Mississippi State’s men’s and women’s golf teams tee off for the first time of the season this weekend, with the men playing in Dalton, Ga., while the women travel to Charleston, SC. The men’s team competes in the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic, which begins today and lasts through Sunday.
The women’s team action begins Sunday in the Cougar Classic. The competitive 22-team field features seven SEC teams, including nearby Alabama and in-state rival Ole Miss.
“I’m excited about getting this season started on a golf course that the players are familiar with,” women’s head coach Christi Sanders said. “We’re coming off of a competitive team qualifying and hope to continue that intensity into this first event.”
In the Cougar Classic a year ago, the Lady Bulldogs finished 12th out of 20 teams, with a cumulative score of +36 on the tournament. Suzanne Stanley tied for MSU’s top finish with a score of 224, the 35th-best individual score in the classic.
Stanley is also the only returning player to have an individual tournament win under her belt, having captured first place in the John Kirk/Lady Panther Intercollegiate last school year. Also returning is sophomore Mallory Batson, who leads returning players in top 20 finishes and stroke average, as well as events in which she led the team.
The women’s team will have to replace their stroke average leader from last season, as they lost Julia Huh to graduation.
This weekend’s starting lineup features juniors Gina Sharp and Leigh Phillips, sophomores Erika Thornton and Mallory Batson and freshman Hannah Weathersby.
The men’s team has high expectations as it returns four of five starters from a team that made it to the national championship tournament a year ago. Senior Noah Goldman said he expects that to translate to success this year.
“Usually when a team makes it to nationals and has a really good year they don’t get a whole lot of people back,” Goldman said. “We know what it takes to get it done, which is huge. That’s half the battle.”
Ohman said the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic is a very strong field.
“You have to play exceptionally well to have a chance. Not only to win, but to even finish in the top five,” Homan said. “Every single team at this event will probably be at the national championship. That’s how strong a field this tournament has.”
That strong field features 18 teams, eight of them from the SEC. The Bulldogs are paired with golfers from Ole Miss and Georgia State, and their groups tee off between 8:30 and 9:06 this morning.
The team completed a practice round when to familiarize itself to the course. The practice round is vital to the team’s chances as none of the players have played the course before.
“It’s a golf course with a lot of subtleties to the greens,” Homan said. “The greens are pretty complex and have a pretty good bit of slope to them. They’re much faster than anything we’ve been preparing for.”
Goldman said the course has a lot of change in elevation which is something else the Bulldog golfers don’t get a lot of on their home course.