No. 4 MGCCC Golf gets national preview this week
PERKINSTON — No. 4 Mississippi Gulf Coast has taken another long road trip cranking up the 2023-24 golf season. The Bulldogs are in Joplin, Mo., playing the a preview event at the site of the 2024 NJCAA Division II Golf Championship.
The team headed up Saturday to take part in a Sunday practice round ahead of the 36-hole event at Twin Hills Country Club. They will play two rounds Monday, concluding on Tuesday.
"I think we're going in the right direction," Gulf Coast coach Brad Thornton said. "We've got a little bit more experience after last week's trip. Qualifying is still really deep, and guys are shaping into their own games."
The Bulldogs tied for 11th at the rugged Folds of Honor Challenge in Michigan last week. Will Burnham (So., Jackson/Jackson Prep), Jackson Wise (So., Pontotoc/North Pontotoc), and Peyton Russell (Fr., Gautier/Gautier) made the trip on the five-man squad again. Stanley Campbell (Fr., London, England/Essex Golf College) moved up into the team from playing as an individual, and Kyle Davidson (So., Kyalami, South Africa/St. Peter's College) will be taking that spot this week.
They hit the course about 10 a.m. Sunday in 75-degree weather in what Thornton called "perfect conditions." They were going to hit the range and practice green after that, then retire to watch some football and relax the rest of the day.
"It's in really good shape," Thornton said. "It's an old-school country club-style course. Bent grass greens are a little bit of an adjustment, but they're in really good shape. A lot of it is just how hard the wind blows."
In fact, Thornton is hoping for some blustery conditions at least one day up there. The Bulldogs persevered through windy conditions on the final day of the national championship in 2022, completing a comeback that saw them in 11th after the first round.
The Bulldogs surged up the leaderboard the next three days, eventually beating out Tyler for the runner-up trophy after they tied through 72 holes. They're trying to put behind some bad memories after struggling on the greens last year in Plymouth, Ind.
"It's definitely much more similar everywhere else on the golf course here to what we play back home," Thornton said. "Everybody seems to be in good spirits."
The field includes defending champion Kirkwood, which is atop the preseason Bushnell Golfweek NJCAA Division II Coaches Poll. IN addition, No. 7 Des Moines Area and No. 10 Murray State are in the field, along with Heartland, which is receiving votes in the poll.
For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
