Friday, August 30
Pebble Beach, Calif. (Pebble Beach Golf Links)
All Day
Mississippi State
vs
Carmel Cup
Photo by: John Weast
2019-20 Mississippi State Men’s Golf Season Tees Off at Pebble Beach
August 29, 2019 | Men's Golf
By McRae Clay, Student Assistant/Communications
PEBBLE BEACH, California – Mississippi State tees off the 2019-20 campaign Friday, as the Golf Dawgs travel to the prestigious Pebble Beach Golf Links to play in the toughest collegiate tournament in the country.
The ninth annual Carmel Cup once again features a strong field playing the par-72 6,828-yard course at historic Pebble Beach, which recently played host to the 2019 U.S. Open Championship.
The eight teams, which all competed in 2019 NCAA Regional play, will compete in three rounds, one each day from Friday through Sunday. The field consists of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech from the Big 12 along with SEC opponents Arkansas, Georgia and Vanderbilt.
Smith's opening weekend lineup once again is highlighted by Pichaikool and Johnson. Joining the senior duo as part of the six-member travel party will be sophomore Ford Clegg and junior Austin Fulton. Freshmen Hunter Logan and William Wann also will make their collegiate debuts. The trio of Pichaikool, Johnson and Clegg recorded a combined 16 top-15 finishes last season. The top five player scores from each team will be taken for the team total.
"This is a new team with new challenges," Smith said. "The goal is to get better every day, to be better today than you were yesterday, and to be better tomorrow than you were today. This week, and this year, will be about doing the little things well because they add up to big things. It is up to this year's team to write their own story and to continue to build upon the foundation."
Last season, Pichaikool finished his junior campaign tying a career-best single-season stroke average with a 71.15 mark, which ties for second on State's all-time list. Pichaikool also had a great summer, finishing in the top 5 in two professional events in his home country of Thailand on the all Thailand Golf Tour. He recently captured the Singha Championship on Sunday.
Last season, Johnson became the first Bulldog to win an event since 2017 when he earned medalist honors at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate. He also placed top-5 at the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship.
Clegg was named the SEC Freshman of the Week twice last season. He put together four consecutive top-15 finishes between October and March and six top 15s total, the second-best mark on the squad.
Fulton competed in the 2018 Carmel Cup and finished the regular season aiding the Bulldog's top-5 placement at the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship. In June, Fulton captured a wire-to-wire win at the Rice Planters Amateur in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, after carding a 12-under score.
Wann and Logan are looking to continue their stellar amateur careers as they make their debut in Maroon and White. Wann closed his time as a junior amateur with three team state titles at Mountain Brook High School in Alabama, where he played as a teammate with Clegg for three seasons.
Logan, a native of Steens, Mississippi, was the 2017 Mississippi Junior Golfer of the Year and the 2017 Mississippi Junior Amateur Champion.
Wann will be first to tee off from hole 1 at 9 a.m. CT. Scores will be updated courtesy of Golfstat.com and @carmelcupgolf on Instagram..
For more information on the Bulldogs, follow the program on Instagram or Twitter by searching @HailStateMG.
PEBBLE BEACH, California – Mississippi State tees off the 2019-20 campaign Friday, as the Golf Dawgs travel to the prestigious Pebble Beach Golf Links to play in the toughest collegiate tournament in the country.
The ninth annual Carmel Cup once again features a strong field playing the par-72 6,828-yard course at historic Pebble Beach, which recently played host to the 2019 U.S. Open Championship.
The eight teams, which all competed in 2019 NCAA Regional play, will compete in three rounds, one each day from Friday through Sunday. The field consists of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech from the Big 12 along with SEC opponents Arkansas, Georgia and Vanderbilt.
"We are really looking forward to opening the year at Pebble Beach for the Carmel Cup," MSU men's golf coach Dusty Smith said. "This is a special place and a special event, and we are grateful to be a part of it. This tournament will begin the first step in our year-long process. We had a solid week of preparation, and are excited for the opportunity to compete against some of the best this week."
This will be the second consecutive year for the Bulldogs to compete in the Carmel Cup, as juniors Garrett Johnson and Peng Pichaikool both finished in the top 15 on the player leaderboard last season.Smith's opening weekend lineup once again is highlighted by Pichaikool and Johnson. Joining the senior duo as part of the six-member travel party will be sophomore Ford Clegg and junior Austin Fulton. Freshmen Hunter Logan and William Wann also will make their collegiate debuts. The trio of Pichaikool, Johnson and Clegg recorded a combined 16 top-15 finishes last season. The top five player scores from each team will be taken for the team total.
"This is a new team with new challenges," Smith said. "The goal is to get better every day, to be better today than you were yesterday, and to be better tomorrow than you were today. This week, and this year, will be about doing the little things well because they add up to big things. It is up to this year's team to write their own story and to continue to build upon the foundation."
Last season, Pichaikool finished his junior campaign tying a career-best single-season stroke average with a 71.15 mark, which ties for second on State's all-time list. Pichaikool also had a great summer, finishing in the top 5 in two professional events in his home country of Thailand on the all Thailand Golf Tour. He recently captured the Singha Championship on Sunday.
Last season, Johnson became the first Bulldog to win an event since 2017 when he earned medalist honors at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate. He also placed top-5 at the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship.
Clegg was named the SEC Freshman of the Week twice last season. He put together four consecutive top-15 finishes between October and March and six top 15s total, the second-best mark on the squad.
Fulton competed in the 2018 Carmel Cup and finished the regular season aiding the Bulldog's top-5 placement at the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship. In June, Fulton captured a wire-to-wire win at the Rice Planters Amateur in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, after carding a 12-under score.
Wann and Logan are looking to continue their stellar amateur careers as they make their debut in Maroon and White. Wann closed his time as a junior amateur with three team state titles at Mountain Brook High School in Alabama, where he played as a teammate with Clegg for three seasons.
Logan, a native of Steens, Mississippi, was the 2017 Mississippi Junior Golfer of the Year and the 2017 Mississippi Junior Amateur Champion.
Wann will be first to tee off from hole 1 at 9 a.m. CT. Scores will be updated courtesy of Golfstat.com and @carmelcupgolf on Instagram..
For more information on the Bulldogs, follow the program on Instagram or Twitter by searching @HailStateMG.
Players Mentioned
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