Bulldogs Hungry For Final Round Of Fighting Irish Classic

Monday, October 4

South Bend, Ind. (Warren GC)

Mississippi State

Fighting Irish Classic

Bulldogs Hungry For Final Round Of Fighting Irish Classic

October 04, 2021 | Men's Golf

Live Resuts

By: Josie Hutton, Student Assistant/Communications

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – After a 36-hole day on Monday, Mississippi State men's golf will look to climb the leaderboard in the final round of the Fighting Irish Classic. The Bulldogs will conclude play at the Warren Golf Course with 18 holes Tuesday.

State collectively put up 14 birdies in the first round for a team score of 285. In the second round, the Bulldogs rose two spots by posting 17 birdies on their way to a team total of 281. The Bulldogs sit in sixth place at 6-over heading into the final round. State is six strokes off the pace set by fifth-place Michigan State.

"I'm really proud of the grit the guys showed today," assistant coach Steven Paine said, "Thirty-six holes is always a long day, and the guys did a good job managing the ebbs and flows of day. We got off to a tough start this morning, but the guys were able to steady the ship and make some birdies coming in to close out the first round."

"We carried that momentum into the second round, starting really strong and bouncing back well," Paine continued. "We didn't close out the second round as we would've liked to; however, the guys are hungry to get those lost strokes back tomorrow. We're in a strong position to go out and make a move in the final round. Our goal in these situations is always to be better at the end."

Senior Ford Clegg led the team and sits inside the top 20. Clegg recovered from his first-round mistakes and bounced back with five birdies in the second round, with three consecutive coming on Holes 16, 17, and 18. Clegg shot bogey-free for 15 uninterrupted holes in Round 2 to finish the day tied for 16^th at even-par.

Freshman Jay Nimmo had a hot start in Round 1 where he posted a bogey-free back nine and four birdies. Nimmo struggled in round two but still tacked on two birdies to finish the day tied for 24^th at 2-over.

Sophomore Loïc Ettlin and senior Austin Vukovits both finished the day at 3-over. Vukovits played steady golf in the first round shooting even-par. Ettlin responded from his first-round results with back-to-back birdies on Holes 16 and 17 on his way to four birdies in the second round.

Senior Ben Nelson and junior Hunter Logan carded 7-over and 6-over scores, respectively.

Nelson will lead-off of the final round for the Bulldogs tomorrow at 7:45 a.m. CT. Live stats will be available on Golfstat.com.

For more information on the Bulldogs, follow on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "HailStateMG."

2021 Fighting Irish Classic
1. Washington (269, 728 = 547, -13)
2. Notre Dame (273, 281 = 554, -6)
3. Utah (279, 276 = 555, -5)
4. Kent State (284, 273 = 557, -3)
5. Michigan State (274, 286 = 560, E)
6. Mississippi State (285, 281 = 566, +6)
7. Iowa (285, 282 = 567, +7)
T8. Oregon State (282, 287 = 569, +9)
T8. Rutgers University (291, 278 = 569, +9)
10. Washington State (285, 291 = 576, +16)
11. Colorado (284, 293 = 577, +17)
12. Georgia Southern (291, 288 = 579, +19)
T13. Boston College (295, 294 = 589, +29)
T13. Iowa State (292, 297 = 589, +29)

Mississippi State
T16. Ford Clegg (72, 68 = 140, E)
T24. Jay Nimmo (68, 74 = 142, +2)
T31. Loïc Ettlin (76, 67 = 143, +3)
T45. Hunter Logan (70, 76 = 146, +6)
T48. Ben Nelson (75, 72 = 147, +7)

Individual
T31. Austin Vukovits (70, 73 = 143, +3)