Golf Dawgs Close Fall With Runner-Up Finish

Sunday, October 28

Loxley, Ala. (Steelwood CC)

All Day

Mississippi State

Steelwood Collegiate Invitational

Golf Dawgs Close Fall With Runner-Up Finish

October 28, 2018 | Men's Golf

Golfstat

by Austin Coats, Student Assistant/Communications

LOXLEY, Ala. – A pair of seniors led a team effort Sunday in the Mississippi State men's golf team's final round of the fall.

Ross Bell and Austin Rose each carded 3-under 69s in the final round of the Steelwood Collegiate Invitational, helped by a 71 from freshman Ford Clegg and an even 72 by junior Peng Pichaikool. Those four scores totaled a 7-under 281, which boosted State two spots on the leaderboard for a runner-up finish. MSU shot 4-under par for the weekend.

"This weekend was a total team effort," Bell said. "It was a solid finish to the fall to give us a lot of momentum heading into the offseason. I'm glad I was able to put together a solid performance to help the team."

State shot an even 288 in round one Saturday morning before a 3-over 291 in the afternoon's second round. The Bulldogs were fourth heading into Sunday.

Bell was solid all weekend at the par-72, 7,096-yard Steelwood Country Club and earned a career-best fourth place finish, shooting 3-under par for the final round and the weekend. It was also Bell's first top 5 performance in two years - he took a share of fifth at the 2016 Mountaineer Intercollegiate.

Pichaikool followed, sharing seventh place after carding an even 216 three-round total. The junior has has earned top 10 finishes in each of the three tournaments he's played for MSU this season.

Clegg continued his impressive freshman campaign as one of two MSU players to participate in all four events. On Sunday, Clegg tied for 11th and collected his first top 15 performance while shooting 1-over par through the two days.

With his 69 on Sunday, Austin Rose bounced back from a Saturday performance in which he shot 8-over par in the first two rounds. Both he and junior Garrett Johnson finished in the top half of the player leaderboard, tied for 27th, to fill out the MSU scorecard. Johnson shined in the opening round of the Steelwood Invite, shooting a 70.

Playing as an individual, Griffin Agent tied for 59th.

Wake Forest, ranked No. 7 by Golfstat, swept the team and individual titles as Demon Deacon Eric Bae finished atop the player leaderboard.

The Bulldogs will look to carry their momentum through the almost four-month offseason until they open the spring. State's first 2019 event is February 16-17 at the SunTrust Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Florida.

MSU men's golf coach Dusty Smith:

"We challenged the team last night that we needed to play a complete round of golf today and gain some momentum heading into the off season. I am so proud of how they responded. I can't say enough about our two seniors leading the way today. Ross Bell had a great tournament this week and Austin Rose really responded well after a couple tough rounds. This off season will be a time for us to address areas of improvement and look ourselves in the mirror to figure out how we can get better. You are always trying to get better and improve individually and as a team. We need to continue to embrace the climb and not take anything for granted."

Senior Austin Rose:

"It was great to be able to contribute how I know I can. I really got into a good rhythm today and kept my head down all day. I wanted to get out and post a good score for all of our guys to follow up and I felt like I accomplished that today."

Senior Ross Bell:

"This weekend was a total team effort. It was a solid finish to the fall to give us a lot of momentum heading into the offseason. I'm glad I was able to put together a solid week to help the team."

Steelwood Collegiate Invitational
1. Wake Forest (286+277+281=844, -20)
2. Mississippi State (288+291+281=860, -4)
3. Kennesaw State (286+286+294=866, +2)
4. Indiana (295+281+293=869, +5)
5. Kentucky (298+295+290=883, +19)
6. South Alabama (299+288+297=884, +20)
7. Southern Mississippi (292+296+297=885, +21)
8. Richmond (297+287+303=887, +23)
9. Kansas State (295+292+302=889, +25)
10. Rice (299+292+307=898, +34)
T11. North Alabama (298+297+308=903, +39)
T11. Wofford College (309+285+309=903, +39)

MSU Players
4. Ross Bell (73+71+69=213, -3)
T7. Peng Pichaikool (73+71+72=216, E)
T11. Ford Clegg (72+74+71=217, +1)
T27. Garrett Johnson (70+75+76=221, +5)
T27. Austin Rose (77+75+69=221, +5)

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