By Tanner Marlar
The Mississippi State University men’s golf team has started off their season and are already looking ahead to what the 2022-23 season has in store.
The new-look Bulldog squad began their season at the SEC Fall Preview in Vestavia Hills, Ala., and narrowly dropped their opening match to the University of Florida.
In the preview, it was freshman Garrett Endicott who grabbed headlines throughout the entire tournament. The 6-foot-3 San Antonio, Texas, native earned a runner-up finish in his first appearance in the Maroon and White.
Endicott ended the final round at six under par, which put him at -12 for the entire tournament for a total score of 54 in stroke play. That total made MSU history, as it tied the lowest total in program history -- not bad for his first start.
Head coach Dusty Smith shared his thoughts on Endicott’s play after the match.
“Garrett played some big-time golf in big-time moments this week and really stepped up big for us,” Smith said. “We know if we keep playing to our standards, focus on the right things and grow week to week, we can be a very good team.”
Although they lost the matchup to Florida, the team left their weekend in Alabama with their heads high knowing that they had a solid roster and a real opportunity in their next match.
That next match is currently ongoing -- the Blessings Collegiate Invitational.
The Blessings takes place each year in Fayetteville, Ark., and is a fairly new tournament, only in its third year of implementation. The Bulldogs entered the tournament as the 17th ranked team in the nation after their impressive performance in the SEC Preview, and will play alongside the women’s squad for a one-of-a-kind event.
California, UCF, Clemson, Kansas, Louisville, Ole Miss, No. 10 Texas A&M, UCLA and UNLV are joining Mississippi State in the tournament, which will be played on a par 72, 7,700 yard course featuring challenging ravines, plateaus and floodplains.
Head coach Dusty Smith shared his thoughts on the challenging course that laid ahead of the team.
“This week is really going to challenge us mentally and physically,” Smith said. “The golf course is a true championship course that you must be disciplined on to be successful.”
To tackle that challenging course, Smith has went with a veteran lineup, aside from the aforementioned Endicott.
Graduate student Ford Clegg, Endicott, senior Hunter Logan, graduate Ruan Pretorious and senior William Wann will take the course throughout the week to compete for the Bulldogs on the men’s side and hope to climb even higher in the rankings.
The tournament will end on October 5, and if MSU can take notes from the football team and topple the 10th ranked A&M Aggies, they’ll start the regular season off on the right foot.