Cory Whitsett

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — A double eagle and two eagles in the same round have earned Cory Whitsett some recognition.

Alabama’s sophomore golfer tied a school record in relation to part Sunday with an 8-under-par 64 in the final round of his victory at the Linger Longer Invitation at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga.

On Monday, the Southeastern Conference and Golf World selected Whitsett as the Golfer of the Week.

Using an 8-iron, Whitsett holed out his second shot on both the part-5 second hold of the great Waters Course and the part-4 16th hole.

He then won the playoff over Georgia’s Nicholas Reach by making birdie the first three times they played the 18th hole for halves and eagle on the fourth playoff hole for the victory. In his 22 holes during the final round of the Linger Longer Invitational, Whitsett was 13-under par with a double eagle, two eagles and seven birdies.

It was the second medalist honor of the season for Whitsett, who has now won the Linger Longer Invitational both times he has competed. his play also helped Alabama capture the team title with a 14-shot victory over the Bulldogs.

The Crimson Tide has won its past two tournaments and three of the four they have played in this spring.

A double eagle and two eagles in the same round?

4/4/2012 at 2:40pm

Image by Mark Wagner a spring game at War Memorial Stadium might keep the Razorbacks’ connection to central Arkansas strong. while that would be allowed under NCAA rules, the SEC doesn’t allow it.

A story coming out of North Carolina on Tuesday said that new UNC football coach Larry Fedora would be taking his Tar Heels on the road this spring, conducting one of its 15 allotted practices in Charlotte. The “Queen City” is about 120 miles west-southwest of the university in Chapel Hill.

Virginia football coach Mike London is taking his Cavaliers from Charlottesville to three cities around his state after starting the practice in his debut spring last year.

So, why wouldn’t Arkansas and Bobby Petrino also do this, since it’s well documented that the Razorbacks are loved throughout the state but have a campus situated in the far northwest corner, a stone’s throw from Oklahoma and Missouri? The answer is that North Carolina and Virginia are in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which is following an NCAA rule, while Arkansas is in the Southeastern Conference, which doesn’t allow the practice.

Michael Carvell, the ace recruiting reporter-blogger for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, touched on this subject this morning and how an ACC-like rule would help Georgia, as well as other powerhouses in the Southeast.

In Arkansas’ case, the Razorbacks used to play a spring game in Little Rock every April before they joined the SEC in 1992. The NCAA also used to allow 20 practices instead of the 15 that colleges get nowadays.

But I’m one of those natives of near Little Rock who remember the Razorbacks caravanning to War Memorial Stadium, and upwards of 30,000 fans attending the Red-White Game to see Joe Ferguson and the like. The Hogs would then stage another game in Fayetteville where 7,000 or so mostly sunbathers would show up at Razorback Stadium and maybe take note of a game going on.

Thanks to Bobby Petrino’s urging, Arkansas’ athletic administrators have worked to make the spring game a major event to somewhat rival the ridiculous support seen in Tuscaloosa, Auburn and elsewhere around the SEC, and the Arkansas Red-White game in Fayetteville has grown into that showcase like we used to enjoy in the 1970s and ’80s in Little Rock. Except for the rainy and cold weather that hit a couple of years ago and limited the crowd to a paltry few, the other Red-White games in Fayetteville under Petrino have drawn in the neighborhood of 40,000 fans, according to estimates.

Still, with university athletic officials trying to find a way to satiate its Little Rock base with two regular-season appearances in the Capital City, while also trying to juggle an SEC slate with nonconferences games and maybe a return game to Dallas every year, it seems that a Little Rock spring game would be a nice way to reach out to this portion of the state. Heck, while they’re on the road they could line up a practice down at El Dorado’s Memorial Stadium, or stage a workout at Texarkana High’s field, or maybe Jordan Stadium in Pine Bluff.

Fedora did this at Southern Mississippi before putting his plan into place at UNC. The ACC’s Miami Hurricanes have spring scrimmages planned at other fields off campus in south Florida. Army, of Conference USA, landed a waiver that allows it to play its spring game at Fort Benning, Ga.

