After 39 years of delay, the Mississippi State men’s golf team will host its first regular season home tournament with the Inaugural Old Waverly Collegiate Championship April 8-9.
The tournament is set to take place at the Old Waverly Golf Course in West Point, Miss.
The No. 28 Bulldogs will be joined by: Arkansas State, Cincinnati, Georgia State, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana Lafayette, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Ole Miss, Rice, No. 48 South Alabama, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Miss and UAB.
Head coach Clay Homan said hosting the tournament is something the team has wanted to do for quite some time.
“We wanted to make sure the weather was good and the course was nice and green for this event,” Homan said. “It’s exciting to play in front of fans on a course we are familiar with. Hopefully, we can continue to host this tournament in the future, the field of teams will continue to grow and the caliber of teams will get better each year.”
After Monday, State leads the pack and is the only team with an under-par performance. Bulldog Axel Boasson is tied for fourth, and Chad Ramey is tied for seventh heading into Tuesday’s competition, which begins at 8 a.m.
The Bulldogs are coming off a record-tying victory at the 2013 BancorpSouth Intercollegiate tournament hosted by Ole Miss in Madison, Miss. On April 1-2, the Bulldogs captured their third win of the season, which is the most since the 1998-1999 squad’s three win season.
MSU was led by juniors Joe Sakulpolphaisan and Boasson. After shooting a 7-under-par, 209, Boasson took home the SEC Player of the Week honor. It is the second time this season the Bulldogs have taken home this honor, after fellow junior Chad Ramey won in March. This is the first time MSU has had two players win in the same year.
Homan said Boasson has improved the most since last year because he was an under-the-radar player.
“Axel really stands out the most from last year,” Homan said. “It’s really good to see Axel play up to his ability. Chad, Axel and Joe are all ranked in the top 150 in the country, and they are all keys to the team’s success.”
Boasson said although he won SEC Player of the Week, he said he needed to improve some things before the next competition.
“I have been working on my swing because I left a lot of putts short,” Boasson said. “The main thing is continuing to build my confidence and getting better.”
At the BancorpSouth Intercollegiate, Boasson’s third-place card was his second top-5 finish of the season, and his fourth-consecutive top-15 card. The junior is on-pace to have the third-lowest stroke average in MSU history after lowering his average to 72.03 for the year.
MSU will tee off at 8:30 a.m. in the first group from Old Waverly. Admission to all rounds is free.