match with whomever comes out of that match because those are two great teams playing out there. Q. Cory, describe what it means going back to the National Championship for you. CORY WHITSETT: It's pretty incredible just to see how far the program has come along since I've set foot here. You know, we didn't even make nationals the year before me, Bobby and Trey came. I mean, to have the success like we've had the last three years has been pretty cool for us. I mean, the National Championship obviously means so much in every sport, and to make it down to the final match to where it all counts three years in a row is awesome. So much experience the last three years, between winning and losing, I think it's only going to help us more tomorrow. Q. Robby Shelton, looking at your match today, what was the difference? ROBBY SHELTON: Today I did not get off to a head start, and then I turned it on on No.9 and 10 to get a 2‑up lead. After that I did not hit it very well until 16 when I chipped in. That was the big turnaround for me. And 17, just to end it right there with a short eagle putt was huge. Q. Bobby Wyatt, obviously a great round for you in your career making it to another National Championship. Your thoughts? BOBBY WYATT: Yeah, it's extremely exciting for us. It's a big moment, the biggest stage in college golf, and to be able to come back to it for a third time is something we're very proud and excited. I've played a lot of golf rounds in my life, and these are the two in the past two years that have stuck out in my mind more than any of them. It's the funnest, it's the most intense pressure, it's the most emotional day in my golf career, and I'm really excited we get to do it one more time. Q. Trey, your thoughts as you go back. As you look at tomorrow's championship match, what's it going to take to get another National Championship for the Crimson Tide? TREY MULLINAX: I think we go out and don't really think about the end result. If we go out and play our game, I think we'll be okay. Like Coach said, those are two great teams out there competing with one another, and I just think if we worry about the shot to shot and don't really worry about the outcome, I think we'll play some good golf. Q. Tom, your thoughts when you play match play, what is it going to take‑‑ what did it take today to get past this match in the semifinals and what's it going to take tomorrow? TOM LOVELADY: First of all, just all the nerves (inaudible). I don't know why since I have all these incredible teammates and incredible coaches. But match play just feels so much different than stroke play because it's hole by hole instead of strokes. I mean, I don't know what else to say. I basically think it's more intense. It's a lot more fun, obviously a lot faster. I really don't have anything else to say. Q. Coach, different teams take on different personalities. Talk about the mix of this group. JAY SEAWELL: Well, it is new. This is not the same five from ‑‑ either year we haven't had the same three five. So this year our leaders are great, and they've come in, but we have a brand new freshman and a third‑year sophomore in Tom that are getting in their lineup for the first time. I think as good as we were, we won 11 in a row or whatever, I think the Vanderbilt tournament was the tournament that really gave this team an identity. We were still living off maybe what we had done for a couple years, or at least the year before, and we were kind of‑‑ we had lost three in a row, we weren't playing very good golf. I give a lot of credit to Tom with a great round in the second round, being the catalyst, the thing that really glued across this team, I think, brought the consistency in, and it made it a starting five. And Robby has done a fantastic job from day one. He's a first‑team All‑American as an 18 year old kid, and this is his first time. Him getting accustomed to what we do, us crazy coaches that we are, we're definitely crazy, and Tom's Nashville tournament was probably the thing that brought this team where we became this year's Crimson Tide, not just Bobby, Cory and Trey. Q. Coach, as you look at the National Championship match tomorrow, you've been there the last two years, is that a different maker for this team as you go into tomorrow's match? JAY SEAWELL: Well, the only‑‑ it's the funnest day. It really is. I mean, and now we're going to tee off later, so I'm looking forward to figuring out what we're going to do at 6:00 in the morning because that's what time I'll be up for sure getting out of the bed. It's the funnest day. I know our guys will embrace it. We realize in athletics that somebody will win and somebody will lose. I know that. Personally the three of us at this table have experienced both, and we've experienced what it feels like to win and what it doesn't. So we will appreciate it, and it will also make us more ready to be our best and to be focused because one does feel a little better than the other one. Q. Playing against a conference rival like LSU in the semifinals, did that feel strange? You guys have played with them in a lot of different circumstances. JAY SEAWELL: It did, yeah, and I don't want to speak for the guys. There was a lot of friendships. We were talking about it. There's (inaudible) Alabamians playing today, three from the same club and four from Birmingham today within that little 10‑man group, which is really pretty cool. And so it felt like more of a Saturday Nassau, okay. But I was really proud that we had two SEC teams, and LSU has a great program. Chuck does a great job. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets to sit at this table sometime in the near future. We knew they were very good, and in fact, we felt like they were very good and very hot, and I think that's the part that I liked today at lunch. This is new, the quick turnaround; we didn't have that. Every one of our guys when we were going to play LSU, everybody was like, wow, they're very good and they're a very hot team right now. So it made me know that our guys took them serious, that they knew who they were and respected them and looked forward to a great competition. CORY WHITSETT: Yeah, I mean, the only reason we beat them at SECs is because Bobby and Shelton had an amazing week. They had one bogey combined. LSU played awesome that week, and they just started playing well at the right time. That's what I told their coaches when we congratulated each other and all that. They just put on the afterburners at the right time, which is so important in sports because so many teams have great falls and fall flat in the spring, but they did it just the right way, just found the right identity as coach said, and then really ran with it. BOBBY WYATT: Yeah, it was great. You know, great for the SEC Conference. It's unfortunate we had to meet and couldn't meet in the finals. But it was awesome. They've had a wonderful season. They have some players that are extremely talented that can really shoot some awesome scores and awesome numbers. I think they've shown that throughout the year, and they've really put it together as Cory said the last month. It was really cool to play them. The friendship part is a little tricky, but I think everybody had their eye on the prize and wasn't really worried about that. Q. Tom, can you talk about those two guys you grew up playing golf with? TOM LOVELADY: Yeah, playing Smylie today, we've played together ever since I can remember. We've always been close. It didn't feel like a tournament at all. It just felt like another day at the country club just going out and playing, which I really think helped me a lot. I guess it's really fair to say I was pretty nervous this morning, just, I guess, first time here, really nervous, and then came out with Smylie this afternoon and it was more laid back. A lot more talking between us, just how we always do. Just a lot more fun because we know each other, so we know when to talk to each other, when to leave the other alone. I love that guy. He's awesome. I mean, it kind of sucks I had to play him, but I'm also glad I got to play him, because he's a pretty good player and a really cool guy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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