MAC Championship

Canebrake, Alabama –

The MAC Championship. As a mid-major school who isn’t ranked inside the top 65, us Miami RedHawks look forward to this tournament as a way to play into the postseason. Throughout a collegiate season, it's always building towards something. For us, it’s the MAC Championship. 

We arrived in Athens, Alabama on Friday night, after playing nine holes in Kentucky that perfectly splitting up the six and a half hour drive. Not knowing much about the golf course, we were interested and a little anxious to see the place. Sporting bermuda grass, something we hadn’t played in over a month, it was important to get in a lot of short game during the practice round. 

The practice round conditions were great, something now looking back on led to some false confidence. “Birdie-fest” and “easiest place ever” were some phrases heard while playing the track, but little did we know how much the wind would play a factor. 

The first round went according to plan through 7 holes starting 2 under par. The first seven holes are pretty easy, almost all of them playing downwind, so I did a solid job there. I played the rest of the holes in 1 over par leading to a 71 (-1) and putting myself in a great spot for the week just two off the lead. We realized how much the wind would play an impact, and how playing for par would be a really good score. 

Sitting in a decent spot on the leaderboard, we were playing in the final threesome, which also meant more wind for us to play in. I really took the par theme to heart, shooting level for 16 of the 18 holes. The only blemish on my card was a bogey on the easiest par 5 on the course, which was a big time bummer. However, I bounced back super nicely making eagle on the next par 5 opportunity, hole 7. This was a SUPER solid round and just like that, I am one off the lead. 

With the final looming, the RedHawks needed something special. A hot start would be nice from a couple of us, and that is just what I got off to. A blazing 5 under through seven holes, I found myself in the lead, however the RedHawks didn’t get off to the same good start. After a bogey on 8, I bounced back with a birdie on the reachable par 5 12th. However, this is when things went south. A mishit 8 iron into the bunker on the par 3 13th led to a hard shot. I made a terrible double from there. After a par on 14, I made good wings but careless bogeys on 15 and 16 to drop two shots and lose my lead. After a good par on 17, I knew I needed birdie, if not eagle on 18 to have a shot at winning. After a great drive, I knew I had to send 3 wood into this par 5. Straight uphill into the wind, I had 255 playing more like 280. Nonetheless, I got it in there about 50 feet, two putting from there. However, it wasn’t enough, as I came up a shot short. 

I was the only player in the field to shoot under par for all three rounds, going 71-71-70 (-4). So much for being the “easiest place ever.”

A runner-up at MACs is something I can definitely be proud of, and the more times I put myself into contention, I will be happy :). In terms of our team, it was definitely a year of growth and with some young guns continuing to get better, next year should be fun!