No. 1 Bulldogs stand 5th after windy Round 1

JOPLIN, Mo. — No. 1 Mississippi Gulf Coast is fifth after Tuesday's first round of the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship being played here at the Twin Hills Golf Club.

The Bulldogs shot 17-over on a blustery day and are four shots back of No. 4 Kirkwood and unranked Chandler-Gilbert. No. 5 Roane State and No. 6 Des Moines Area are tied for third a shot ahead of Gulf Coast. The first round was not completed because of rain and lightning.

"We'll be a handful of shots back after round 1, but it's disappointing," Gulf Coast coach Brad Thornton said. "We got off to a pretty decent start and we did not perform well on the back nine out here. We made some mistakes that were unnecessary. Hopefully, we can get those fixed up and lock in and be ready to go the next 54 holes."

There were 10 teams plus some individual golfers on the course when lightning stopped play Tuesday. They will get back on the course at 7 a.m., and the second-round pairing will begin at 7:30 a.m. The Bulldogs are expected to tee off starting at 1:12 p.m.

Will Burnham (So., Jackson/Jackson Prep) had a strong finish to get to 1-over and is tied for sixth as the first round stands. Two golfers ahead of him are through nine holes. Stanley Campbell (Fr., London, England/Essex Golf College) is two more shots back tied for 20th.

Andrew Zielinski (So., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) shot 5-over and is tied for 31st.

Burnham got off to a much different start than in the fall preview event the Bulldogs played in. He made quadruple bogey on the first hole in September and faced a challenging chip from above the pin Tuesday.

"It was not in a very good lie," he said. "The only thing that would stop it is if I hit the pin. I was hoping it would hit the pin, and it hit the pin and went in."

He bogeyed four holes after that before getting his round back on track on 16.

"I felt like I was due putts," Burnham said. "J-Wedge (assistant coach Jackson Wedgeworth) kinda flipped the switch on me and told me we needed to finish with a flurry. I put that on my back and said, alright let's do this. I made big putts on 16 and 17."

Despite those two birdies, and one Campbell made on 16, Gulf Coast played the holes 11 through 15 at 18 over par.

The wind around Twin Hills was at 20 mph most of the day with gusts in excess of 40 mph.

Two years ago at this course, Gulf Coast finished the first round 17 shots off the lead and 15 behind eventual-champ South Mountain. The Bulldogs managed to battle back to finish second 19 strokes behind.

"We've always played to our standard throughout the year, no matter what the situation, no matter what the competition," Thornton said. "Today, I don't think we did that. There's no grey area around it; we've got room to improve. If any group of guys can do it, this is the group to do it."

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