TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama Crimson Tide men's golf team is ranked No. 2 in the country according to the preseason Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll, which was released on Friday. The Tide welcomes back three starters and six letterwinners from last season's team that finished as the 2018 NCAA national runner-up.

Oklahoma State will begin the season as the nation's top-ranked team. The Cowboys won the 2018 national championship on their home course a year ago, defeating the Tide in the championship match.

The Southeastern Conference leads all conferences with seven teams ranked among the top 25, including six in the top 10 alone. In addition to Alabama, Texas A&M (No. 4), Vanderbilt (No. 5), Auburn (No. 6), Florida (No. 8) and LSU (No. 9) are all ranked among the top-10 teams in the country, while Arkansas (No. 17) rounds out the ranked SEC teams in the preseason poll.

After last year's runner-up finish in the NCAA Championships, Alabama begins its season on Sept. 7-9 in Dalton, Ga., at the Carpet Capital Collegiate, hosted by Georgia Tech. The Tide has won the Carpet Capital Collegiate three times (2006, 2007, 2010 and 2017), while former standout and PGA champion, Justin Thomas, won individual medalist honors in 2011. Alabama also holds course records for 18-hole (276 in 2006) and 54-hole (841 in 2006) scores.

Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaMGolf, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.