MGCCC's Ishee qualifies for PGA Championship
Nic Ishee hits a tee shot during the third round of the 54th PGA Professional Championship on Tuesday in Austin, Texas. (Darren Carroll/PGA of America)
PERKINSTON — Nic Ishee joined an exclusive golf club on Wednesday when he finished tied for 11th in the PGA Professional Championship in Austin, Texas.
Ishee is now part of the fraternity of players to play in a golf major championship, becoming the second Mississippi Gulf Coast player to do so. The top 20 finishers earned exemptions into the PGA Championship, which will be played May 16-22 at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"I've always wanted to play in a Tour event, and I've been close a couple of times in sectional events," he said, "but for the first one to be a major, it's incredible."
Ishee, who played at Perk from 2008-10, was a two-time All-MACJC player at Gulf Coast, and he finished fifth at the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship to earn All-American honors. His Bulldog teams won back-to-back NJCAA Region 23 championships, and the 2010 team finished eighth in the country.
He went on to play for William Carey, where he helped the Crusaders win their first-ever Southern State Athletic Conference championship in 2012. He was All-SSAC and NAIA All-American while in Hattiesburg, and he still holds the third-lowest career scoring average at William Carey.
Ishee was inducted into the MGCCC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015
Ishee made seven birdies on the way to a first-round 66. His 4-under was tied for 5th, and he made his hay on the Coore Crenshaw Cliffside, the easier of the two courses the tournament was played on. He made five straight birdies starting on 12.
"That just set up the tournament right there," he said.
He shot 1-under 70 on Fazio Foothills the next day. That left him tied for seventh as the field of 300-plus was shaved down to 75 for the final two days at Fazio Foothills.
Ishee, who is originally from Laurel, joked that he was "hanging on for dear life" the final two rounds. He shot 2-over 73 both days, with five birdies in Wednesday's fourth round.
"It was so hard and windy," he said. "Bogeys were going to happen no matter what. I just kept staying patient and got a couple of looks, so I had to take advantage of them."
He rolled in a long putt of 35-40 feet to steal a birdie and got another on 16 that made him start to think he was close to locking down a qualifying spot. A two-putt on 17 would have clinched it — but he three-putted. He admitted it was "hard to hang on to the putter" the last two holes because he was so nervous.
He bogeyed the final hole, but that left him a 1-under and tied for 11th.
Ishee is a club professional at Dallas' Preston Trail Golf Club, an exclusive course with pro players and celebrities among its membership. He's played with an ex-President there.
He will become the second Gulf Coast alum to play in a golf major. Steve Wilson, who played under coach Charles Cooper at Gulf Coast, won the 2008 USGA Mid-Amateur. That earned him an invitation to play in the 2009 Masters.
Ishee won't have a chance to get up to Oklahoma to play Southern Hills before the event, but he's got a couple of good connections who will give him some tips.
He said he talked with former Gulf Coast coach Tommy Snell, who gave him some encouragement during the tournament. They reflected on days gone by at Perk.
"I didn't really know how to play the game until I got to him," Ishee said. "He taught me a lot. He taught me how I hit it now, and I've just tried to improve on that. When I teach, I go back to things that he taught me. He was a Division I coach who coached at a junior college. We were lucky to have him."
For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