Only, Arkansas can’t do it. The NCAA allows it, but the SEC doesn’t. (The Hogs used to play Red-White basketball games too in corners of the state but can only play those on campus as well.)

According to SEC spokesman Charles Bloom: “The SEC limits spring practices and games to being conducted at on campus facilities. This policy has been established in a long-standing Commissioners Regulation, which is more restrictive than the NCAA rule permitting off-campus practices.”

The gist of Carvell’s column in Atlanta focuses on how road practices might help a team’s recruiting.

Unless Arkansas were to stage a practice at North Little Rock or Pulaski Academy this year, or mark a return of the Little Rock spring game, we doubt the Hogs could do anything that might work as much of a help in recruiting. rather, we look at it as a wonderful way to maintain, if not grow, the Arkansas fan base.

Of course, we’re also aware that while this idea sounds great for the rest of the state, if it were allowed, we can hear the hew and cry from the university administrators on down about taking this Razorback show on the road. Long before Athletic Director Jeff Long and his employees arrived, it was easy to detect a feeling among certain UA athletic people, many who had no connections to Little Rock or the rest of the state, of being put-upon by the regular game trips to central Arkansas. even then, if they could have moved every game and every other connection to Hog athletics up to Fayetteville, they would have — this idea didn’t start with the post-Broyles athletic department.

And another “of course”: With the exception of the two games scheduled for Little Rock, if it’s going to cost more money than it makes, the university is unlikely to do it, goodwill with the fans in the farthest reaches be damned. let them find the nearest Razorback Club and show up for that meeting and call the Hogs.

Eventually, I believe, that attitude will cost the program more money than the administrators now realize. I have yet to be convinced northwest Arkansas alone will support Razorback athletics in the numbers required to keep up with the rest of the SEC — beyond being another Ole Miss. It’s assumed Little Rock will always be there, but Arkansas had to begin playing games in Little Rock in the 1930s and then have War Memorial Stadium built in the late 1940s to raise the level of the program, and Long continues to extend the olive branch of two games a year in Little Rock to placate a good many supporters who have the big bucks.

And while that’s well and good, Arkansas is a program that needs every Razorback fan, from Hamburg to Lake Hamilton to Harrison.

The SEC’s existing Commissioners Rule works against what Arkansas has tried to build all these years. if the NCAA allows it, then surely the SEC can see how its own rule is unfair.

We would simply like to see Arkansas in a position to bring an annual spring Red-White Game back to Little Rock, if the university managed to see the value in it. I’ve got an idea 40,000 or more people in this area would agree by showing up, even at perhaps a $5 admission (years ago, there was a slight charge and the now-long-gone Affiliated Foods also sponsored the Little Rock game and defrayed the UA’s cost). that would mean more exposure to fans young and old who can’t afford the exorbitant regular-season donation to the Razorback Foundation to purchase Little Rock tickets, which also are surcharged an additional $10 more than ticket prices for Fayetteville games.

But, as we’ve noted, the SEC won’t let Arkansas do it — about which I’m certain a lot of UA officials are probably quietly happy.

Email: jharris@abpg.com. Also follow Jim on Twitter @jimharris360

Tagged: North Carolina Tar Heels, Charles Bloom , Southeastern Conference, War Memorial Stadium, Bobby Petrino, Jeff Long, Atlantic Coast Conference, Virginia Cavaliers, Joe Ferguson

Jim Harris: One SEC Rule Hurts Arkansas Football More Than Any Other Program – ArkansasSports360.com

NASHVILLE (AP) – The Xavier Musketeers have lots of experience. they also have experienced guards in senior Tu Holloway and junior mark Lyons.

They sure know how to take over a game at the right time.

Holloway scored 10 of his 24 points in overtime after Lyons tied it up in the final seconds of regulation, and no. 11 Xavier rallied from 10 down to beat 19th-ranked Vanderbilt 82-70 on Monday night.

