The Bulldog golf squad begins
its post-season run today, participating
in the SEC Championship
in St. Simons Island, Ga. The
tournament will be a three-day
event, and the Bulldogs hope to
prove they are among the best in
the conference. The team looks
to bounce back from a seventh
place finish earlier this week in
the Reunion Intercollegiate, held
in Madison.
Head coach Clay Homan said
his team will have to improve its
performance early in the week
in order to compete with some
intense competition at the SEC
Golf Championship.
“The conditions were pretty
tough,” senior Josh Bevell said.
“Everybody has to play the same
golf course and the same conditions,
but we didn’t play as well
as we would have liked.”
SEC rivals LSU, Arkansas,
Vanderbilt and Ole Miss finished
in the top four. Senior Carlos
Sainz, Jr. had the best individual
performance for MSU, finishing
with a three-round score of
8-over-par, good enough to tie
for fifth overall in the tournament.
For Sainz, the finish gave
him five top ten finishes on the
season to go along with three
top-five finishes. This was also
the sixth time this season Sainz
has led the Bulldogs in scoring.
“Hopefully we can learn something
about some of the mistakes
we made earlier this week,”
Homan said. “There are nine
teams in the SEC ranked in the
top 25, so I don’t have to tell
these guys how difficult it will be
to compete.”
Although the Bulldogs did not
get the results they wanted on the
course, Bevell said he feels like his
team may have benefited from
the tournament.
“The course in Madison is
a pretty good warm-up for the
SEC’s,” he said. “The speeds of
the greens at the two courses are
almost the same and I think it
will help us perform well this
weekend.”
For five seniors, this will be
the last SEC Championship they
participate in for MSU. With
that in mind, the team hopes
it has saved its best golf for
last, intending to put up a good
show at the SEC’s this weekend
and, ultimately, having a
shot at the NCAA Tournament
Championship.
Homan said the key to his
team performing well is to go
out and play up to its abilities.
Homan said he has told his players
to forget about what the rest
of the competition is doing on
the course and just play their
game.
The Bulldogs will rely on their
veteran leadership to help guide
them through the tournament
with seniors who have played in
large tournaments before.
Homan said he believes his
players know what to expect
heading into the SEC’s.
“These guys will handle themselves
really well,” he said. “The
team is excited, but they are not
going to be overly nervous. We
performed well last year with the
same group we have, and there
is no reason we can’t do well
again.”
Throughout the year, the
Bulldogs have expressed a desire
to make it back to the NCAA
Championship and will look to
this weekend’s tournament as an
opportunity to begin their run
on a strong note.
The SEC Championship will
tee off at 8 a.m. today through
Sunday. A solid performance
will land the Bulldogs in the
NCAA East Regionals, held in
Galloway, N.J., on May 14.