Men's Golf Leads National Championship Headed into Final Round

The Thunderbirds (-1) shot a 6-under 278 in Round 3 (280-293-278) to move up a spot and into a tie for first place with WJCAC foes Midland College (-1) and Odessa College (-1) at the NJCAA DI Men's Golf Championship.

Midland College moved five spots up the leaderboard with a tournament-low 9-under 275. Odessa College vaulted up four places with an 8-under 276. 

The T-Birds got off to a blazing start on the first 12 holes of the round. NMJC was 14-under as a team on the day through 12 holes and had an eight-stroke lead on the field. The wheels fell off in the last seven holes they combined to shoot 8-over down the stretch and make things interesting for Friday's final round.  

It's fitting that the championship will likely come down to the top three teams in the WJCAC.

Odessa and Midland came into the tournament as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the final Clippd rankings, while NMJC slid in at No. 4 behind the reigning national champions Indian Hills.

Currently the three WJCAC teams are 10 strokes clear of the field with McLennan at 9-over, NMMI at 10-over, Ranger at 11-over, and Central Alabama CC at 11-over as well. 

Sophomore Matt Walters was brilliant on the front nine in Round 3. The South African began the day birdie-bogey and then went on a tear his next five holes. He birdied No. 3, eagled the par-5 fourth, birdied No. 5, made par on hole 6 and then birdied No. 7 to start 5-under through 7. 

Walters went out in 31 (-5) and started the back nine par-birdie-par-par-birdie. He stood on 15 tee at 7-under par and only one stroke back of the individual lead. Unfortunately, the weather began to turn as the afternoon showers began to roll in. 

The wind kicked up and made it difficult for the last few teams out on the course. Walters bogeyed No. 15 and then the horn sounded to stop play at 2:34 p.m. MDT. The delay lasted over three hours and play eventually resumed at 5:41 p.m. MDT.

The T-Birds were 5-under for the tournament and four shots ahead of Midland and Odessa when play was suspended.  

Walters would bogey 16, par No. 17, and then get himself into trouble on 18 where he made double to finish 4-over through his last four holes. He finished the day T-3 at five-under for the championship and is five shots back of Ranger College's Mans Boje's (-10) individual lead. 

Kalle Svederman shot his first under par round this week with a 1-under 70 in Round 3. Svederman had a quick start on the front like Walters. The sophomore started 3-under through his first five holes with birdies on No. 2, No. 4, and No. 5. He would par holes 6 and 7 then bogey No. 8. He finished the front nine with a par to shoot a 2-under 34 on the front. 

The Swede made pars on the first four holes before the wind became a factor. He then dropped a shot on 14 and 15. Svederman closed his last three holes par-birdie-birdie to finish at 1-under par. He is even for the tournament and is in a tie for 12th place. 

Travis Robbie's round was far more relaxed than what we saw from Matt and Kalle. He started his round with three pars and then went birdie-bogey-bogey-birdie on his next four holes to be level through seven. 

Robbie made nine straight pars to stay at even headed into the par-3 17th hole. He went on to birdie the hole and head to No. 18 at 1-under par. Play was suspended just prior to his 35 yard eagle chip from the rough short left of the green. 

When play resumed he pitched under the tree limbs to about 20 feet where Robbie would two-putt to shoot a 1-under 70. Robbie is in 35th place and 5-over for the championship through three rounds.  

Substitute Henry Drake was the fourth counting score for the T-Birds. Drake's round did not have any fireworks we saw from the others on the front nine. He posted all pars on the front to make the turn at even par. 

Drake went birdie-birdie on No. 10 and No. 11 to move to 2-under par. He went par-par on holes 12 and 13 before birdieing the par-5 14th hole to move to 3-under par. Drake made three consecutive pars on the tough No. 15, No. 16, and No. 17 as the weather began to turn for the worse. 

The Englishman went to 18 tee with the wind blowing close to 35 mph. His drive went left and near the water on 18 where he had to chop it out to around 180 yards. The wind was still howling as Drake went to take his third shot. His approach was right of the green. The freshman two chipped and two putted to post a double on the last. Drake shot a 1-under 70 five minutes before play was suspended due to weather.    

Elias Pettersson had an unbelievable start to his round on the front nine. The sophomore started birdie-birdie then made par on No. 3 and a tap-in eagle on No. 4 to start 4-under through four holes. He made par on his next two holes and had a look from five feet for birdie on No. 7 but was unable to convert. Pettersson birdied No. 8 to move to 5-under and missed a 10 foot birdie chance on No. 9 as he made the turn shooting 31 (-5) like his teammate Matt Walters. 

The Swede went bogey-bogey on No. 11 and No. 12 but made a bounce-back bird on No. 13 to go to 4-under. The weather began to change when he reached the long par-3 15th and it was not kind to Pettersson.

The freshman bogeyed 15, 16, and tripled 17 as the horn blew to fall to level par. When play resumed, Pettersson would close with a par and shoot an even par-71. He is tied for 31st for the championship at 4-over par.

Odessa College and NMJC are the only schools this week to have all four counting scores be under par for a single round. The Wranglers and T-Birds both accomplished that feat in Round 3.

The Thunderbirds have struggled this week on the closing holes. NMJC was 1-over par in Round 1 from holes 15-18. Rounds 2 and 3 were a disaster from the same selection of holes.

The Thunderbirds were 9-over in Round 2 and 10-over in Round 3 on 15-18 for a cumulative total of +20 down the closing stretch. They will need to fix that in order to have a chance at hoisting a trophy on Friday evening.  

NMJC will be in the final pairings with Midland College and Odessa College on Friday. The last 18 holes will be in threesomes starting at 7:30 a.m. MDT.

The Chaps, Wranglers, and T-Birds will tee off Friday, May 17 in the afternoon at 1:12 p.m. MDT. Henry Drake will be the first to go at 1:12 p.m. followed by Travis Robbie at 1:21 p.m., Elias Pettersson at 1:30 p.m., Kalle Svederman at 1:39 p.m., and Matt Walters at 1:48 p.m.

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