The Mississippi State men’s golf team will be in Madison Monday participating in the Reunion Intercollegiate. For the Bulldogs, it will be their last regular season tournament of the year before beginning postseason play. With a victory this weekend, the Bulldogs would make it two tournament victories in a row, including three out of four overall.
Although the Bulldogs have played well as of late, they understand there is still room for improvement. The Bulldogs will have had almost two weeks of practice time to prepare for the tournament, and head coach Clay Homan said he believes his players are playing some of their best golf heading into Monday.
“Going into this week, all the guys know that the season is winding down,” Homan said. “The guys on the team know that they need to be playing their best golf this time of the year.”
Homan said he believes his guys have just as good an advantage this weekend as anyone in the field, citing his players’ experience with the course as a factor.
“This next tournament is an event and course our guys are very familiar with,” Homan said. “Our guys have played there for our school and have also participated in amateur events at the course.”
For Homan and the Bulldogs, experience is something they hope will give them an advantage over other teams in the field. It’s not just the Bulldog’s experience with the courses that has helped this team, but also the experience with the players they’re playing with. The Bulldogs have five seniors on this year’s squad, all of whom have been very instrumental in the success of this year’s team.
Senior Carlos Sainz Jr. said the consistency of this year’s line-up has been a very important aspect of their success.
“I think we have a consistent group of five guys who can go out there and get it done,” Sainz said. “It helps having the same line-up every week because it helps you gain confidence and momentum together.”
Homan has labeled this team as perhaps the best he has had in Starkville and he credits the maturity and leadership of his seniors for the successes they have had as a team.
“This group of seniors will certainly be missed,” Homan said. “They’ve been a huge part of our team’s success both on and off the field.”
With the postseason looming, it’s hard for this Bulldog squad not to look to the upcoming weeks. However, the Bulldogs insist this tournament is very important to them. Teams always like to win their home-state events, and it doesn’t hurt that this tournament is in-state rival Ole Miss’ home tournament.
There may not be a golden egg to pass out at the end of the event, but senior Noah Goldman insists he and his team would love nothing more than to knock off their rivals from Oxford.
“It’s always nice to beat Ole Miss,” Goldman said. “Anytime we can beat them it feels good and I’m sure anytime they beat us they love it.”
The Bulldogs are hoping their recent success on the golf course, along with their strong team chemistry can carry them through this event and into the SEC Championship. The event begins at 8 a.m. Monday and ends Tuesday night.