Gulfport, MS – The Men’s Golf Team traveled to Gulfport, Mississippi this past weekend to take part in the 54-hole, Mississippi Gulf Coast Fall Invitational at Windance Country Club. The 4 days before the tournament, Windance Country Club hosted the Adams Golf Tour Championship and was in great shape with tight tree lined fairways and undulated greens protecting the 6,700-yard course.
According to Golfstat, the SMCC Cougars entered the tournament ranked #1 in the nation and were accompanied by 8 other Division I and II NJCAA schools ranked in the top 16 in the country, including:
- #4 Darton College (II),
- #7 John A. Logan (II),
- #10 Rend Lake (II),
- #12 Miss Gulf Coast,
- #13 Meridian CC (II),
- #4 Central Alabama CC (I),
- #10 Wallace (I), and
- #16 Faulkner State (I).
Adam Winwood and Scott Brace helped the Cougars run out to a 1-shot lead over Central Alabama CC and 7-shots ahead of Darton at the end of 36 holes and the first day of competition. Both players fired even par rounds of 72 -72 -144 and sat in 3rd place individually after day 1. In addition, Trent Ka’ahanui added rounds of 71-78- 149 and Chace Nathe fired opening day rounds of 77-73-150 leaving the Cougars at 11-over par.
The final day of competition found South Mountain and Central Alabama going back and forth all day, as both teams struggled to try and separate themselves from one another. In the final round, South Mountain rode the coat tails of Sophomore’s Adam Winwood and Robert Murray who both fired final rounds of 73, Nathe 75, and Brace 78 which was good enough to hold on to a 1-shot victory over Central Alabama and lengthened their lead on Darton to 9-shots, which was the next closest team in the 16 team field.