Mississippi State
SEC Match Play
Bulldogs Set For SEC Match Play In Birmingham
September 24, 2023 | Men's Golf
Birmingham, Ala. – Following a third-place finish at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate earlier this month, the No. 21 Mississippi State men's golf team will return to action at the SEC Match Play tournament on Sept. 25-27.
The tournament will be played on the par-71, 7,226-yard course at the Country Club of Birmingham and hosted by Alabama. The 14-team, all-SEC field includes nine teams ranked inside the top 25. Three of those are in the top 10 in the Bushnell/Golf Week Coaches poll, including No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 6 Auburn, and No. 8 Florida.
The tournament will begin on Monday with a shotgun start and 36 holes of stroke play. Tuesday will follow with 18 more holes of stroke play action. Match play begins on Wednesday. The top two programs in stroke play will face off in the final pairings of the day to crown the tournament champion, while the 12 other participating schools will compete in an East vs. West Match Play format.
"We look forward to the challenge that is in front of us this week. We get to compete on a true championship golf course against great competition," head coach Dusty Smith said. "Any time you tee it up against the best, you get a great feel as to where you are as a team. It's still very early in the season, but this week will be a great test for us. It all comes down to doing the small things at an elite level. We need to make sure our focus and intensity to compete are at a very high level. I really look forward to this week, and I know our team is prepared and ready to get out there."
The Mississippi State lineup features several changes from the season opener, as the Bulldogs will send out a starting five that includes Hunter Logan, Garrett Endicott, Josep Serra, Ben Loveard, and Alejandro Pedryc.
Logan, in the No. 1 spot once again for State, is coming off his first collegiate victory at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate. Logan shot an 11-under 199, tied for the fifth-lowest 54-hole total in program history. His performance in Knoxville earned him an SEC Co-Golfer of the Week recognition and was the best 54-hole total of his career.
The No. 2 spot features Endicott, an honorable mention All-American a year ago as a freshman. Endicott tied for 12th his last time out, notching 12 birdies and an eagle over three rounds. He carded a match-play victory for the Bulldogs last year at the 2022 SEC Fall Preview, defeating Florida's Parker Bell, 3-up.
Serra will move up into the No. 3 spot for the Bulldogs after making his Division I debut in Knoxville and matching Endicott with a T-12 finish. Serra is no stranger to match play himself, having won two of his matches in the bracket play portion of the NCAA Division II National Championships with Nova Southeastern.
Loveard and Pedryc will make their season debuts to round out the MSU lineup. Loveard, a sophomore, competed in three tournaments for the Bulldogs last season with his best finish coming at the Thomas Sharkey Individual Collegiate (T-14th). Pedryc, a junior, also competed in three events for MSU last season and shot a career-low 7-under 209 at the Mossy Oak Collegiate. Over the summer, Pedryc saw match play action at the 2023 British Amateur Championship. There, he won his first round of match play to advance to the round of 32.
Fans can follow along with the action at GolfGenius.com.
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Players Mentioned
