MTSU's Thad Whitfield, who played in high school at McCallie School, finished in a 6th-place tie in his first college tournament
photo by Contributed
Starting his college golfing career at the Bearcat Invitational on Monday, Middle Tennessee State University freshman Thad Whitfield had the normal first tee jitters.
“I wouldn’t say there were any more nerves than normal,” Whitfield said. “That first tee is always fun but after that you are ready to go.”
The only difference was he began his round at Cincinnati’s Coldstream Country Club on the 15th hole due to the staggered start and promptly bogeyed his first hole. After another bogey two holes later, Whitfield settled in to string together a quartet of pars.
Then the former McCallie School phenom went on a streak of seven birdies over his next nine holes to finish at 2-under for his initial college loop, and suddenly he knew he belonged.
“Both rounds I started out super slow and just had to stay patient,” Whitfield said. “Towards the end of that first round, putts started going in and I took advantage of the scorable holes in between.”
After posting a score of even-par in his afternoon round on Monday that featured five more birdies, Whitfield found himself in a tie for 6th heading into Tuesday’s final 18 holes.
Whitfield proved that Monday’s play wasn’t a fluke, carding three birdies to go along with a trio of bogeys to shoot a final round of even par 71. His 54-hole total of 2-under 211 was good enough for a sixth-place finish with three other golfers, only four shots off the pace of 6-under 217 set by co-medalists Sebastian Moss of Louisville and Cincinnati’s Ryan Ford.
“I was hitting the ball really good going into the week,” Whitfield said “I feel like the harder the course, the better for me so I was really excited to play.”
Sheldon McKnight, who prepped at Baylor School, finished tied for 36th with a three-round total of 6-over 219. McKnight opened play on Monday with rounds of 74-72, then covered his final round in 2-over 73.
MTSU finished tied for 8th in the 18-team field.
Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com