Clegg Wins Individual Title Of Steelwood Collegiate

Sunday, October 31

Loxley, Ala. (Steelwood CC)

Mississippi State

Steelwood Collegiate

Photo by: Bobby McDuffie

Clegg Wins Individual Title Of Steelwood Collegiate

October 31, 2021 | Men's Golf

Final Results

By: Josie Hutton, Student Assistant/Communications

LOXLEY, Ala. – Mississippi State senior Ford Clegg took home the hardware at the 2021 Steelwood Collegiate with an 11-under par score. Clegg collected 18 birdies to win with a two-stroke lead.

It marks the third individual title of Clegg's career, and he is tied for fourth in career wins in MSU history. His last individual title was won at the 2019 Steelwood Collegiate giving him back-to-back titles at the event after COVID-19 cancelled the tournament in 2020.

"Winning is hard," Clegg said. "It takes a lot of mental toughness to stay in the present and not let the moment get to you. I had the thought of defending my win from last time at Steelwood creeping into my head the whole week, but I had to be disciplined to focus on the present and one shot at a time."

"It's hard to put into words the nerves of being the final round leader going into today," Clegg stated, "but I was able to use some past experience to keep me patient the whole round. I was struggling through 10 holes with some uncharacteristic mistakes but was able to make birdies to keep me in it. Overall, it was a great week and great way to gain momentum heading into the spring season."

Mississippi State shot 1-over for the final round to give the Bulldogs a fourth-place finish at 10-under par. State put up 58 birdies and three eagles throughout the tournament.

"Today was a great learning experience for our team," head coach Dusty Smith said. "We had a chance to win with nine holes left to play, and we got out of our process a little bit and focused too much on results. We did a fantastic job bouncing back and finishing better at the end which is what we want to be about."

"I am so happy for Ford getting a win today," Smith added. "It's hard to win but even harder when you are expected to do so. We look forward to the off season as we continue living out our process."

Austin Vukovits, competing individually for MSU, had a top-10 finish with a career-low total of 212. His third-round performance with five birdies carried him to tying his lowest career round of 3-under. Overall, Vukovits shot 4-under and finished tied for eighth place.

Hunter Logan struggled during Round 3 but still managed to finish with a 1-under score in a tie for 22nd place.

Pedro Cruz Silva carded four birdies and an eagle on Hole 18 in the final round to give him an overall even par score. Alongside him, individual Ben Nelson put up five birdies to finish even at par.

Loïc Ettlin played steady golf today going bogey-free for all 18 holes. He concluded Sunday at 3-under with an overall 3-over score. Jay Nimmo finished at 10-over for the tournament.

Mississippi State has wrapped up its fall season and will begin spring play on February 14 at the Albany Collegiate Invitational in The Bahamas.

2021 Steelwood Collegiate
1 Missouri (280, 279, 288 = 847, -17)
2 Kentucky (287, 279, 283 = 849, -15)
3 Memphis (296, 281, 274 = 851, -13)
4 Mississippi State (287, 278, 289 = 854, -10)
5 Kansas State (290, 280, 287 = 857, -7)
6 UAB (286, 289, 283 = 858, -6)
7 South Alabama (282, 282, 295 = 859, -5)
8 Cincinnati (287, 289, 294 = 860, -4)
9 Rutgers (280, 285, 304 = 869, +5)
10 Wisconsin (299, 288, 283 = 870, +6)
11 Louisiana Tech (294, 294, 288 = 876, +12)
12 North Alabama (298, 295, 284 = 877, +13)
13 Rice (304, 289, 291 = 884, +20)
14 Kennesaw State (307, 303, 291 = 901, +37)

Mississippi State
1 Ford Clegg (67, 67, 71 = 205, -11)
T22 Hunter Logan (70, 70, 75 = 215, -1)
T28 Pedro Cruz Silva (73, 70, 73 = 216, E)
T37 Loïc Ettlin (78, 71, 70 = 219, +3)
T63 Jay Nimmo (77, 74, 75 = 226, +10)

Individual
T8 Austin Vukovits (70, 73, 69 = 212, -4)
T28 Ben Nelson (73, 73, 70 = 216, E)