Beth Irwin stood upon hole No. 3’s tee box, staring straight ahead at the daunting 175-yard par 3. She gazed out at the lake, the deep bunkers and the deep rough that made this hole one of the most difficult on the course.
She then eyed the flag, took a 7-wood, aimed directly at the flag stick and swung.
“I had been playing well all day,” said Irwin, who teed off from hole No. 10, making hole No. 3 her 12th hole of the afternoon. “It was a little into the wind and I was in between clubs. So I just hit a little 7-wood.”
Her 7-wood shot cut through the slight wind that steadily blew across the Miami golf course and headed straight for the pin, which was positioned toward the rear of the soft, rolling green.
Irwin’s ball touched down just feet before the flapping flag stick, took two hops and rolled into the cup, giving the Mississippi State senior her second competition hole-in-one and vaulting her atop the leader board at the end of the second day of the three-day Papa John’s Collegiate Golf Tournament, which was held at Don Shula’s Golf Resort in Miami.
“Everybody started jumping up and down. There was a lot of screaming going on,” Irwin said. “I could see it go in. Luckily my parents were there.”
After shooting a disappointing 75 on the first day, Irwin, who ranks 55th nationally by golfweek.com, shot a two-under-par 70 in that spectacular second round to give her a one-shot tournament lead heading into the third and final round on Tuesday. The senior from Germantown, Tenn., would come in with another 75 on the final day to place second, her collegiate best finish, seven shots behind Josie Shinn of Miami, who shot a final round five-under-par 67, the only round in the 60s for the entire tournament.
“I’ve been in that situation before in college and many times in junior golf, going into the last day leading,” said Irwin, “There’s always extra pressure, but I try not to think about that. I just didn’t have my putting stroke that last day.”
As a team, the Bulldogs finished fifth in the 12-team tournament with a score of 911, which was only nine shots away from second place but was 27 shots behind winner and host school Miami.
In women’s college golf, teams are divided into three regions-East, West and Central-unlike men’s who are divided into nine small districts. Twenty-one teams from each of the three regions are selected to participate in the NCAA Women’s tournament at the end of the season. Mississippi State is currently ranked 10th in the East region, meaning if play stopped today, they would be invited to the tournament, giving them a chance to win a national championship.
All 12 teams that State faced in the past tournament were from the East region. The Bulldogs finished in front of five teams that ranked in the top 25 of their region, a plus come tourney time.
Irwin led the 28th ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs with an overall score of 220 in the three-day tournament, which included 60 individual golfers.
“Overall she’s a very consistent player,” MSU head coach Christi Sanders said of Irwin. “She hits a lot of fairways and greens.”
Sophomore Amanda Mathis finished tied for 10th with a score of 225. Mathis, who ranks 94th nationally by golfweek.com, followed a day-one 78 with an even-par round of 72 and finished by shooting a 75.
Stephanie Godare placed 34th with a score of 234, while Julia Huh’s 235 placed her 35th. Ashleigh Korzack rounded out the group with a 241.
Mississippi State found themselves in ninth place after a hellish opening day, but they followed their +25 first day with a six-over-par (+6) 294, the best second-round score of the day for any team and 19 shots lower than their opening 313. Sanders says that the short game had a lot to do with the poor start.
“The team struggled around the greens,” the 18 year head coach said. “The greens were a little bit different than what we’ve been practicing on. Our greens are hard and fast, not very grainy (like the tournament’s greens were).”
State will travel to North Carolina to play in the Edwin Watts/Pinehurst Challenge March 6 through March 8. The event will be played on the world renown Pinehurst Resort and Country Club that features eight different golf courses.