Monday marked the end of a phenomenal 2021-22 season for the Ole Miss men’s golf team, as the team saw its postseason run come to a close with a 14th place finish at the 2022 NCAA Championships in Scottsdale.
Finishing with a four-day team score of 1177 (+57) over the weekend, the Rebels end their year having earned the program’s second-highest team finish at the NCAA Championships in 14th place. This comes just a day after the team’s miraculous jump up the leaderboard to make it above the third day cut line, marking just the second time in team history that Ole Miss has made the NCAA Championship cut.
Only the 1984-85 Rebels team, who ultimately finished fourth at the NCAA Championships hosted in Haines City, Florida, have put together a better postseason run in the program’s 73-year history. The Rebels end their NCAA Championships ranking in the top four in the field in total birdies on the week, sinking 54.
“Today certainly wasn’t the day that we were looking for, but we were in a tough spot after we had dug ourselves into a little bit of a hole yesterday. We had to play aggressively out of the gate and try to get something going early, and unfortunately it went the opposite way for us,” said head coach Chris Malloy. “They battled all day long and all the way to the finish, they made some good pars and then Jackson (Suber) finishing his college career with back-to-back birdies was just awesome.”
“For me, today told me everything that you need to know about this team. They fought, even when they didn’t have their best stuff, and earned the second-best finish in program history which just tells you what a special group of guys this is,” Malloy said. “We have a lot of them, in fact most of them, coming back next year. We learned some lessons today and throughout this week that will only benefit us next year. I think it’s tough for the future to be brighter for Ole Miss golf than it is right now.”
The Rebels were unable to advance to the tournament’s match play quarterfinals that are to be played on Tuesday, as only the top eight teams at the conclusion of stroke play clinched spots in the match play bracket. Monday’s final cut line would ultimately stand at 33-over par, with Texas Tech claiming the final spot in Tuesday’s NCAA Quarterfinals.
Jackson Suber ends his career with the Rebels by earning 40th at the NCAA Championships, logging a final round 76 (+6) to finish 11-over on the weekend. Suber’s final round included four birdies, two of which would come on his final two holes of collegiate golf. His weekend ends with the Tampa, Florida, native tallying the third-most birdies in the field with 15 total over his four rounds of play.
Suber ends the year having scored the second-lowest season stroke average in program history, logging a 69.77 average across his 11 tournament appearances with the Rebels on the year. He finishes just short of surpassing Braden Thornberry’s record of 69.57, which Thornberry had set during his national championship winning 2016-17 season.
Evan Brown’s college career also comes to a close after using his final year of eligibility to help the Rebels reach the final round of stroke play in Scottsdale. Brown’s final round of 73 (+3) helped the Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, native move up into a tie for 57th to end his week, finishing 15-over par.
Redshirt-freshman Kye Meeks ended his time at Grayhawk Golf Club with a finish in the middle of the pack for the Rebels, as Meeks would shoot a 75 (+5) in his final round to move into a tie for 67th at 20-over par on the week. Meeks’ final nine holes would be his strongest, as he tallied his only two birdies of the day on No. 10 and No. 12 to finish his back nine of the weekend one-under.
Both Jack Gnam and Sarut Vongchaisit finished right behind Meeks to wrap up the Rebel lineup on the day, with Gnam ending his week with a score of 301 (+21) to tie for 69th and Vongchaisit finishing 71st with his four-day total of 303 (+23).
Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt ultimately came away with the NCAA Individual Championship at the conclusion of Monday’s final round of stroke play, finishing an even par and defeating Parker Coody (Texas), Ryan Burnett (North Carolina) and Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (Oklahoma State) in a playoff for the title.
This marks the end of the 2021-22 season for Ole Miss men’s golf, as members of the team will now take part in individual summer amateur events in preparation for the beginning of the Rebels’ 2022-23 season later on in the fall.
THE REBELS
T40. Jackson Suber: 74-65-76-76–291 (+11)
T57. Evan Brown: 73-77-72-73–295 (+15)
T67. Kye Meeks: 78-75-72-75–300 (+20)
T69. Jack Gnam: 76-76-73-76–301 (+21)
T71. Sarut Vongchaisit: 74-71-78-79–303 (+23)
TEAM LEADERBOARD
T1. Vanderbilt: 282-282-281-289–1134 (+14)
T1. Oklahoma: 287-275-277-295–1134 (+14)
T1. North Carolina: 288-281-280-285–1134 (+14)
4. Texas: 291-291-278-277–1137 (+17)
5. Oklahoma State: 289-277-277-298–1141 (+21)
6. Pepperdine: 294-282-277-293–1146 (+26)
7. Arizona State: 290-292-277-289–1148 (+28)
8. Texas Tech: 297-287-285-284–1153 (+33)
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9. Arkansas: 293-286-286-293–1159 (+39)
T10. Auburn: 285-296-288-291–1160 (+40)
T10. Florida: 300-285-286-289–1160 (+40)
T12. Georgia: 291-292-289-299–1171 (+51)
T12. Georgia Tech: 298-289-290-294–1171 (+51)
14. Ole Miss: 297-287-293-300–1177 (+57)
15. Oregon: 285-300-291-306–1182 (+62)
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
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