Ole Miss golf 2018: The GAME OF THORNBERRIES kicks off its fall campaign in S.C.

Red Cup Rebellion remains, for yet another season, in its truest and purest of forms ... a golf blog. RCR raises its handicap to again let Bunkie Perkins under the ropes to follow the Ole Miss Golf Team during their Fall 2018 season. This feature will preview the tournaments, the courses, the Ole Miss golfers, and the field each week, and as has become canon for this review, cover in great detail the many exploits of THE BY GOD NUMBER ONE AMATEUR GOLFER IN THE ENTIRE KNOWN UNIVERSE, THE 2017 NCAA GOLFING CHAMPION AND NUMBER ONE COLLEGE GOLFER IN THE SEVEN KINGDOMS ... LORD BRADEN THORNBERRY, FROM CLUBHOUSE OXFORD, FIRST OF HIS NAME, KING OF THE 19th HOLE AND THE FIRST TEE, MAKER OF BIRDIES, THE BREAKER OF PARS, THE RULER AND PROTECTOR OF AN EXPEDITED PACE OF PLAY ... LONG MAY HE DRIVE.

Preseason Rankings:

Team: Not Ranked (received 10 votes in preseason GCAA Coaches Poll), Individual: BRADEN VON BIRDIES : 7th.

This Week’s Tournament:

The Ocean Course Invitational, September 9-11, Kiawah Island, S.C.

The Course:

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Kiawah, S.C. Just a real dump of a course to begin the season. The Ocean Course is considered one of the top courses in the country. Designed by Pete and Alice Dye, the course hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup (suck it, Bernhard Langer), the 2012 PGA Championship, and will host the 2021 PGA as well.

A par 72, 7,873-yard layout, the course has a slope rating of 153 and a course rating of 79.7, the highest such ratings in the country (translation: the course is hard as hell). The course is most significantly remembered for being the site where Matt Damon, with the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on his bag, beat Bobby Jones and D-Day from Animal House in a high stakes money game to lift the community’s spirits during the Great Depression.

The Ole Miss Team:

LORD TEDFORD OF THORNBERRY (Sr, Olive Branch, MS): If you’ll recall at the end of last season in the final recap I all but said LORD BRADEN was turning pro. He really didn’t have anything else to prove from an individual standpoint, he was the No. 1 amateur golfer in the world, he had an NCAA Title, and many of his contemporaries were already making plans to go pro in the summer and get ready for Web.com Tour qualifying.

But THORNBERRY surprised many and has returned to school for his senior campaign. On the one hand, who can blame him, as many of you dear readers have taken that victory lap in order to have one last season in the sun in Oxford. There are far worse life decisions. But on another hand, this decision speaks to not only OUR LORD’s character as an individual but also to the program that Coach Chris Malloy is building. THORNBERRY is returning to try and complete some unfinished team business. With THORNBERRY, fellow seniors Beau Briggs and Josh Sieple, as well as some promising you players, the Ole Miss team has a real chance to contend nationally. By staying, LORD THORNBERRY has not only invested in the success of the team this year, but is putting a down payment on what will be the foundation for what the program becomes in the future ... and as with most of his golfing endeavors in his amateur career, it’s an investment that is likely to pay off in bountiful sums.

Those big life decisions aside, SIR TEDDY had a busy summer. He qualified for the US Open at Shinnecock Hills, missing the Friday cut by a mere one stroke. He returned to the FED Ex St. Jude Classic at Southwind in Memphis, making the cut and finishing in 26th place. OUR LORD then traveled over the mighty seas and competed in the Arnold Palmer Cup in Paris, France where he helped the US team run away with the title. He also made the match play round of 64 at the US Amateur at Pebble Beach. He also won the McCormack Medal as the world’s top amateur golfer, qualifying him for next year’s British and US Opens. So yeah, kind of a decent summer.

Chip Getz (Jr, Paradise Valley, AZ): The one and only Golfer Named Chip. Getz gets a start on the traveling team after some inconsistency last Spring. Finished T-45 in the Southwestern Am and 27th in the Sizzler Amateur (such a quality tournament name) over the summer.

Charlie Miller (Soph., Jackson, MS): Honestly, do you really have an Ole Miss golf team if there isn’t a guy from Jackson Prep with perfect frat hair? Thankfully, Charlie Miller is here to fill that void for the traveling squad this year. Miller is coming in hot for his Sophomore campaign after an above average summer on the Amateur circuit, finishing 13th in the Mississippi State Am, fifth in the Magnolia Am, fifth in the Mississippi Trustmark Invitational, and third in the Cole Cotton States Invitational.

Jackson Suber (Freshman, Tampa, Fl): The incoming class of Ole Miss golfers this fall is strong, and that’s no more clearly evident than with Jackson Suber’s inclusion on the first tournament’s traveling squad as a freshman. The Tampa native had a strong summer, placing 45th at the Sunnehanna Am, finishing 33rd in the US Junior Am, and participating in the Northeastern Am, Western Am, and Wyndham Cup.

Beau Briggs/Cecil Wegener/Josh Seiple/Brody Blackmon/Freshmen de jour: As of Wednesday afternoon the fifth and final spot for the tournament this weekend was still undecided, but just look at the list of possibilities. This speaks to how strong this year’s team could possibly be.

Briggs, Wegener, and Seiple all had seemingly permanent spots on the travel squad last year, but this fall they are fighting to make the Top 5 ... and that’s not to say any of them aren’t deserving and capable. Briggs had a very nice summer. The Senior finished 27th in the Louisiana Am, 22nd in the Magnolia Am, and qualified for and competed in the US Am along side LORD THORNBERRY at Pebble Beach back in mid-August.

“Lil’ Precious” Wegener had himself a summer as well, finishing 12th in the Southwestern Am, seventh in the Mississippi State Am, second in the Magnolia Am, and 34th in the Southern Am, not to mention he was a playoff putt away from winning the SEC Individual crown at Sea Island last Spring. Josh Seiple went all International for his summer vacation, placing 19th at the Campeonato Internacional de Aficionados in Mexico and 161st in the R&A’s Amateur Championship at Royal Aberdeen in Scotland.

The Field

College of Charleston (Host), Middle Tennessee, Western Carolina, Charleston Southern, Elon, Maryland, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Francis Marion (this may just be a guy named Francis Marion, or it may be the actual luxury hotel in downtown Charleston).

Top individuals who are playing for second

Friends, this is not a strong field. Consider this your Southern Illinois 11 AM kickoff to start the season. LORD THORNBERRY and his army should roll the field with the over par bodies of the dead.

If you want to follow the action: Golfstat and Ole Miss Men’s Golf Twitter are your best bets.

Next Tournament

The Shoal Creek Invitational, Birmingham, AL. I was not aware they had any sporting events other than Alabama football in the state during the fall months. This is news to me.