A tree limb stood between Joe Deraney and his first collegiate tournament championship.
After firing a six under par 66 in the tournament’s third and final round, the senior from Statesboro, Ga. found himself in a three-way playoff for the championship of the Central Florida/Rio Pinar Intercollegiate golf tournament.
The playoff began from hole No. 10, a 569-yard, dog leg left, par 5 that Deraney had birdied earlier in the day.
Deraney’s tee shot found the left portion of the fairway, which left his second shot to the green blocked by a tree that set just yards off of the tight fairway.
“He hit a nice tee shot, he just pulled it a hair left,” Mississippi State head golf coach Clay Homan said. “The limb (from the tree) kept him from being able to reach the green in two.”
Deraney, who finished the tournament at five-under-par, was forced to lay his second shot up well short of the green, while Central Florida’s Andreas Hoegberg reached the chipping area of the par 5 green in only two shots. Hoegberg’s chip from the fringe left him with a tap in birdie.
Deraney’s third shot, a wedge from 120 yards out, hit the green, but then spun off, leaving him with a lengthy chip, which he had to make to tie Hoegberg’s birdie and force a second playoff hole.
“I didn’t hit a very good chip at all,” Deraney said of his chip that he left 10 feet from the cup and made Hoegberg the tournament’s winner. “I didn’t go there to finish second.”
Deraney made the 10-footer for par and finished the tournament tied in second place, with Tulane’s Chris Wheeler, who also parred the playoff hole.
The second place finish was Deraney’s best career finish.
As a team, Mississippi State placed ninth in the 18-team tournament held in Orlando, Fla. Four teams from the Bulldog’s district played in the tournament.
The NCAA splits colleges into districts for golf. Teams who finish at the top of their districts are chosen to participate in the NCAA golf tournament at the end of the season to compete for the national championship (similar to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament).
The Bulldogs, who finished 20 shots over par as a team, beat only one team in its district-Jacksonville State, who shot 43-over par (+43). Tulane (+14), South Florida (+15) and South Alabama (+17) all are part of the Bulldogs’ district.
“I think we’re all a little disappointed,” Homan said. “The first day really hurt us. We had to count a 78 and 79.”
The Bulldogs shot a 302 on Monday in the first round, their worst round of the tournament.
They followed that up with a 292 Tuesday morning in the second round and a 290 Tuesday afternoon in the final round of the tournament.
Central Florida won the tournament at two under par, 22 shots better than State.
“The scores were really, really high in the first round,” Deraney said of Monday’s opening round, which saw only five out of the 93 players in the tournament shoot under par, including Deraney with a one-under par 71. “It was windy and it was definitely the most difficult of all three rounds.”
Deraney followed up his 71 with a two-over par 74 in the second round and then fired that amazing 66 in the final round Tuesday afternoon that featured eight birdies, eight pars and only two bogies.
“Every time you shoot a good number your putting is probably the most important thing,” Deraney said about his final outing 66, which tied his all-time low as a Bulldog. “I drove the ball really well. I never put myself in the trees. I think I hit nine fairways but out of the five I missed they were within three or four yards (of the fairway).”
Sophomore Jake Lambert finished in 18th place, shooting three-over-par for the tournament, which included a career best 69 in the second round.
“If he wouldn’t have gotten off to a rough start in the third round, he would have easily finished in the Top 10,” Deraney said of Lambert’s final round 76.
Senior Tim Satow shook off an opening round 81 to fire a 72 and 75 to finish in 50th place, while Josh Oller placed 55th and Greg Huxman placed 81st.
“Tim just shot himself in the foot in the first round,” Deraney said. “But he came back and played really solid in the last two rounds.”
The Bulldogs travel back to the Sunshine State March 7-8 for the Irish Spring Invitational, which will be played in Howey-in-the Hills, Fl. at the Mission Inn Golf Club.
“We needed some lower scores to give a chance to score low as a team, and we got those,” Homan said. “We just didn’t get consistency in the lineup.”