Hickam retains lead at national tournament

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. – Conditions got tougher Thursday, and Phillip Hickam's scorecard reflected that at the end of the round.

Everybody else's card did too, though. The Mississippi Gulf Coast freshman shot even-par in the third round of the NJCAA Division II Tournament and still leads at 11-under after 54 holes.

"I felt like I played kind of like the last two days, honestly," Hickam said. "It was just one of those days. I actually had bogeys today, so that's why. I knew they were going to come eventually. It was a matter of keeping yourself together."

Hickam has a three-shot advantage over Copiah-Lincoln's Jacob Ross, who shot 68 at Goose Pond Colony's Lake Course. Gulf Coast's Grant Motter stumbled down the stretch to shoot 3-over 75, and he's six off the pace in a tie for eighth.

Gulf Coast lost ground in the team competition and is in third place, 19 back, after shooting 12-over 300. South Mountain, from Phoenix, Ariz., leads at 23-under. Tyler (Texas) Junior College, is seven off the lead.

"We've got to go low tomorrow," Gulf Coast coach Tommy Snell said. "We're way behind a good team. We're going to have to play our very best.

"We stumbled coming in. We were right there. We weren't playing well, but we weren't losing much ground, but those last three holes tore us up."

Gulf Coast played those holes 7-over.

"We're still in third in the national championship, so it's not like we're playing terribly," Snell said. "We just had a bad stretch of holes there at the end."

The Bulldogs' George Kawell shot 75 Thursday. Conner Entriken shot 78.

Gulf Coast has its eye on improving its standing on the final day. The team finished third in last year's national championship.

"Phil's playing great. I'm so excited for him," Snell said. "He's steady as a rock. He could have been lower than he was today.

"It's all about he team, but at the same time we get to root for Phil as an individual."

Individual scores

Team standings