The Mississippi State men’s and women’s golf teams began the 2012-13 season on a good note with each team finishing in the top five of its tournament.
The men finished only one stroke off the lead to place second at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate in Hattiesburg, which was the best finish for State since 2009. The women tallied a fourth place finish in their opening tournament which they hosted at the first annual Old Waverly Bulldog Invitational in West Point, Miss.
The Lady Bulldogs started off slowly but were able to bounce back behind sophomore Ally McDonald’s back-to-back rounds of 69 as her 4-under par total 212 matched her lowest three round total of her career. The team’s card of 898 also enabled the Dogs to capture the lowest opening tournament score in school history of 34-over par. Head coach Ginger Brown-Lemm said she is proud of not only Ally’s performance but also the team as a whole to begin the season and is optimistic about the remainder of the year.
“I’m so proud of the way the team came out and competed to begin the season. We were able to capitalize on a lot of opportunities this week and were able to beat several teams ranked ahead of us,” she said. “Ally had unbelievable second and third rounds. Our two freshmen also came out and showed the potential they have.”
McDonald finished third among all competitors and was only four strokes behind the leader. Her performance and the play of fellow sophomores Rica Tse and Elena Warren put the Lady Bulldogs in contention early as they defeated seven out of the 11 teams represented at Old Waverly to give them a 7-3 record to begin the season.
However, McDonald said for the team to make that next step, the girls must improve in certain areas.
“In order to take our team to the next level, we are going to have to become better with our pre-shot routine mainly and staying in the present,” she said. “Everyone has different things that they need to work on, but as far as the team goes, I would say pre-shot routine and mental aspect of the game is what we need to get better at.”
On the men’s side, the Bulldogs opened their season in Hattiesburg and shot four strokes better while improving its finish by four spots. Following a season in which the Bulldogs were below .500, State now has a record of 13-1 by finishing second.
The last time the Bulldogs started off this well, they went on to gain a berth in the NCAA tournament. Head coach Clay Homan said it is important to get off to a fast start and to finish as high as possible in every tournament to make the team’s chances of an NCAA tournament berth that much more possible. 
“Every win and every loss either helps you or hurts you, and we don’t want to be in a position that we were in last year to come up with more losses than wins,” he said. “Our goal each and every tournament is to be in contention to win that tournament. So, from that standpoint, it is very important to get off to a good start.”
The men’s team is led by junior Chad Ramey. He posted a 3-under 210 in Hattiesburg, finishing fourth among all competitors while recording his sixth career top-10 finish.
Other contributors were returning senior Robi Calvesbert who shot an even par 213. Newcomer junior transfer Joe Sakulpolphaisan’s 5-under par final two days catapulted him to a 3-over total after shooting a 79 on the first day. The addition of Haraldur Magnus, along with the experience of returning players Calvesbert, Axel Boasson and Barrett Edens, coach Homan said this team is not only better than last year’s team, but one of his most experienced.
“I think this team is much, much better than the team we had last year from the standpoint of experience, and I think our team chemistry has never been better,” he said. “There are many things we can work on to improve on as a team, particularly in the short game because I think tee to green we hit about as good as most teams out there. It’s just a matter of saving those shots around the green.”
The Lady Bulldogs will travel to Columbia, Mo., Oct. 1-3 for the first time since 2008 to play at the Johnie Imes Invitational. The men’s team will be traveling to play in the Mason Rudolph Championship in Franklin, Tenn., at the Legends Club Sept. 21 to 23.