Both the Ole Miss golf team and freshman Jackson Suber finished second in the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship in West Point on Tuesday.
Ole Miss was the overall runner-up in the tournament, just one stroke behind team winner University of Louisiana at Monroe. The Rebels shot a 17-under-par 847 overall, just beating out SEC foe and No. 4-ranked Vanderbilt.
Jackson Suber finished second individually for the second time this year, shooting a 10-under 206 over three rounds. The Tampa, Florida, native shot a career-best 7-under-par 65 in the final round on Tuesday, tying the tournament record.
“Everything was going pretty well. I was putting very well, and I just didn’t make many mistakes. I was bogey-free, kept the ball in front of me and didn’t put myself in any bad spots,” Suber said after the tournament. “I played solid golf in the first two rounds, and today, I played pretty lights out.”
Suber came into the final round of the tournament 3-under par, tied for 10th place individually. He went bogey-free in the front nine, birdied at nine and eagled at the 10th hole to bring the Rebels to third place and to put him right behind MTSU’s Marcus Byrd. ULM birdied on the 18th hole in the final group to win the championship despite shooting 4-over par in the final round.
“You love any of your guys playing well, but especially when it’s a freshman,” head coach Chris Malloy said. “With the nerves he showed down the stretch, he didn’t blink.”
Entering the final round, every Rebel was in the top-30 individually, including senior Beau Briggs, who was tied for fourth.
Briggs finished the tournament tied for fifth place, shooting a 72, 66 and 71, good for 7-under-par on the tournament. The next best Rebel, Brody Blackmon, came in 2-under par, tied for 17th. Jack Gnam was even, tied for 26th, and Cecil Wegener tied for 36th. Both Josh Seiple and Sarut Vongchaisit tied for 48th.
“Our guys showed a lot of fight,” Malloy said. “We didn’t get off to the greatest of starts. We weren’t making too many birdies out of the gates but really started to get some momentum going in the back nine. Unfortunately we were just one shot short.”
The Old Waverly Championship was the Rebels’ final regular season action before the SEC Championship in St. Simons Island, Georgia, from April 15-16. NCAA Regionals are scheduled for May 12-15.
“This runner-up finish is going to give us a lot of momentum now that we’re playing well and kind of give us a chip on our shoulder to win next week,” Suber said.
The women’s team is preparing for the SEC Championship in Birmingham, Alabama, which starts on Wednesday. They’ll compete against 13 other SEC schools at Greystone Golf and Country Club. The No. 36 Rebels have finished in the top 5 in their last two tournaments, finishing second at The Bruzzy in Texas and fifth in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic last weekend when they upset No. 9 Florida in match play.
Sophomore Julia Johnson will look to lead the team to a victory in Birmingham this weekend.
“We are very excited to get out there and compete against our fellow SEC schools the next couple of days,” head coach Kory Henkes said. “This team is very confident right now, and we’re ready for a great showing in Birmingham. Some of us are very familiar with this course, which will be a huge help because most of us are coming here for the first time.”
