Monday, October 7
South Bend, Ind. (Warren GC)
All Day
Mississippi State
vs
Fighting Irish Classic
Dawgs Finish Day One With Strong Second Round
October 07, 2019 | Men's Golf
By McRae Clay, Student Assistant/Communications
SOUTH BEND, Indiana – After a 36-hole day Monday, Mississippi State men's golf looks to climb the leader board in the final round of the Fighting Irish Classic. The Dawgs will conclude play at the Warren Golf Course with 18 holes Tuesday on the Notre Dame campus.
"First, I am really proud of how we responded in our second round, especially towards the end," head coach Dusty Smith said. "Peng, Garrett and Ford did a great job of holding us in there and getting us some momentum heading into tomorrow's final round. We are not far off from playing some really good golf. The frustrating part is our mistakes are self-inflicted and so simple to fix."
Senior Garrett Johnson led the Bulldogs. He finished the first round one-over after going bogey free for 13 consecutive holes. He fired back-to-back birdies on holes nine and 10 in second round action to highlight his two-under, 69. He climbed up 13 spots from round one to round two on the leader board and ended the day tied for 13th.
In the first round, sophomore Ford Clegg settled into the course. He shot two-over with his last 12 holes bogey free. Clegg saw improvement in his afternoon round and concluded the back-nine with three birdies over four holes. He shot one-over in the first round and turned in a one-under scorecard in the second to finish the day at even par. Going into round three, he is tied for 26th.
Sophomore Daniel Martinez posted a solid Bulldog debut competing as an individual. He finished the first round one-over, highlighted by three birdies on the back-nine.
Martinez's afternoon round was better than his first. He shot even and advanced five spots up the leader board and currently sits tied for 21st. He carded nine birdies on the day, the third most in the field.
Senior Peng Pichaikool shot four-over in the morning but bounced back with a better second round. With help from his iron game, he secured three birdies on the last five holes of the back-nine, and shot one-under, 70 in the second round.
"We will continue to get better at doing the simple things well and must make sure that our focus is on that. I believe in the character of this team, and I know our guys will battle until the end," Smith said. "Tomorrow is a big day for us and an opportunity for us to show what we are made of."
Junior Austin Fulton shot and junior Cameron Clarke are looking to improve on day two after they tallied 10-over and 14-over scores, respectively.
As a team, the Bulldogs are 14-over and hold 10th place heading into the final round. They are just three strokes back from a three-way tie for seventh which includes top-ranked Arizona State. The Golf Dawgs were ten strokes better in the afternoon than the morning.
Clarke will tee off the final round for the Bulldogs at 7:20 a.m. CT. Scores will be updated courtesy of Golfstat.com.
For more information on the Bulldogs, follow the program on Instagram or Twitter by searching @HailStateMG.
Fighting Irish Classic
1. Notre Dame (283+271 = 554, -14)
2. North Carolina (279+282 = 561, -7)
3. Rutgers (284+289 = 573, +5)
T4. Boston College (290+284 = 574, +6)
T4. Iowa (295+279 = 574, +6)
6. Kent State (290+287 = 577, +9)
T7. Missouri-Kansas City (289+290 = 579, +11)
T7. Michigan State (285+294 = 579, +11)
T7. Arizona State (291+288 = 579, +11)
10. Mississippi State (296+286 = 582, +14)
11. Michigan (294+289 = 583, +15)
12. Iowa State (298, 286 = 584, +16)
13. Toledo (294+295 = 589, +21)
14. Georgia Southern (299+292=591, +23)
Mississippi State
T13. Garrett Johnson (72+69 = 141, -1)
T26. Ford Clegg (73+71 = 144, +2)
T30. Peng Pichaikool (75+70 = 145, +3)
T71. Austin Fulton (76+76 = 152, +10)
T78. Cameron Clarke (79+77 = 156, +14)
Individual
T21. Daniel Martinez (72+71 = 143, +1)
SOUTH BEND, Indiana – After a 36-hole day Monday, Mississippi State men's golf looks to climb the leader board in the final round of the Fighting Irish Classic. The Dawgs will conclude play at the Warren Golf Course with 18 holes Tuesday on the Notre Dame campus.
"First, I am really proud of how we responded in our second round, especially towards the end," head coach Dusty Smith said. "Peng, Garrett and Ford did a great job of holding us in there and getting us some momentum heading into tomorrow's final round. We are not far off from playing some really good golf. The frustrating part is our mistakes are self-inflicted and so simple to fix."
Senior Garrett Johnson led the Bulldogs. He finished the first round one-over after going bogey free for 13 consecutive holes. He fired back-to-back birdies on holes nine and 10 in second round action to highlight his two-under, 69. He climbed up 13 spots from round one to round two on the leader board and ended the day tied for 13th.
In the first round, sophomore Ford Clegg settled into the course. He shot two-over with his last 12 holes bogey free. Clegg saw improvement in his afternoon round and concluded the back-nine with three birdies over four holes. He shot one-over in the first round and turned in a one-under scorecard in the second to finish the day at even par. Going into round three, he is tied for 26th.
Sophomore Daniel Martinez posted a solid Bulldog debut competing as an individual. He finished the first round one-over, highlighted by three birdies on the back-nine.
Martinez's afternoon round was better than his first. He shot even and advanced five spots up the leader board and currently sits tied for 21st. He carded nine birdies on the day, the third most in the field.
Senior Peng Pichaikool shot four-over in the morning but bounced back with a better second round. With help from his iron game, he secured three birdies on the last five holes of the back-nine, and shot one-under, 70 in the second round.
"We will continue to get better at doing the simple things well and must make sure that our focus is on that. I believe in the character of this team, and I know our guys will battle until the end," Smith said. "Tomorrow is a big day for us and an opportunity for us to show what we are made of."
Junior Austin Fulton shot and junior Cameron Clarke are looking to improve on day two after they tallied 10-over and 14-over scores, respectively.
As a team, the Bulldogs are 14-over and hold 10th place heading into the final round. They are just three strokes back from a three-way tie for seventh which includes top-ranked Arizona State. The Golf Dawgs were ten strokes better in the afternoon than the morning.
Clarke will tee off the final round for the Bulldogs at 7:20 a.m. CT. Scores will be updated courtesy of Golfstat.com.
For more information on the Bulldogs, follow the program on Instagram or Twitter by searching @HailStateMG.
Fighting Irish Classic
1. Notre Dame (283+271 = 554, -14)
2. North Carolina (279+282 = 561, -7)
3. Rutgers (284+289 = 573, +5)
T4. Boston College (290+284 = 574, +6)
T4. Iowa (295+279 = 574, +6)
6. Kent State (290+287 = 577, +9)
T7. Missouri-Kansas City (289+290 = 579, +11)
T7. Michigan State (285+294 = 579, +11)
T7. Arizona State (291+288 = 579, +11)
10. Mississippi State (296+286 = 582, +14)
11. Michigan (294+289 = 583, +15)
12. Iowa State (298, 286 = 584, +16)
13. Toledo (294+295 = 589, +21)
14. Georgia Southern (299+292=591, +23)
Mississippi State
T13. Garrett Johnson (72+69 = 141, -1)
T26. Ford Clegg (73+71 = 144, +2)
T30. Peng Pichaikool (75+70 = 145, +3)
T71. Austin Fulton (76+76 = 152, +10)
T78. Cameron Clarke (79+77 = 156, +14)
Individual
T21. Daniel Martinez (72+71 = 143, +1)
Players Mentioned
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