Guitar trio: Alabama captures Rucker Intercollegiate title

Alabama doesn’t really need a trophy case for all the hardware that’s come back from the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in recent years. A sound studio might be more in line.

A signed guitar serves as the team trophy for the women’s college showcase at Long Cove Club, and the Crimson Tide now have three after completing Sunday’s wire-to-wire victory over a field that included five of the nation’s top seven teams.

“They’re officially a band now,” quipped Long Cove’s director of golf, Bob Patton.

To which Alabama coach Mic Potter responded: “We just need someone to play them.”

Freshman Cheyenne Knight provided the Crimson Tide with the weekend’s outstanding soloist, too. The teenage Texan withstood a quintet of pursuers to claim her first collegiate victory, even with a closing bogey that turned the final margin from two shots to one.

“I was really nervous on the last hole,” said Knight, whose approach on the par-4 18th bounced through the green and down off a slope. She chipped up to about 10 feet, but pushed her par attempt about 4 feet past the hole.

“My hands were shaking. I just told myself to do my best. You can’t really force it in there; you’ve just got to let it happen.”

Knight dropped it in for a 1-over-par 72, leaving her at even-par 213 for the week. Oklahoma State’s Maddie McCrary and Virginia’s Lauren Coughlin could have forced a playoff with birdies, but McCrary also went through the green and Coughlin couldn’t convert a 16-foot attempt.

McCrary finished with a 73 and Coughlin carded a 75, sharing second with Duke’s Sandy Choi (73) and Vanderbilt’s Alexandra Farnsworth (75).

“I think if you’re on a golf course where even-par is going to win, (Knight is) going to have a chance,” Potter said. “She can par a course to death. She’s really steady, drives it in play every time. This is her kind of golf course and her kind of test.”

Knight, twice a Texas high-school champion, also got to check off one of her main goals from a list she had written out at the start of the spring semester.

“To actually do it feels amazing,” she said. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work after my last tournament (when her best score was a 74), and I’m glad I bounced back the way I did.”

Alabama’s team title came by seven shots over Virginia, earning their first tournament win since the fall. Duke, which had won the previous two Ruckers, was another three shots back in its attempt to beat the Crimson Tide to a third guitar.

There were some nervous moments on the back nine, though, as Potter watched what had been a double-digit lead shrink to as few as four as he stood with his final golfers during a backup at the 17th tee.

“I’m like, we’re not going to throw this lead away, are we?” Potter admitted. “But (No.) 17 has decided this tournament for us the other times we’ve won.”

With the margin at five, reigning NCAA champion Emma Talley saved par from a greenside bunker at the 17th while Virginia’s Elizabeth Szokol three-putted for bogey. Then it was Knight’s turn, two-putting for par while Coughlin left her par attempt 4 feet short.

“It just came down to who made the putts at the end,” Knight said. “And I made a lot of good putts.”

Now it’s just a question of what to do if — or perhaps when — the Crimson Tide take another Rucker title.

“We might have to get them some drums,” Patton quipped.

This story was originally published March 6, 2016 at 9:15 PM with the headline "Guitar trio: Alabama captures Rucker Intercollegiate title."