Though not quite an early vacation, the Mississippi State men’s golf team is heading to Florida a week shy of spring break for the Seminole Intercollegiate Tournament.Tallahassee’s par-72 Golden Eagle Country Club will be the stage for the 12-team tournament, set to run Sunday through Tuesday and hosted by Florida State. The Bulldogs are fresh off their first tournament championship since the 2006 fall season, placing first in last week’s Roadrunner Intercollegiate tournament in San Antonio. State won the tournament with a three-round score of 864, nine shots better than second-place Texas Tech. Head coach Clay Homan said the team is full of confidence and ready to take on some harder competition.
“I really expect them to do well in Florida,” Homan said. “They have been playing with a lot of confidence, and the first-place finish the other week showed it.”
Junior Noah Goldman also claimed the individual title at last week’s tournament, a feat that saw him earn Southeastern Conference Male Golfer of the Week honors. Goldman shot a 54-hold score of 212, one under par, and his second round score of 64 was a career-low that tied him for third all-time at Mississippi State.
Homan said he is pleased with the improvement Goldman has shown since the start of the spring season.
“He’s played well for us the whole year,” Homan said. “Already this spring he’s had two straight under-par performances, and he’s really stepped his game up.”
With the likes of Auburn, Florida State and North Carolina competing alongside the Bulldogs this weekend, Homan expects a much more difficult tournament than the previous one.
“It’s definitely a much stronger field,” Homan said. “There will be several top 20 teams there, so we expect it to be very competitive. It’s normally one of the most competitive tournaments we play all year.”
“This is an upperclassmen team,” Homan said. “We’ve really matured and worked hard this year, and we have every right to be up with these teams. We should be able to contend for any tournament.