Mississippi State has individual contenders at Old Waverly Collegiate Championship

WEST POINT – Mississippi State had the team leaders at the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship within reach during Monday afternoon's second round.

State, hosting the tournament at Old Waverly Golf Club for the seventh-straight year, seemed to be a serious contender to win its third championship in this event and first since 2014. 

Then it slipped away. 

With all their players on the back-nine, the Bulldogs were only three shots off the lead nearing the completion of round two. Roughly an hour later, MSU head coach Dusty Smith looked at the leaderboard and saw that his team was somehow 14 shots off the pace. 

"I thought we got off to a pretty good start, kind of hung in their in that first round," Smith said. "Second round, we had it going. We had four guys in it the entire day. Just kind of stumbled a bit coming in. We didn't finish as strong as I'd like." 

The Bulldogs (-8) begin Tuesday's third and final round at 8:00 a.m. two touchdowns and two extra points behind the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks (-22). Jokes aside, Mississippi State actually played some stellar golf Monday. Smith said there were many positives to take away from rounds one and two despite the team falling out of contention. 

For one, junior Garrett Johnson is in position to capture his second tournament victory of the season. He won the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate last month. He shot a career-best 66 in the first round of that tournament. If he fires that score Tuesday, he has another good chance at capturing a trophy. He started this week's tournament with a pair of 3-under 69's to position himself at 6-under heading into the final round. 

Johnson, who is in a five-way tie for fourth, is only two shots behind the tournament leader: Middle Tennessee State's Marcus Byrd. Johnson shot 69 in the final round of the Desert Mountain. He's already done that twice this week. That may not be enough to win Tuesday, but he said he feels comfortable on his home course -- which is an advantage none those tied with him or ahead of him have. 

Johnson plans to "plot" his way around the familiar course Tuesday, similar to the way Tiger Woods plotted his way around Augusta National to win his fifth career green jacket at last week's Masters Tournament.

"He plays the golf course, he doesn't play his competitors," Johnson said of Woods. "He plotted his way around the golf course absolutely perfectly. That's one thing any of us could learn from."

Unlike Woods, Johnson plays a team-game at the collegiate level. He said has a way of keeping himself calm in what will be a rather stressful situation, and it isn't chewing gum like Woods did all weekend at Augusta. 

"I've been in this situation before," Johnson said. "I'll be comfortable. Of course, I'll be nervous. But I'll be comfortable, and I'm going to play for my teammates. That's the big key, throwing the individual stuff out and playing for my guys." 

Smith walked most of the second round with Johnson and freshman Ford Clegg, who didn't make a bogey through his first 33 holes of competition. Then he finished his final three holes in 3-over par, taking him from Johnson's position at 6-under all the way back to a tie for 16th at 3-under. 

At the onset of Clegg's stumble, Smith stood next to Clegg and his ball in the fairway at the par-four 16th hole. Clegg had just bombed another drive. He rarely missed the short grass off the tee Monday, and he hardly missed the greens on his approaches, too. 

No. 16 yielded a different result. 

He flew a short iron long and left of the green, leaving a tough downhill chip shot to get up and down for par. The chip raced seven feet past the hole, and he burned the edge of the cup with his come-backer to make his first bogey of the day. 

Two holes later, on the par-four 18th, Clegg hit his tee shot in the water. He hit another from the tee, his third shot on the hole. He missed the green on the left with his approach, leaving himself a tough up-and-down to save double-bogey. He splashed his fifth shot to a foot and tapped in for double. 

As frustrating as it was for Clegg to falter a bit after what was otherwise a phenomenal display for a freshman, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week showed a lot of poise throughout the day by sinking multiple mid-range par saves. Even his double at the last was impressive. 

"I played really good, I just didn't finish great," Clegg said. "It's definitely hard to do. It's frustrating. But at the same time, I got away with a bunch early. It kind of balanced out. I just have to do a better job at finishing strong." 

Johnson, Clegg and their teammates will all look to finish strong Tuesday. Competing as individuals only, sophomore Cameron Clarke and senior Ross Bell start the final round with identical scores of 5-under. Senior Austin Rose joins Clegg at 3-under. A pair of freshmen, Austin Vukovits and Ben Nelson, stands at 4-under.

Oddly, Mississippi State's top-ranked player, junior Peng Pichaikool, is last on the leaderboard among Bulldog players at 11-over par. It wasn't his day Monday as he shot 75 and 80. He wasn't able to recover from a quadruple bogey on the final hole of his first round. He was 1-under before it all unraveled there. 

Nonetheless, Smith is excited for what Tuesday holds at his team's home course. It could be a special day for the maroon and white if Johnson or one of his teammates is able to capture the individual crown. 

"We get to play at home once a year," Smith said. "So to be able to come out at Old Waverly -- a great place that has hosted several USGA Championships. To display this place is great, but also to play in front of a home crowd is a nice thing." 

Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter.