WEST POINT – Home is where the heart is.
It’s also where the birdies are for Mississippi State’s men’s golf team.
The Bulldogs, hosting the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship for the third-straight year, enjoyed their finest outing of the season on their home course over the last two days, firing a season-low total of 291 in the third round to finish fourth among a field of 15 teams.
While the Bulldogs had won the tournament in each of the previous two seasons, coach Clay Homan has a new, younger edition this season and the trip home proved to be a boon for a team that recorded its finest finish of the year in its regular season finale.
“There were some very good performances,” said Homan. “We had two very god first rounds, two guys that shot 67, but in the second round, we never really got going. We battled back today and got it turned around in the third round, but coming down the back nine we really made several mistakes, which you can’t make.”
The 54-hole tournament was played over the course of two days, and weather made the process tricky. Heavy rains forced play to be suspended on Monday afternoon, forcing the completion of the second round to be played on Tuesday morning before the third and final round.
MSU had a pair of players, senior Ben Wood and junior Tim Walker, who fired opening-round 67s, but both faded as play wore on. Wood was tied for the lead at the midway point of the third round but made three straight bogeys on holes No. 13, 14 and 15 to fall out of contention.
Ultimately, Wood finished tied for 11th with a three-round total of 212, good for 4-under par, while Walker turned in back-to-back 73s to finished tied for 13th a 3-under par.
In their place, redshirt freshman Johnny Newnham surged, delivering a final round 68 to finish tied for eighth, MSU’s highest individual finisher.
“Just my mental game,” said Newnham when asked the strength of his play on Tuesday. “I was very free and relaxed, just having fun playing golf. The last couple of days were very good for me.”
Southern Mississippi’s Casey Fernandez won the individual title while UAB, fresh off a win at Stanford last week, edged Florida by a stroke to win the team competition. The Blazers finished with a cumulative score of 850, good for 14-under par. Florida was second at 13-under and Ole Miss was third at 8-under. MSU’s three-round total of 867 was enough for fourth place, 17 shots behind the Blazers.
“They’re a good team,” said Homan of UAB. “They are probably the best team in the field and they showed it. They won last week at Stanford, so this was no fluke. I was very impressed with how they could score by getting the ball up and down around the green. They are very efficient.”
The 15-team field also included Southeastern Louisiana, Memphis, Chattanooga, Kansas, North Carolina-Greensboro, South Alabama, Cincinnati, Louisiana Tech, Troy, and Louisiana-Lafayette.
The tournament was marked by rain, especially early. The wet conditions caused start-and-stop play on Monday and left the course vulnerable on Tuesday.
“It was in great shape,” said Newnham of Old Waverly. “It was wet so it wasn’t as tough as it could have been, but it’s a great course.”
Homan agreed.
“The weather was worse last year,” said Homan. “They did a great job of having the course ready this year and we had to play the ball up in the fairway more than we’d like, but the course was in terrific shape considering the rain.”
MSU will next travel to St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, for the Southeastern Conference Championships on April 17.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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