Page 64 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2018

SPORTS & OUTDOORS coast golf update
TEE-OFF
with Tommy
story by Tommy Snell and photo courtesy of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
A STORYBOOK ENDING FOR NATIONAL CHAMPION GOLF
National Championships
are rare! The Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Golf Team found that out last year in Mesa, Arizona, after leading for 68 holes, only to finish second. This year, MGCCC was not to be denied.
St. Clair County Athletic
Director Dale Vos’ prophetic
words resonated with every
golfer before the first tee-
shot was struck at the NJCAA
D-II Men’s National Golf Championship at Glen Lakes
Golf Club in Foley, Alabama.
“Enjoy the week,” he told the
136 golfers who attended the opening banquet and were
about to tee it up in perhaps
the biggest event of their lives. “Just remember that not many people have the opportunity to play in a national championship.”
Visionary words indeed. Jackson Wedgeworth, Brice Wilkinson, Colby Blake, Colby Entriken and Carter Nicholson, members of the
Mississippi Gulf Coast Golf Team, digested those words that night knowing the week would be special. How special? The five fired rounds of 291-297-283-279 to win by one shot.
Ranked number one in the nation for several weeks during the regular season, the Bulldogs were on a mission. Wedgeworth, who played
on the second place team in the 2017 National Championship, used his experience to secure
a one-shot victory with a 205- yard 4-iron that left his Pro-V just a little left of the hole in the fringe, a chip and a putt away.
The Bulldogs shot a 9-under 279 the last day to overcome Meridian and Parkland, Illinois, and outlast a fast-charging South Mountain, Arizona. “We battled Meridian all year — great group of kids and a great coaching staff. To defeat them made it sweeter because they were that good,” said Assistant Coach Brad Thornton.
Written like a Hollywood script, the storybook ending
read beautifully as all four golfers whose scores counted the last
day made crucial up-and-downs on the last hole as spectators circled the 18th green. The joy of a National Championship erupted as Wedgeworth’s 2 1⁄2 footer found the bottom of the cup.
64 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • July 2018
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