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As you may have heard, OUR LORD THORNBERRY has left the fold, on to conquer new lands and vanquish new foes. By that we mean Ole Miss golf stud Braden Thornberry will skip his senior year to go pro. But our benevolent lord saw fit to leave the Ole Miss golfing kingdom in the hands of a talented crop of Rebel golfers, both old and new.
It’ll be much more of a team effort this fall. The Rebs are anchored by seniors Josh Seiple and Beau Briggs and flanked by a group of talented sophomores and freshmen, any number of which could fill the five man line-up from week to week.
Seiple had a solid fall, carding a top five finish at the Marquette Intercollegiate. He also fired his lowest ever round as a Rebel, a 65, in the first round of the Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational.
Briggs had an even better fall, breaking out in his final season with a third place overall finish at the Intercollegiate at the Grove in Nashville and a fourth overall finish at the Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational. His 69 stroke average (NICE) is the lowest of his career. Those finishes have him ranked No. 16 nationally by Golfweek heading into the spring season.
As a team, the Rebels rank No. 47 in the country.
Sophomore Cecil Wegener built on his solid first year with two top-10 finishes in the fall, including an eighth place finish at The Grove in Nashville.
The real story for Ole Miss golf in the fall was the startling success of some of its newest freshmen. Jackson Suber led the way for the baby Landsharks, playing in all five tournaments, with three top-10 finishes including a runner-up placement at the Ocean Course Invitational on Kiawah Island.
Redshirt freshmen Charlie Miller also got in on the action in the fall, playing in all five tournaments, including a top-20 finish at Kiawah and a career-low round of 67 at Erin Hills. Jack Gnam rounded out the group of baby-faced assassins, by getting into three tournaments and posting a 74 round stroke average for the fall.
This week’s tournament: The All-American Intercollegiate
When: February 17-19
Where: Houston
The course: The Golf Club of Houston—once the proud home of the Houston Open. The PGA dumped this Masters lead-up tournament for something called the Valero Open, played in a corporate shopping center in San Antonio. Nevertheless, the Rees Jones and David Toms design should serve as a nice test for the season opener.
The Rebels
Josh Seiple (Sr, Castle Rock, CO): Top 5 at the Marquette Intercollegiate at Erin Hills in the Fall. Carded a career low round of 65 in at the Makai Invitational in Hawaii. Earned conditional status on the PGA Tour Latin America Tour with a 32nd place Q School finish.
Beau Briggs (Senior, Covington, LA): Played in two Fall Tournaments, finished in the Top 10 in those tournaments. Efficient. 3rd at the Intercollegiate at The Grove and 4th at the Makai Invitational.
Cecil Wegener (Soph., Jackson, MS): Two Top 10 finished in the Fall at the Intercollegiate at The Grove and the Marquette Invitational at Erin Hills.
Jackson Suber (Freshman, Tampa, FL): Great start for the Freshmen. Had two Top 10s in his first two collegiate events.
Charlie Miller (Redshirt Fr., Jackson, MS): Made all 5 starts in the Fall. Had a Top 15 finish at the Ocean Course Invitational in his collegiate debut.
Jack Gnam (Freshmen, Ridgeland, MS): Played in 3 tournaments in the Fall. Finished tied for 33rd at the Shoal Creek Invitational.
The Field: No. 38 Baylor, No. 31 South Carolina, Sam Houston State, Rice, UTSA, North Texas, Louisiana-Lafayette, Charlotte, McNeese
Top individuals who are playing for second: No. 23 Scott Stevens – Baylor, No. 51 Blake Elliot – McNeese, No. 62 Thomas Rosenmueller – North Texas, No. 88 Ryan Hall – South Carolina
If you want to follow the action: Golfstat and Ole Miss Men’s Golf Twitter are your top follows.
Next Tournament: The USF-Ole Miss Challenge; Clearwater, Florida; Belleair Country Club. Taking the Bulls by the proverbial horns in a little match play suarez outside of Tampa. Please keep Mons Venus visits to a minimum.