State Opens at Old Waverly Behind Johnson

Monday, April 15

West Point, Miss. (Old Waverly GC)

All Day

Mississippi State

Old Waverly Collegiate Championship

State Opens at Old Waverly Behind Johnson

April 15, 2019 | Men's Golf

Golfstat

WEST POINT, Miss. – Mississippi State junior Garrett Johnson carded a pair of 69s en route to a 6-under opening day and a fourth place tie to start the seventh edition of the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship on Monday.

The Kimberly, Alabama native is once again in contention at the Golf Dawgs home event. He is looking to improve on a top five finish from last season.

Johnson got rolling behind first-round birdies on holes eight and nine. Then, following six straight pairs, he tacked on another birdie on the 16th to finish out his first 18 holes.

Johnson kept his momentum with a trio of birdies on the front nine of round two. He dialed up birdies on holes 11 and 14 to secure his top five position on the individual leaderboard.

Mississippi State secured a 284, two-round total to secure sixth place on the team leaderboard. The Golf Dawgs trail Middle Tennessee by two strokes and are five strokes behind Little Rock for fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Mississippi State will have an opportunity to climb the leaderboard with 18 holes on Tuesday. The Golf Dawgs have piled up four top five team finishes and had at least one player tuck away a top 10 finish during the first six years of the Old Waverly Collegiate Classic. The finale begins at 8 a.m. CT, with State teeing off from the first hole tee at 8:50 a.m.

Mississippi State had a quartet of solid individual performances, playing un-attached from the team score. Senior Ross Bell and sophomore Cameron Clarke turned in dueling 139's for a 5-under par total and a tie for 9th. A pair of freshmen, Ben Nelson and Austin Vukovits registered a two-round tally of 140 for 4-under and a tie for 12th. Clarke and Vukovits feasted on the par 5's where they notched scores of 5-under apiece.

Freshman Ford Clegg was locked in and in position to join Johnson on the top 5 of the individual leaderboard. He worked his way to six birdies and a flawless 33 holes without a bogey to start the event. Down the stretch, Clegg was dealt a bogie on hole 16 and a double on hole 18. He in a tie for 16th and a 3-under total of 141.

Senior Austin Rose also recorded a 3-under mark of 141. He began his second round with a bang and back-to-back birdies on holes one and two. Then, he capped his round with birdies on holes 14 and 17 and is all square with Clegg for a tie for 16th.

Sophomore Austin Fulton and junior Peng Pichaikool secured two-round scores of 148 and 155.

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MSU men's golf coach Dusty Smith:

"I thought we got off to a pretty good start. We hung in there during the first round. Second round, we had it going. We had four guys in it the entire day, but we kind of stumbled coming in. We didn't finish as strong as I liked. Overall, a solid day. We have some work to do tomorrow but looking forward to it. Garrett has already won a tournament this spring. He understands it. I'm really proud of him because after that win, he struggled the next three tournaments. Garrett and I had really good individual meetings after last week's event. We were able to get back to what he does well. It's really good to see him come out and play strong today. Tomorrow, we need to go out and play one shot at a time. We need to control what we can control. You have to make sure we're focused on the right things."

Junior Garrett Johnson:

"I felt like I played solid all day. I was very comfortable on my home golf course. We play out here a lot, and we prepared very well. I was trying to hit middle of the green, two-putt every hole and birdies are going to fall. I've been in this situation before and won an event about a month ago. I'll be comfortable, but of course, I'll be a little nervous too. I'm going to play for my teammates, that's the big key. You have to throw the individual stuff out, and I'm going to play for my guys."