No. 1 Bulldogs are sixth after 36

No. 1 Mississippi Gulf Coast saw a lot of promise in his talented all-freshman team Tuesday in its first event of the year.

Bulldogs coach Brad Thornton, whose squads have won the last two national championships, saw this year's team not post scores commensurate with how well they played at the NJCAA Championship Preview in Plymouth, Ind. The Bulldogs are in sixth place at 6-over after 36 holes, 14 shots behind the leader, Heartland.

"The finish of Round 2 was a little disappointing, but it's not anything new," he said. "It's a learning experience for us, which is why we're making the trip up here. I didn't think we played particularly badly today; we just didn't take advantage of some opportunities. It might be disappointing to be in sixth place, but I think we can post a good round tomorrow. These guys are hitting the golf ball well and course management is there. I think it's going to be an interesting day to see how they respond."

The final 18 will be played on Swan Lake Golf Resort's Black Course on Wednesday. That's the site of Gulf Coast's championship in May. The team expects to return there in May when the 2026 championship is played.

Two Bulldogs finished the long day at 1-over, Paul Hoefer (Fr., Heidelberg, Germany/Kurpfalzgymnasium Mannheim) and Logan Jensen (Fr., Diamondhead/Hancock). They did it in slightly different ways, but both showed great promise.

Hoefer made six birdies on his first 11 holes, getting to 5-under. He had three bogeys in the final seven holes to shoot 70.

"He had a good first round," Thornton said. "He had it going and probably could have been even lower. He really battled in the second round, and coming down the stretch had the chance for a few more putts to drop. They just didn't."

Jensen had a dream day, except for a couple of gotcha holes. Throw out one hole in each round, and he could have finished 6-under.

"He played really 34 exceptional golf holes, but two of them snuck up and got him," Thornton said. "He got in trouble off the tee on both of them. To post those rounds, which are respectable, with an eight and a nine is something you've got to fight through."

He thought his team posted about as high a score as they could have given how well they played. The freshmen can show their first jump up the learning curve Wednesday, if they correct the hiccups from the first day.

"It was a consistent day," Thornton said. "I've seen much worse golf on this course than what I saw from all five of them today. They were right there with an opportunity, and they'll learn from it."

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