No. 1 Gulf Coast thumps MACCC field in 1st round

The powerful No. 1 Mississippi Gulf Coast golf team put on another show in Tuesday's opening round of the MACCC Championship. The Bulldogs lead by 31 shots at the halfway point after a marvelous 12-under round of 276.

"We played well from beginning to end," Gulf Coast coach Brad Thornton said. "I can't really ask too much more of the guys than how they performed today. I think there are some areas we can continue to get better in, but the performance speaks for itself."

The final round will be played Wednesday back at The Oaks Golf Club, where Northeast Mississippi and No. 9 Meridian are tied at 19-over. Jones is another eight shots back in fourth, and Pearl River in fifth two more back.

The top five teams will advance to the NJCAA Gulf District Championship, which will be played April 20-21 in Natchez. Five individual golfers not on those teams will also advance.

Chase Kaiser (So., Natchez/Cathedral) is again atop the leaderboard. He shot 7-under 65 and leads teammate Alessio Graziani (So., Johannesburg, South Africa/Beaulieu College) by three shots.

"Chase got hot. He even left a couple shots out there and still shot 65," Thornton said. "That tells you he was definitely on his game. I think he birdied five of the first six holes. When he makes the turn at 6-under par, that's just a fantastic round. I'm kinda at a loss for words."

Kaiser got to as low as 8-under after birdies on 12 and 13, but made double bogey on 14. He finished the round with 10 birdies, a bogey and that double bogey.

Jackson Wise (Fr., Pontotoc/North Pontotoc) is tied for third after a 70, and Will Burnham is tied for seventh at 1-over. The Bulldogs have half the top eight.

The Bulldogs are still looking ahead, even with the big lead. They seem shoe-ins to break the school record with their 10^th victory of the season. It would be eight in a row, and Kaiser would tie the school record with a fifth victory.

"Our goal is still to go out and win the day," Thornton said. "Our goals haven't changed on how we expect to perform. It is nice to be sitting on a 31-shot lead, but that doesn't change what we're trying to accomplish tomorrow."

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