At the Old Waverly Collegiate Championships in West Point, an older gentleman waves at you from the gate while you enter the golf course and drive toward the clubhouse. Early in the morning, the Mississippi State University men’s golf team set to tee off at 8:50 a.m. with a chance to finish in the top three as they were three shots behind the University of South Florida at 10 under.
This was the picture going into the round, but the front nine was difficult for the team as they shot four over, and for one moment, they were tied for sixth. Head coach Dusty Smith said they did not get off to a good start.
“We did not get off to the start that we needed to,” Smith said. “I guess Cameron, our freshman, was three under early, but everybody else was right around one over, two over par. Really on the easiest stretch of holes.”
With the team seemingly out of the picture, it was going to take guys like Taylor Bibbs, a senior from San Diego, California, to start shooting below par on the back nine. Bibbs missed a birdie putt on the ninth hole, and sat at one over going into the back nine. Bibbs said he just wanted to shoot better as he went into the last nine holes.
“Kind of just felt like I just needed to make some birdies because I had not done that yet,” Bibbs said. “I knew it was playing easier than it was yesterday, so I knew I had to try to make some birdies coming back.”
One of the reasons he and many other golfers had trouble with scoring below par was the placement of the pins, as well as the greens having some tricky ridges in the areas around the holes. Bibbs said this is why it was so important to make the putts you have.
“They tucked some of the pins today, they did not make it easy today,” Bibbs said. “Especially with a little bit of breeze going, and it was playing hard. It was hard to hit it close, and it was kind of one of those days where you really needed to make putts.”
Bibbs made a birdie on the back nine, but he said he wanted to make more putts to shoot below par. He acknowledged he had a few good looks to do so, but was unable to sink those putts.
“I shot even on the back, which is okay, I kind of wanted some more birdies,” Bibbs said. “It was not bad by any means, but there were a couple of holes that I just let slip away a little bit, that had good looks that I just did not make.”
Louisiana State University won the tournament with nine under, shooting eleven under par on the final day. MSU was unable to catch the University of Mississippi, who was in third place, finishing in fourth and four strokes behind Ole Miss. Despite the team shooting even on the back nine, the team fell just short of a third-place finish, but Smith said he was pleased with the result.
“Like I said, they battled and they got through the tough stretch, and finished very strong for us to finish fourth where we finished,” Smith said. “We do not worry about anyone else but ourselves, and today was about being mentally tough and gritty out there, so I think we did a pretty good job.”
The round was Bibbs’ final round at MSU’s home course, and he said the emotions did not hit him on the course until he finished the round. Bibbs has played for four years and played in this tournament four times.
“It was a little weird, and it hit me more after the round that I am done playing regular season college golf,” Bibbs said. “It is a little weird, spent four years here playing in this tournament four times, and now to be done is a little strange. It kind of hit me after the round, which is good because I did not want it to hit me on 18.”
The team will play in the postseason with the SEC Championships next Wednesday at Sea Island Country Club in Sea Island, Georgia. Bibbs said his goal is for the team to make matchplay after the first rounds of the SEC Championships.
“SEC is three rounds and then we go into match play,” Bibbs said. “So we would like to make match play, and see what we can do there. Once you get into match play it is anyone’s game, and if we can get there we think we have a pretty good chance to do something good. “
