Bulldogs Travel To Chattanooga For NCAA East Regional
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? The Mississippi State men’s golf team will begin competition at the NCAA East Regional at the par 72 Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga, Tenn. on Thursday, May 15.
“It should be a familiar course to us, which is a definite advantage,” said Head Coach Clay Homan. “We were anticipating this regional, but we knew it would not be easy to get there.”
The familiar course referenced by Homan is where State competed and finished sixth this past fall at the Scenic City Invitational. Three of the five Bulldogs in the lineup competed at the course excluding juniors Matt Fast and Noah Goldman.
MSU will feature a lineup of one senior in Brandon, Miss.-native Josh Oller and a quartet of juniors Carlos Sainz, Jr., Josh Bevell, Goldman and Fast. The lineup is a familiar one for the Bulldogs, competing in their fourth straight tournament together and seventh of the season.
“These are the five guys that have played the best all season which is what you want down the stretch,” said Homan. “We have been talking about being competitive and showing consistency all along and we are capable of doing that. We need to add to our overall team birdies and I am confident we will do well.”
MState will face 26 other teams, four from the SEC (Georgia, South Carolina, Auburn and Mississippi), with eight teams being ranked inside the top 25. The Bulldogs have faced 17 of the 26 teams in the regional field, finishing ahead of their opponents 16 times this past season.
“We will have to play well to advance and we know that,” said Homan. “It is a very competitive field, and we can only be concerned with what we are capable of.”
MState will tee off on Thursday at 1:05, and will follow with the second round on Friday, and concluding competition on Saturday. The top 10 teams will advance to the NCAA Championship in West Lafayette, Ind. Live stats will be available at http://www.mstateathletics.com/.