Ole Miss Men’s Golf traveled to Hawaii this week to compete in the Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational, the last tournament on the team’s fall schedule. The No. 37 Rebels got off to a quick start before eventually placing 8th as a team.
Ole Miss finished with a three day total of 849(-15), finishing 13 strokes behind the tournament winner, No. 6 Pepperdine. Ole Miss’ Beau Briggs had an outstanding performance at the invitational, placing in solo 4th after shooting a three day total of 205(-11). Freshman Jackson Suber also had a solid performance in Hawaii, shooting a three day total of 206(-10) to finish in solo 5th as an individual.
“I really like this group and I’m confident that we have our best golf ahead of us in the spring,” head coach Chris Malloy told olemisssports.com following the tournament. “We have had some great individual performances throughout the fall season, so that is certainly a positive.”
Ole Miss came out firing on all cylinders on day one, shooting a team total of 276(-12). The outstanding round of golf placed the Rebels solely in 2nd place. Briggs and Josh Seiple led Ole Miss with two outstanding rounds, shooting 66 and 65, respectively.
“We have had some great individual performances throughout the fall season,” Malloy said. “So, that is certainly a positive.”
Day two saw heavy rain, causing the course to be much tougher than usual. The Rebels struggled to keep things rolling in the second round, shooting a 295(+7) and hurting their position on the leaderboard quite a bit. Braden Thornberry put together an even par 72 in the second round, the best score of the day for Ole Miss.
“We really struggled as the conditions worsened on our back nine today. We made some very uncharacteristic mistakes that really cost us,” Malloy said. “We need to learn from those mistakes and close this tournament with a good round tomorrow.”
After the disappointing second round the Rebels bounced back with a final round 278(-10) to finish the fall season on a high note. Briggs led the Rebels with yet another 66, matching his career low that he set in the first round. Thornberry and Cecil Webber also had solid final rounds, each shooting a closing 69.
“Today was a better day for us as a team,” Malloy told olemisssports.com following the final round. “We were still one score short of putting together a really good round but we will get that figured out.”
The Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational marked the end of the fall portion of the Rebels’ schedule. They’ll return to action following the winter break on Feb. 24 as they head to Clearwater Beach, Florida, to compete against USF in the Ole Miss-South Florida Challenge.