• BOX SCORE: Xavier 82, Vanderbilt 70 (OT)
• PHOTOS: Images from the 2011-12 NCAA basketball season

“It’s all cause of my backcourt main man, Tu Holloway,” Lyons said. “I love him because of the way he plays. (He’s) a killer on the court, and he won the game for us in overtime.”

This was the first game against a ranked opponent for both Vanderbilt and Xavier, the five-time Atlantic 10 champ. The Commodores, picked to finish second in the Southeastern Conference, had the advantage of being at home in cozy Memorial Gym in front of a soldout crowd.

For the Musketeers, this was their first road game. they still found a way to improve to 5-0 for the best start yet under Chris Mack in his third season.

“Them being without (Festus) Ezeli helped us,” Mack said of Vandy’s senior center who’s out with a sprained right knee. “He can be like a kid in a candy store if he’s not in foul trouble. I am proud of our kids. It is their first game on the road in a very hostile environment.”

Xavier trailed by as much as 10. The Musketeers scored the final four points of regulation, including Lyons’ short jumper with 6.5 seconds left to force overtime. Wells hit two free throws, and Holloway knocked down two three-pointers to cap a 12-0 run ending with 2:27 remaining in overtime that put Xavier up 74-66.

“We’ve been down before a lot of times and we came back a lot of times, so there was no pressure on us,” Lyons said. “We just wanted to come out there and get the win.”

Lyons had 19 points for Xavier, and Travis Taylor added 11.

John Jenkins led Vanderbilt (5-2) with 20 points. Lance Goulbourne and Jeffery Taylor had 18 apiece. The Commodores went cold after Jenkins’ three with 3:56 left put Vandy up 66-62. they didn’t score again until Jenkins’ jumper with 2:17 left in overtime, but coach Kevin Stallings was more disappointed in his Commodores turning the ball over 18 times.

“Turnovers are generally careless or selfish,” Stallings said. “Neither of those has anything to do with the other team.”

Vandy had two chances to pull out the victory in regulation.

Andre Walker, who spent his first four years at Vandy before graduating in May and transferring to Xavier, guarded Jenkins who forced up a short jumper with 12 seconds left that missed. Walker got the rebound up to Lyons who raced downcourt for the tying bucket.

“I know the situation that we were in, and I feel like it didn’t matter who it was I was going to do my best to shut him down,” said Walker, who also had a team-high 14 rebounds. “I just knew he liked to go, he liked to ball fake and go into people, so I just held my ground on him.”

Vandy had the last shot in regulation. Tinsley had the ball knocked away, and Goulbourne threw up a shot that clanked off the backboard and off the rim. Steve Tchiengang took responsibility for not setting the screen to help free a shooter.

“We didn’t execute,” Stallings said. “That’s a play we work on all the time in practice. we just had a guy not do what he’s supposed to do.”

The Musketeers outrebounded Vanderbilt 54-33 and outscored the Commodores 22-8 off turnovers. they also had a big edge at the free throw line (20-for-27) compared to Vandy (9-for-12), and they hit all eight during overtime.

Xavier also had 7-footer Kenny Frease. The Commodores tried defending him with Tchiengang, who is three inches shorter and 35 pounds lighter. Tchiengang fouled out in overtime. Frease finished with six points and four rebounds in only 20 minutes due to foul trouble.

The game turned into a track meet with a combined 15 steals.

The Musketeers hit four of their first five shots in grabbing their biggest lead at 8-3 until overtime. Vanderbilt led 34-29 at halftime and by as much as 10 in the second half, the last at 46-36 with 15:37 left on a dunk by Taylor.

Xavier got right back in the game 10 quick points in a spurt keyed by three steals, two by Lyons. Holloway had a shot blocked by Dai-Jon Parker who blocked another before officials called goaltending on Travis Taylor’s bucket with 11:51 remaining for a 52-51 lead — the Musketeers’ first since 6:35 of the first half.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

No. 11 Xavier downs No. 19 Vanderbilt in OT