University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Off the tee, Final Day, at Sam H. Hall Intercollegiate
2/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Off the tee, Final Day, at Sam H. Hall Intercollegiate
Day 3, the final round, February 18, 2003
The sun finally came out this morning, and it was a beautiful day for golf. The course wasn?t completely dried out, but it was a lot drier than the last few days. There was almost no chance that we would play poorly today, and we didn?t. We shot 286 today, which is two under-par and a solid round of golf for any college golf team.
The cameras were there today, putting us in the spotlight. We handled the pressure well, but not well enough to win. Some days it is just not your day to win, and we proved that today. Shane Rushing played a flawless tournament, winning the individual medalist honors. He carried the team and took a step forward when we needed him the most. Congratulations to Shane for winning his first college tournament as a sophomore!
It is funny when you finish a poor round of golf, you look back on it and realize that a shot or two less here and there would have really helped the team. I did that today after shooting a 77, better known as ?hockey sticks? to my peers. It was a rough day as a whole for me, and I grinded it out, but bogeying the last two holes really stinks. The good thing is that there will be better days, and I will learn from my mistakes.
Justin Elliott played well today, as he always does on the final round, firing a 69. Matt Wofford also played well today and had a good tournament shooting 70-75-69 ? 215. Mike Soroka shot 72 today and is still struggling with the putter. Ben Snow was stuck playing with two guys who were in slow motion. As a team, we played really well, shooting under-par all three rounds. That is something to be proud of, and we can build on that. One of our goals is to post four rounds in the 60s at a tournament, and we are very capable.
I wish everyone could see how far this golf team has come during my time at Southern Miss. We are in contention in every tournament. When I was a freshman, we were hopeful not to finish in last place. We travel to Southeastern Louisiana?s tournament next week, so expect great things out of this team. We are all playing well and look forward to that tournament.
