The bid for a Jackson Suber individual medalist three-peat came up a little short on the air brushed shores of Myrtle Beach two weeks ago. The junior from Tampa, Fla. gave it a heck of a run, carding a tournament score of -1, resulting in a T8 finish.
Suber’s scoring led the way for the Rebels all week. Missed opportunities on Day one, during favorable scoring conditions, found our boys in the lower tier of the standings. But as they have done more times than Coach Malloy would probably like, the Rebel crew spent the next two days digging out of the hole.
Much tougher conditions in frames two and three brought scoring down across the board and the Rebels were able to take advantage. Team scores of +9 and +4 the final two days helped the team move to the middle of the pack once all the dust settled with a final cummulative score of +15 and an 8th place finish.
Besides Suber, the team was bolstered with steady efforts from Sophomore Veeti Mahonen and Junior Jack Gnam, who both finished tied for 32nd at +6. Mahonen even carded a hole in one on the final day of competition.
The event was a bit of a runaway at the top, with NC State finishing eight shots clear of their nearest competitor, with a -12 team score for the weekend. The individual title was won by North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik, who is currently ranked 13th in the National Golfweek rankings.
This week’s tournament: Old Waverly Collegiate Championship
When: March 26-28
Where: West Point, Miss.
The Course: Old Waverly
It’s a home game this week, in as much is a home game can be a couple miles down the road from Starkville. The confines will be friendly and familiar for a team looking to catch a little more consistency before heading to the SEC Championships in Sea Island next month.
The 30th-ranked Rebels:
Jackson Suber (Jr., Tampa, Fla.): Ranked as the 32nd collegiate golfer in the country. Has won two of his last three tournaments and hasn’t finished outside of the Top 10 what seems like forever.
Sarut Vongchaisit (Jr., Bangkok, Thailand): Nothing of note the first two days in Myrtle Beach, but did right the ship a bit on the last day after a round of even par to close out the tournament.
Cecil Wegener (Sr., Jackson, Miss.): Played as an individual in South Carolina. Still searching for some consistency headed into a week at a course he knows well.
Veeti Mahonen (Soph, Kirkkonummi, Finland): Better showing for the Big Fin in South Carolina. Closed out the week with a hole in one in his final round.
Brett Schell (Redshirt Fr., St. Augustine, Fla.): Nothing flashy in South Carolina. Rough start but finished decently to card a T49 for the week.
Jack Gnam (Junior, Ridgeland, Miss.): Bookended two solid rounds in Myrtle to finish at +9 and a tie for 32nd.
The Field: No. 24 Alabama, No. 22 Arkansas, No. 7 Auburn, ETSU, No. 13 Georgia, Kansas State, Little Rock, No. 25 LSU, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, No. 21 Tennessee, No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 20 Texas Tech, No. 10 Vanderbilt
The top individuals who will be playing for second: No. 7 John Augustin — Vanderbilt, No. 13 Davis Thompson — Georgia, No. 16 William Moll — Vanderbilt, No. 22 Trent Phillips — Georgia, No. 26 Julian Perico — Arkansas, No. 29 Dan Erickson — Texas A&M, No. 35 Sam Bennett — Texas A&M, No. 36 Matthew Riedel — Vanderbilt, No. 39 Wilson Furr — Alabama, No. 40 Ford Clegg — Mississippi State, No. 43 Graysen Huff — Auburn, No. 50 Thomas Ponder — Alabama
Where to follow: Golfstat and Ole Miss Golf Twitter are your go to online sources to follow the action.
Next Up: Shoal Creek Invitational, Birmingham, Ala., April 6-7 (get well soon, y’all)