The University of Mississippi School of Law hosted their second annual Ole Miss Student Bar Association Golf Tournament at The Country Club of Oxford on Monday, March 17, in support of the Student Bar Association.
Josh Cook, Austin Molnar, Landes Purnell and Blake Rigdon took home first place in the tournament with a score of 55.
SBA President Brooks Payne is a third-year law student from Enterprise, Ala. Leading up to the tournament, Payne emphasized the importance of connecting alumni and current students at the tournament, rather than marketing the event as a fundraiser.
“We don’t want it just to be seen as, ‘hey, please come give us money,’ we want it to be seen as an event for alumni that can’t come to alumni weekend,” Payne said. “We’d love to have them here to see the school, see their current students and go play golf. So it means a day of fun that’s not in school.”
When creating the annual fundraising tournament, the SBA wanted a fun event that current and aspiring lawyers could bond over.
“Instead of just bombarding our students, we wanted it to say ‘here’s a fun opportunity to give,’ as well as play in this tournament,” Payne said. “Golf is a lawyer’s game, whether they want it to be or not. That’s just where the lawyers go and play. So we figured, let’s keep it golf. And that is how we’ve got most of our alumni to partake in joining us with it being golf.”
This is the first time the event was held in Oxford. The first annual event was held at Lake Caroline Golf Club in Jackson.
Despite not being held close to the law school, Payne saw success with their trial and error year and looked forward to holding this year’s event locally in Oxford.
“Last year was great, of course, trial and error. I’d found that doing it here was more accessible for our students and our local alumni that all want to partake, too.” Payne said. “ One thing that I took from it is that it was a majority of Jackson area attorneys, which is totally fine. This year we’ve really ramped it up to our students.”
Frederick Slabach, dean of the law school, applauded the success and hard work the SBA has put into an event that is fun and benefits current and former students.
“The success of this year’s Student Bar Association Golf Tournament is a testament to the incredible generosity and support of our alumni, sponsors and students.” Slabach said. “Their contributions make a meaningful impact, and we are truly grateful for their commitment to our law school community.”
Last year the event hosted 13 teams of four golfers each. This year, 16 teams participated.
Julia Banks, a third year law student from Raleigh, N.C., serves as the Director of Philanthropy for the SBA. Banks shared the process of organizing it to help bring the tournament to Oxford.
“It was great to work with him (Payne) and work together to help bring the golf tournament back home,” Banks said. “Putting it together was not easy. It was a lot of sponsorships, a lot of working with the foundation, but we’re really glad to have it back in Oxford this year.”
Banks also expressed her gratitude for what the tournament serves to students and the opportunities that come with the fun competition.
“It’s an opportunity for all groups to use this money to support student endeavors, bring in speakers and send students on team building and networking trips,” Banks said. “It really supports the well-being of our students to have opportunities and see different groups and do different things.”
Aside from the traditional scramble golf tournament, the event included other activities, as well as a space for spectators to hang out and enjoy the fun.
“We’re gonna have a putting contest, longest drive contest, and there’s going to be an area out on the pavilion of the club, so spectators can just come and hang out,” Payne said. “So it’s not just you’re coming and you’re golfing, there’s other things happening as well.”
A silent auction was also held, with prizes including a Lane Kiffin signed football helmet, a Core Pilates studio class pack, a Ryan Rolison signed baseball hat and more.
Tournament prizes included Ole Miss Golf swag, four club suite tickets to Ole Miss vs. Citadel Football game and Ole Miss merchandise bags.
