No. 2 MGCCC opens spring golf schedule at Fairhope

Mississippi Gulf Coast starts its spring golf schedule fresh off a new set of rankings that still has them at No. 2 in the county.

The Bulldogs are playing in the Elizabeth Kling Memorial at Rock Creek Golf Club in Fairhope, Ala., on Saturday and Sunday.

"Everybody seems to be swinging well," Bulldogs coach Tommy Snell. "We're hitting on all cylinders right now if we just play well tomorrow."

They'll open the spring ranked behind Tyler Junior College, which received four first-place votes in the Bushnell Golfweek NJCAA Davison II Coaches Poll.

Murray State (Okla.) received the other two first-place votes and is in third. Two other MACJC schools: No. 5 Copiah-Lincoln and No. 6 Meridian.

The competition within Gulf Coast's own team remains intense. Logan Leary (5-11, 120, fr., Gonzales/Dutchtown, La.) is the top Gulf Coast player according to the Golfstat ranking, but he didn't make the five-man squad.

"This set of qualifiers we had for this tournament is probably some of the best scores I've seen since I've been here," Snell said. "We have really played well. Logan's ranked No. 21 in the nation, and when you leave a guy ranked that high, that's saying something. You mess up one round and you're behind the eight ball."

Wyatt Adkison (5-7, 210, so., East Central/Hurley), Colin Troxler (6-2, 137, so., Hahnville/Luling, La.), Jonathon Newman (5-9, 135, so., North Pike/Summit), Colby Blake (5-11, 155, fr., Parklane/Tylertown) and Jackson Wedgeworth (6-2, fr., West Jones/Soso) will be representing Gulf Coast against a tough field.

Spring Hill, an NCAA Division II school, and Mobile, an NAIA squad, are in the field. There are also top 10 NJCAA Division I teams from Eastern Florida State and Central Alabama, with Co-Lin, Meridian and East Mississippi from the MACJC.

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCAthletics on Twitter and BulldogLIVE on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.