MSU Second Going Into Schenkel Final Round

Saturday, March 16

Statesboro, Ga. (Forest Heights CC)

All Day

Mississippi State

Schenkel Invitational

Credit: Blake Williams

MSU Second Going Into Schenkel Final Round

March 16, 2019 | Men's Golf

Golfstat

By Austin Coats, Student Assistant/Communications

STATESBORO, Ga. – Junior Garrett Johnson added a 3-under 69 to three even-par performances to put the Mississippi State men's golf team just three strokes behind the lead headed into Sunday's final round.

Despite almost matching its 5-under-par first round with a 3-under 285 on Saturday, State fell from a share of first into second place to East Tennessee State, who shot 8-under in round two.

"Today was one of those days where we couldn't get a lot of momentum as a team," MSU men's golf coach Dusty Smith said. "We hit so many quality shots out there but did not do a great job converting on them. I thought we did a great job of having all five guys in the round until the end. That will be important going forward."

Junior Peng Pichaikool remains a top contender on the player leaderboard after carding an even 72 on Saturday. The top-ranked player in the tournament, Pichaikool sits second and one stroke behind another ranked player, Georgia Southern's Steven Fisk. Fisk has shot a 7-under two-day total.

Johnson, now tied for 18th, did not bogey through day two. A birdie on three and eagle on 12 brought his score to 3-under-par. The junior is shooting 1-over for the weekend.

Freshman Ford Clegg remains in the top 10 after also carding a day-two 72, finishing Saturday tied for sixth with a 3-under-par total.

After shooting a 72 on Friday, senior Austin Rose shot a 2-over 74 Saturday. Fellow senior Ross Bell was MSU's third player to shoot even in the second round.

Mississippi State will try to play its way to a second straight win in final round play on Sunday. The Golf Dawgs will begin their final round from the first hole tee at 9 a.m. CT. Live results will be available via Golfstat.com.

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MSU men's golf coach Dusty Smith:

"Today was one of those days where we couldn't get a lot of momentum as a team. We hit so many quality shots out there but did not do a great job converting on them. I thought we did a great job of having all five guys in the round until the end. That will be important going forward. Garrett did an outstanding job of getting us a score in the house that we really needed. Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day for us. Mentally, we need to trust our game plans and play one shot at a time. We need to stick to what we do and play for each other."