Gnam Paces Rebels to Begin Play at Old Waverly

WEST POINT, Miss. – Jack Gnam's even-par 72 summarized the day as the Ole Miss men's golf team recorded a tournament-high 66 pars on the opening day of the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship. While the Rebels made plenty of pars throughout the round, the lack of birdies along with a few big numbers kept them away from the top of the leaderboard.

Despite a wet Old Waverly Golf Club due to heavy rain throughout the past 24 hours, the sun was shining throughout Friday's first round. Tucked pins all over the par 72 course limited Ole Miss to just seven birdies as a team, and the Rebels found themselves in a tie for 12th (+8) with 36 holes to play.

Gnam sits in a tie for 25th as one of 32 players in the 84-man field to shoot par-or-better. The Ridgeland, Mississippi, native bounced back from a rough start in which he bogeyed two of his first three holes. The pair of bogeys were his only miscues of the day as he played 2-under the rest of the way. Back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th allowed Gnam to make the turn at even par, and the junior racked up nine pars on the front side to complete his round of 72.

Just like Gnam, Sarut Vongchaisit parred all nine holes on the front. In fact, he led the entire field in pars with 16 over the 18 holes. He bogeyed Nos. 13 and 16 before 11 straight pars ended his day at 2-over (74).

Jackson Suber recorded a rare over-par round (75) as a pair of double bogeys hurt the junior in the opening round. Playing his first 12 holes without a birdie, he finally got one to fall on No. 4. Ending his round at the mammoth par 5 ninth, measuring 582 yards, Suber hit the green in two. The Tampa, Florida, native cozied his eagle putt near the hole for a tap-in birdie to end the day on a positive note.

Brett Schell matched Suber with a 75 (+3) of his own. The redshirt freshman tallied a team-high three birdies in the opening round, including one on his first hole of the day. At the par 5 10th, Schell flipped a wedge within three feet for an easy birdie. He also added birdies on No. 3 and No. 5 during his final nine.

Ole Miss begins the second round at 9:20 a.m. CT Saturday morning (March 27). The Rebels are paired with No. 22 Arkansas (+5) and Southern Miss (+7), starting on the back nine once again.

For updates throughout the rest of the tournament, follow @OleMissMGolf on Twitter.

THE REBELS
T25. Gnam: 72 (E)
T48. Vongchaisit: 74 (+2)
T59. Suber: 75 (+3)
T59. Schell: 75 (+3)
T74. Mahonen: 77 (+5)
*T80. Wegener: 80 (+8)

*Competing as an individual

TEAM LEADERBOARD (Rankings: Golfstat)
1. #25 LSU: 281 (-7)
T2. #10 Vanderbilt: 283 (-5)
T2. #13 Georgia: 283 (-5)
4. #9 Texas A&M: 285 (-3)
T5. #21 Tennessee: 286 (-2)
T5. ETSU: 286 (-2)
7. Mississippi State: 287 (-1)
8. Kansas State: 289 (+1)
9. #20 Texas Tech: 290 (+2)
10. #22 Arkansas: 293 (+5)
11. Southern Miss: 295 (+7)
T12. Ole Miss: 296 (+8)
T12. Little Rock: 296 (+8)
14. #24 Alabama: 297 (+9)

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Players Mentioned

Jack Gnam

Brett Schell

Jackson Suber

Sarut Vongchaisit

The University of Mississippi Athletics