ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The No. 15 Alabama men’s golf team advanced to match play in the 2025 SEC Championships on Friday, finishing the three-day, 54-hole stroke play tied for seventh overall at 6-under par 834 (279-289-275). The Crimson Tide saved its best for last, carding its best 18-hole score during stroke play on Friday (-5, 275) and using clutch shots down the stretch to advance to match play.

Alabama earned the No. 7 seed and will square off against No. 2 seed LSU in Saturday morning’s quarterfinals. The teams will tee off at 7:20 a.m. CT/8:20 a.m. ET on the par 70, 7,005-yard Sea Island Golf Club course.

Four Crimson Tide golfers carded rounds of par or better, highlighted by Jones Free who finished the day at 2-under par 68. Free ended his day by sinking the team’s lone birdie on the par 3 17^th hole, followed by draining a long par putt on No. 18 to seal Alabama’s spot in match play. In addition to Free, Dominic Clemons (-2), Jonathan Griz (-1) and Connor Brown (E) all secured rounds of par or better in round three.

Individual Highlights

• Jones Free led the Tide in stroke play, finishing tied for 16^th overall at 4-under 206 (68-70-68)
• Free finished the back nine with three birdies, including his clutch birdie on No, 17, to go with one bogey
• Free led UA with 12 birdies across the 54 holes played to rank tied for 10^th in the field
• He finished the day at 2-under on par on par 3 holes, and was -3 on the par 3 holes throughout stroke play to rank tied for third among all individuals
• Connor Brown tied for 32^nd overall at even par 210 (71-69-70) with Dominic Clemons one shot back in 37^th with a 1-over par 211 (73-70-68)
• Brown’s 40 pars across his 54 holes was good for 10^th-best in the field
• Jonathan Griz had his best round of the championship with his 1-under 69 on Friday, and finished tied for 44^th at 2-over 212 (72-71-69)
• Freshman Nick Gross rounded out the Tide starting five as he tied for 63^rd with a 5-over 215 (68-73-74)
• Gross finished tied with Griz for third overall on par 3 scoring (-3, 2.75)

Team Highlights

• Alabama finished second in the field in par 3 scoring (-4, 2.93)
• No. 2 Auburn (-38) will be the top seed, bettering No, 7 LSU (-29) by nine strokes to win the stroke play title
• No. 17 Texas A&M (-23) finished third with No. 6 Oklahoma (-21) and No. 8 Florida (-16) rounding out the top five respectively
• No. 31 Georgia (-11) finished five shots better the No. 15 Alabama (-6) and No. 3 Texas (-6)

Up Next

• The four quarterfinal winning teams will advance to the semifinals which will take place Saturday afternoon
• The championship match coming on Sunday morning (starting at 6:30 a.m. CT) on SEC Network