Host EMCC Lions set for NJCAA District D Men’s Golf Championship at Lion Hills in Columbus
East Mississippi Community College is set to serve as the host team during this weekend’s NJCAA District D Men’s Golf Championship in Columbus. The two-day tournament will be played Saturday and Sunday (April 28-29) at the 6,410-yard, par-72 Lion Hills Golf Course.
SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College is set to serve as the host team during this weekend's NJCAA District D Men's Golf Championship in Columbus. The two-day tournament will be played Saturday and Sunday (April 28-29) at the 6,410-yard, par-72 Lion Hills Golf Course.
Coach Benji Williams' EMCC Lions gained automatic entry into the district championship as tournament hosts. They will be joined by MACJC state champion Meridian, state runner-up Mississippi Gulf Coast, Copiah-Lincoln and East Central. Along with golfers representing those five teams, additional individual district qualifiers include Itawamba's trio of Brandon Walker, Cameron Foster and Garrett Moore plus the Hinds tandem of Payton Tuttle and Charlie Rooks.
Having competed throughout the spring portion of the MACJC's 2017-18 golf schedule with only four golfers, the EMCC Lions most recently placed seventh in the MACJC State Men's Golf Championship held April 12-13 at The Oaks at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in Philadelphia.
Leading the way for East Mississippi this season has been freshman Coleman Suber with a team-best 80.1 season stroke average. The Calhoun City product has led the Lions or tied for team scoring honors in three of EMCC's five tournaments thus far on the season. Suber most recently tied for 23rd place at the state championship with a two-day score of 159 (79-80).
Fellow Lion freshman Stone Tipton is coming off his best outing of the season while tying for 14th place at the state championship with solid rounds of 78 and 77. The Hamilton native has posted an 82.2 stroke average this season.
Rounding out EMCC's golf team this spring have been Caledonia's Eli Hemphill and New Hope High School product Dylan Cash, who have posted identical stroke averages of 85.5 on the year.
Led by Mississippi Gulf Coast's Jackson Wedgeworth as the MACJC's 2017-18 Hubert Tucker Award winner for compiling the state's best season scoring average (70.7), this week's NJCAA District D Men's Golf Championship field will also include fellow first-team all-state honorees Isaiah Jackson, Will Kidder, Mitchell Fifer and Jacob Berry – all of Meridian CC – as well as Brice Wilkinson from Mississippi Gulf Coast. In addition, second-team all-state recipients competing this week at Lion Hills include Zachary Smith (Co-Lin), Colby Entriken (MGCCC), Colby Blake (MGCCC), Bailey Threlkeld (ECCC), Rhett Walters (MCC) and Jacob Hamner (ECCC).
Live scoring from the NJCAA District D Men's Golf Championship in Columbus will be available at www.golfstat.com.
The top three teams from this weekend's EMCC-hosted district tournament will qualify for the NJCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship, set for May 21-24 at GlenLakes Golf Club in Foley, Ala., along with two individuals.