MGCCC Golf team hoping to three-peat in 2010

MGCCC golfer Skyler Dennis blasts his way out of a bunker during a recent qualifying match.

You hear people talk about a team’s “glory days.” For the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College golf team, these are the glory days of the program. Gulf Coast is coming off back-to-back Region 23 titles. Last season the Bulldog finished ninth at the NJCAA Division II National Championship event in Scottsboro, AL. Golf Coach Tommy Snell said the good news is that all eight of his freshmen from last year’s team are coming back in 2010. That means he goes into the upcoming season with an all-sophomore roster.

MGCCC golfer Grant Burns tees off on the par-three third hole at Sunkist C.C. In Biloxi.

“We’re in great shape,” Snell said. “All the guys are improving and they all competed in events this summer.”

In fact, Gulf Coast golfer Richie Williams was in contention to win the Mississippi State Amateur Tournament and also played well at the Coast Amateur. Williams, a sophomore from Wiggins, won the 2009 Hubert Tucker Award, an honor that goes to the state’s best golfer in terms of scoring average during the 2009 season. He finished the 2009 regular season with a 72.80 per-round average and helped lead Gulf Coast to victories in four out of the five MACJC events. He’s also the second Gulf Coast golfer to earn the award after Stone Thames took home the honor in 2008.

Williams, along with fellow sophomore Nic Ishee (Laurel), earned MACJC First-Team All-State honors, while Michael Wilkinson (Gulfport) garnered Second-team All-State recognition. That trio joins Brandon Herrington (Laurel), Grant Burns (Waynesboro), Skyler Dennis (Boaz, Ala.), and Colin McNamara (Ireland) as the Bulldogs team this season.

“Last year I felt like we were a top five team in the nation,” Snell added. “This spring, we want to win it. We’ll have a chance if we can put ourselves in a position to win.”

If there’s any bad news, it’s that Snell has to recruit even harder now because the cupboard will be completely bare after the 2010 campaign.

“Recruiting will be huge this year,” He said. “But in the meantime, we’ll be looking to three-peat. Right now we’re qualifying. At this point we won’t make many swing changes with the players. At this time of year we strictly focus on the short game and course management.”

The first tournaments of the season are set for Feb. 8 at Sunkist C.C. in Biloxi and Feb. 9 at Grand Bear in Saucier.