WEST POINT — To Barrett Edens, beating his college coach this weekend is nearly as important as winning the Mississippi State Amateur Championship.
“It makes you try a little harder,” said Edens, who will be a redshirt
freshman this fall at Mississippi State. His coach, Clay Homan, is tied for second with Alex Rowland — another Bulldog golfer — entering today”s final round at Old Waverly Golf Course.
Edens is contemplating the weeks, months ahead if he doesn”t rally to overtake Homan.
“You don”t want to go through a whole golf season hearing how you got beat by a coach,” he said, realizing he is about to. Edens struggled
Saturday with an 8-over-par 80, his highest score in the three rounds.
He is 17 shots behind Homan.
“We hear that all the time, that we lose to our coach,” said Chad Ramey, a rising sophomore at MSU.
Said Edens, “He”s the old wise man. He”s just smart out there.”
For the record, Homan is no gray-haired, bad-knee-limping mentor.
“Well,” Homan said, “I”m old. I don”t know how wise I am.”
Homan, 39, is a young man in a sport that embraces wisdom. He was a letterman on the MSU golf team, a team captain, a pro player on the Tommy Armour and Golden Bear Tour, head coach at MSU since 1995, and two-time winner of the Amateur.
Homan is within reach of a third title, three shots back of
Nicholas Brown. Rowland, who recently completed his junior
season in Starkville, also is in the hunt.
“I”ve played with him a lot, so it”s nothing new,” Rowland said. “But this is a lot different stage than just playing for fun. It will be fun playing with him tomorrow.”
Homan said he will be too busy focusing on his drives and his putts than to worry about what his players are doing. That”s not surprising considering his players consider him a cool, laid-back coach — the wise, experienced man who never gets rattled on the course.
“(I”m) not pulling against them,” Homan said. “You want them to do well. But you”re not even thinking about who you”re playing against. All I”m thinking about is trying to get my ball in the hole. I”ve got enough to worry about as it is with my own game.”
—Trouble on No. 18
The 18th hole gave golfers plenty of trouble, thanks to the back left
pin location and slight wind. There also is the water hazard to the
left of the par 4.
If you avoid the lake, there”s three fairway bunkers, or a large gully beyond a row of pines.
Of the top 16 golfers through Saturday”s round, six bogeyed the hole, including Cory Williamson”s double bogey. Had Williamson shot for par on the hole, he would have finished Saturday even.
“I hit a good drive and a good second shot,” Rowland said. “The pin is kind of in a tough spot. My uphill putt was probably one of the quicker putts I had today. It was pretty tough to gauge how fast it would be. I ran it by five or six feet and missed it coming back.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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