Joe Deraney fired a 2-over par 74 in the cold and rainy final round at the Black Horse Golf Club in Houston, Texas, to coast to his third top 10 finish.
The Bulldogs took sixth place in the Rice Intercollegiate. The rest of the field averaged a 6-over-par-78 on the wet and icy final day, but Deraney’s toughness proved to be as strong as ever Tuesday.
“You try to stay dry and warm as possible,” Deraney said on fighting the elements. “I got off to a good start. I birdied two of the first three.”
UT-San Antonio won the two-day Rice Intercollegiate with a score of 895. Mississippi State finished 17 shots behind them with a 912 total.
The Dawgs placed four people in the top 35 out of 79 individual competitors including: Deraney’s ninth place finish, Tim Satow’s career-best 29th place finish, and Carl Sutton and Jake Lambert’s tie for 33rd. Daniel Boles rounded out the pack with a 48th place finish.
Head coach Clay Homan said that he saw improvements from all of his golfers.
“I saw bright spots from everyone,” Homan said. “Even our last finisher, Daniel Boles, shot 73 the second round, which was a big help. Homan said that the last day he considered par to be 77 due to the conditions. State averaged a score of 79 on the final day.
Deraney averaged a team-best 74 in his three rounds that included a disappointing 77 in the first round, but a brilliant 71 in his second round on the same day. “He’s our number one player,” Homan said. He’s probably got the most experience of anyone on the team, so from that standpoint we really look for him to be one of the leaders on the team.”
Homan said that when Deraney shoots under par it helps the teams score dramatically.
He’s got the ability to shoot under par, because he hits the ball a long ways, has good course management skills, and has a good short game.”
Golfers played 36 holes on Monday and finished by playing 18 on Tuesday. Deraney credited second round improvements to playing the first 18 that same day.
“The good thing about playing 36 hole (in the same day) is you kind of get your feel out with the first round,” Deraney said. “You know where all the pins are, you’ve seen the golf course before and you get to go play it again.”
The Black Horse golf course was a par-72 7,300-yard monster that kept most golfers in the over par range.
It’s a real tough test,” Homan said. “It’s real long and with the conditions being cold and wet it played extremely long and difficult.”
The Bulldogs next stop is to Lakeland, Fla. where they will compete in the Matlock Invitational at The Grasslands Golf Club.
Homan says that he wants consistency with his team.
“I think everyone played well at times, but we need a little bit more consistency as far as shooting numbers under par,” Homan said.