No. 4 Bulldogs on top after 36 at NJCAA Preview

No. 4 Mississippi Gulf Coast took charge of things on Day 1 of the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf National Preview on Monday in Joplin, Mo. The Bulldogs won both rounds and find themselves 28 shots ahead of the other eight teams in the field.

Peyton Russell (Fr., Gautier/Gautier), who had a hole-in-one, and Will Burnham (So., Jackson/Jackson Prep) are tied for the individual lead at even-par after 36 holes, three shots ahead of teammate Kyle Davidson (So., Kyalami, South Africa/St. Peter's College).

"I thought we left sone shots out there the first round," Gulf Coast coach Brad Thornton said, "but the second round they came out and get three pretty good scores in the Top 5."

No. 10 Murray State is in second place at 43-over, with No. 1 Kirkwood, the defending national champs, another shot back. No. 7 Des Moines Area is one more stroke back in fourth.

Davidson is playing as an individual, but Stanley Campbell (Fr., London, England/Essex Golf College) is fifth at 6-over. That gives Gulf Coast three counting scores in the Top 5.

The Bulldogs are skipping the first MACCC event of the season, being played in West Point. Thornton opted to take his team to get some course experience at the site of May's national championship. Gulf Coast finished second in Joplin the last time the title was decided there in 2022. The Bulldogs shot 312-292-303-295 in the four rounds that year, meaning the 299-292 they shot Monday stacks up well.

The Bulldogs turned things around early after early struggles. Russell bogeyed two of his first four holes, but got back to even par with one swing on No. 5. His 9-iron on the 155-yard par-3 found the bottom of the cup.

"It was business as usual after that," said Thornton.

Burnham made quadruple bogey on the first hole of the day, which Thornton called the easiest par-4 on the course. He then played the next 24 holes at 5-under before three-putting the final hole. Burnham and Russell will battle it out in the final round Tuesday. 

"I thought (the team) battled and competed their tails off today," Thornton said. "They were able to build a pretty good lead, but obviously our main goal is to go into tomorrow and win that round. If we win that round, we'll have handled business every which way you can draw it up."

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