MGCCC, Wilkinson lead after 1st round

SAUCIER — No. 2 Mississippi Gulf Coast got off to a slow start Monday in the first round of the MGCCC Spring Invitational, but then stopped the bleeding and wound up in first place after 18 holes.

The Bulldogs finished 22-over 310 to lead No. 8 Meridian by six shots and No. 6 Northeast Mississippi by nine.

"At first, you look at our scores and it looks rough, but the greens were fast and it was windy," Gulf Coast coach Tommy Snell said. "Plus, the guys on the other teams have not been playing as much as we've been able to. We can all get better, and we lost a lot of shots around the green today. We've got to tidy things up."

The final round will have an 8 a.m. shotgun start Tuesday.

Gulf Coast's Matt Wilkinson (Fr, Madison Central/Madison) shot a sterling 1-under 71 to take a five-shot lead. Reeves Johnson (Fr, Germantown/Madison) is in third at 3-under.

Hayden Russell (Fr, Gautier/Gautier) and Dawson Thompson (Fr, Pascagoula/Pascagoula), playing as individuals, are tied for sixth at 7-over.

Wilkinson got a putting lesson last weekend that helped him figure some things out. He focused on alignment, and he did the best job in the field of playing the windy conditions.

"It was pretty boring golf," he said. "I avoided all the high numbers. Nothing really exciting, just hitting fairways, hitting greens and making putts."

Forty other golfers in the field would have loved to have been so boring.

"When he is playing well, he's as steady as a rock," Snell said. "He's really worked hard on his short game. He missed a putt on the last hole, but otherwise, his hard work is starting to pay off."

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