Bulldogs blast field on 1st day of NJCAA Preview

Mississippi Gulf Coast laid down a marker in the first two rounds of the NJCAA Tournament Preview on Monday in Joplin, Mo.

The Bulldogs, the top-ranked team by Golfstat and No. 5 in the Bushnell Golfweek NJCAA Division II Coaches Poll, smoked a strong field at Twin Hills Country Club by taking a 20-shot lead.

Gulf Coast's Matt Wilkinson (So., Madison/Madison Central) has a one-shot lead after shooting 3-under. Teammate David Beard (Fr., Madison/Madison Central) is tied for third two shots back, with Tyler's Matt Reynolds sandwiched between in second.

"We showed up here on Saturday and got a lot accomplished in our practice rounds," MGCCC coach Brad Thornton said. "It was pretty tough out there with the wind conditions, and I thought the guys adapted really well. I'm hoping we do the same tomorrow. I still thought we left a couple of shots out there, but we want to continue to improve and get as much out of this trip as we can to get ready for May."

Gulf Coast finished the first 36 holes at 4-over to open up a big bulge on Kirkwood. Tyler is another five shots back in third, with Hawkeye in fourth and MACCC-rival Meridian in fifth at 37-over.

Kirkwood is ranked third by both Golfstat and the coaches, with Tyler ranked fourth. Meridian is second by Golfstat and sixth by the coaches, with Walters State (8^th coaches) and Southeast (9^th Golfstat) also top-10 teams in the field.

Alessio Graziani (Fr., Johannesburg, South Africa/Beaulieu College) led after shooting 69 in the first round and finished the day tied for eighth at 3-over. Reeves Johnson (So., Madison/Germantown) finished 6-over tied for 11^th.

The teams will play the final 18 holes Tuesday. Most of the 12-team field expects to be back for the NJCAA Division II Golf Championship next spring.

"Matt played exceptionally well today," Thornton said. "He got on a little bit of hot streak on the second 18 and was able to take advantage of that. David did the same thing. He was pretty solid the entire day after a little bit of a slow start. I think they're both going to give a it a good run individually, and we're not satisfied with this team lead. We'd like to extend the lead a little more and play to our standard and let the chips fall where they will."

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