Host EMCC Lions place sixth in season-opening golf tourney at West Point’s Mossy Oak

The East Mississippi Community College men's golf team improved 27 strokes during Tuesday's second round to place sixth at the EMCC-hosted, season-opening MACCC tournament played at Mossy Oak Golf Club.

EMCC bounced back from Monday's opening round to record the second-best team score (310) of the day on Tuesday and third-best round of the tournament. The Lions stood in seventh place following Monday's first-round 337.

"Our second-round score showed tremendous improvement and also showed that we can compete," EMCC third-year head men's golf coach Ashton Maddaloni said. "Two rounds like the second day would have put us among the top of the leaderboard."

Featuring seven newcomers on this year's 10-member team, the Lions were paced in the EMCC Invitational by freshman Lorenzo Ligabue, who posted a pair of 4-over-par 76s to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place during his collegiate debut. The Italian native posted very similar rounds that both comprised of 11 pars, two birdies, four bogeys and one double bogey.

"Lorenzo played very solid the entire tournament," Maddaloni noted. "I was most impressed with his decision-making and very mature thought processes on the course."

EMCC sophomore returner Daniel Martin (Parrish, AL) shot back-to-back 81s to tie for 21^st place with two other golfers.

Three other EMCC golfers also finished within the top 30 individual leaders. Freshman Walker Tedford (Water Valley HS) tied for 24^th place after rounds of 81 and 82. Carter Martin (Canton Academy) pulled out a 27^th-place finish following a 14-stroke improvement that resulted in a 3-over-par 75 on Tuesday. Freshman Trace Carpenter (Kosciusko/Winona Christian School) improved by seven strokes with a final-round 79 to tie for 28^th place.

Fellow freshman Jack Mohead (Clarksdale/Lee Academy) made a 13-shot improvement with Tuesday's 80 to claim a 42^nd-place finish. Norway's Haavard Haakensen finished close behind in a tie for 43^rd place following a pair of 87s.

Rounding out East Mississippi's season-opening tournament scorecard were Hernando's Brian Ludden (86-92—178), Heritage Academy product Lane Goodman (91-93—184) and sophomore Ben Boggan (95-89—184) out of Benton Academy.

The East Central Warriors claimed team honors at the season-opening MACCC men's golf tournament with a two-day score of 619 (306-313). Northeast Mississippi (311-313—624), Copiah-Lincoln (314-313—627) and Meridian (322-306—628) all followed close behind.

Individual medalist honors went to Northeast's Jackson Williams (75-72—147), who edged out Will Thompson (74-73—147) on the second playoff hole.  

The EMCC Lions will continue MACCC tournament competition, Oct. 2-3, at Philadelphia's Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in a two-day event to be hosted by East Central Community College.