No. 1 Bulldogs lead by 8 after 18

Four of No. 1 Mississippi Gulf Coast's golfers are in the top 12 after the first round of the NJCAA Gulf District Championship in Tunica, and the Bulldogs lead by eight shots.

John Mark Mills (So., Pontotoc/Mike Bender Golf Academy) leads the team and the field after shooting a 4-under 68 at Tunica National Golf Club.

"I thought we played really solid top to bottom," Gulf Coast coach Brad Thornton said. "Some of the guys played exceptionally well right off the bat and then some other guys really grinded out good rounds. I was really pleased. This is a tough golf course, and that was a really good score that the team posted today."

The Bulldogs shot 4-under, with Jones in second. No. 6 Meridian is in third place at 11-over, and Northeast Mississippi and Jacksonville are tied for fourth at 19-over. The top three teams qualify for the NJCAA championship in Plymouth, Ind., next month.

Mills is one shot ahead of teammate Stanley Campbell (So., London, England/Essex Golf College), who is tied for second with Jones' Drew Groscot.  Campbell had three birdies on the back nine after canceling an early bogey with a birdie on nine. Peyton Russell (So., Gautier/Gautier) shot 1-over to tie for sixth, and Ludvig Behring (So., Sollentuna, Sweden/Osterakers Gymnasium) is 2-over, tied for ninth.

Gulf Coast didn't count a 76 by Garner Seymour (So., Biloxi/Biloxi), which would have been no worse than the fourth-best score on any other team in the field.

Mills birdied two of the first five holes and two of the last five, carding only one bogey. He's won two tournaments this year, losing a playoff in another.

"He put himself in position off the tee and had some putts fall," Thornton said. "He made a few more putts than everybody else, and there was some good golf being played. Hats off to him, and hopefully we can keep this going."

The 54-hole tournament continues Tuesday, with Gulf Coast's first tee time at 9:30 a.m.

"This course is no joke," Thornton said. "It's a really good layout. The wind was blowing from a different direction today than what we had in the practice round, but luckily the wind calmed down a little bit. The course was a little bit more gettable today, so we took advantage of it. We had a really good down the course."

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