Randolph Leading the State Amateur Heading Into the Final Round

College experience proves to help players climb the leader board. Four college players lead the field in the 94th MS State Amateur Championship. Jonathan Randolph shot 69 in the third round of the MS State Amateur Championship to move past second round leader, Thomas Watkins. Randolph (210) has a three stroke lead over Watkins (213). Freddie Janneck shot two under par 70 in the third round to move into a two way tie with Richie Williams at 216, six strokes behind Randolph.

Mississippi's college teams are shining through in the Amateur:Randolph is a junior on the Ole Miss golf team, Watkins will be a freshman in the fall on the Ole Miss golf team, Janneck is a junior on the USM golf team, and Williams is a sophomore at MS Gulf Coast Community College. Clay Homan, the Mississippi State University Men's golf coach is 8 stokes off the lead at 218.

Windance Country Club is playing about 6,600 and the greens are rolling fast and smooth. Ball placement is the key to scoring this week. Players are talking about the holes where they have left the ball above the hole or missed the green on the wrong side according to the hole location. The player whose putter is hot today will certainly win this championship.

The stroke average of the 60 players who made the cut was 75.28 in the third round, four strokes lower than the 79.10 average of the second round. All course statistics are available in the scoring section of the results and pairings on our website.

The staff of Windance Country Club has been tremendous to work with. "David Lee, Director of Golf, has accommodated our every need and has been instrumental in running a smooth and snag free championship,"said Margo Coleman, executive director. Gavan Bauer, Golf Course Superintendent, has been working very hard to get and the course in fantastic shape,"said William Morgan, tournament director. " Gavan and his staff have been at the course before dawn each day mowing and preparing the course for day. "We have been lucky in that the fairways, teeing grounds, and greens are being mowed each day prior to the round," said Morgan.

The final round began today at 7:30 am. The leaders begin their final round at 10:40 am. We are hosting live scoring through our website http://www.missgolf.org/. Keep up with the action throughout the round.

First & Second Round of the MS State Amateur

The first two rounds of the MS State Amateur Championship is in the books. 141 players started the championship on Thursday, June 4th at Windance Country Club. After 36 holes, the field was cut to 60 players and ties. The cut was at 11 over par (155). Thomas Watkins has lead the field in the first two rounds. Watkins shot (70-70-140) 4 under par. He has a one stroke lead over Jonathan Randolph who shot 68 in the second round (73-68-141). Randolph will be a junior at Ole Miss this fall and Watkins is a signee for the Rebels and will join the team in the fall.

Round one had two weather delays, the first came in the morning and delayed the morning wave about an hour and half and the tee times for the afternoon were delayed 1 hour. The second delay came about 7:00pm when a thunderstorm cell rolled in very quickly. Approximately 32 players came out on Friday morning at 7:30 am to complete their first round.

The weather on Friday was positively perfect. The skies has cloud cover for most of the day and when the sun broke through the clouds, the temperature and humidty remained low. The undulation on the greens has proven to be a test for the players. those who are posting low numbers are keeping the bal below the hole and putting really well.

Round three began at 7:30 today with the leaders teeing off at 10:40 am. You can watch the scores live at www.missgolf.org.