Ole Miss men’s golf starts the season in Puerto Rico

The Ole Miss Golfing Rebs are back in full swing (hell, yeah baby, we are back with golf puns!) for the Spring season with a full slate against some of the best collegiate golf has to offer. The squad saw the youths buck their head to a considerable degree in the fall with sophomores Jackson Suber, Sarut Vongchaisit, and Jack Gnam leading the way. Ranked in the Top 50, the team is looking to break through where previous squads have fallen just short, and make it all the way to the NCAA Tournament.

As always, we’ll recap the previous tournament action and preview what’s upcoming, including the courses, the players, and whatever random tales may befall our team on their way to glory this Spring.

Onward.

This Week’s Tournament: The Puerto Rico Classic, hosted by Purdue

(Because when I think of the magical island of Puerto Rico and their rich culture and heritage, I think of Purdue)

When: February 16-18

Where: Rio Grande, P.R.

The utmost was done to try to find something fun and interesting about Rio Grande, but the extensive Wikipedia research didn’t turn up much. There’s beaches, some shopping malls near the highway, and a pretty kick ass city flag.

Golfweek Rankings: 35th

The Course: The Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Resort

Slammed up against a rain forest, the Ocean and River courses were designed by the bothers Fazio and Greg Norman. It offers challenging golf with a tropical view, complete with wind, sand, and iguanas as big as dogs.

The Rebels:

Jackson Suber (Soph., Tampa, Fla.): On an absolute tear in the Fall season. Finished in the top-five in three of the five tournaments played and finished 15th in another. Capped off the run with a third place finish in the prestigious Jones Cup at Sea Island over the break. Currently ranked 45th overall in the nation.

Sarut Vongchaisit (Soph., Bangkok, Thailand): Finished in the Top 25 in every tournament in the Fall. Fired a team-tying low round for the fall of 65. Best finish was 9th at the Windon Memorial Classic.

Jack Gnam (Soph., Ridgeland, MS): A pleasant surprise in the fall season. Scored a season best 9th place at the Window Memorial.

Veeti Mahonen (Freshmen, Kirkkonummi, Finland): The freshmen did not take long to find a place in the tournament rotation, placing 5th in scoring among SEC new comers. Finished 6th to end the fall at the Haokalei Invitational in Hawaii.

The Field: Maryland, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 21 Georgia, No. 17 Clemson, No. 23 Tennessee, No. 50 Purdue, Alabama, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Marquette, East Carolina, Iowa, and the College of Charleston

The top individuals who will be playing for second: No. 5 Tyler Strafaci — Georgia Tech, No. 9 Quade Cumins — Oklahoma, No. 12 Garett Reband — Oklahoma, No. 17 Davis Thompson — Georgia, No. 20 Trent Phillips — Georgia, No. 35 Hunter Eichorn — Marquette, No. 49 Luke Schniederjans — Georgia Tech

Where to follow: Golfstat and Ole Miss Golf Twitter are your go to sources to follow the action

Next Up: The annual SPRING BREAK TRIP BABY! Cabo Collegiate, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.