EMCC’s Pelayo Castillo earns all-tournament golf honors at MGCCC-hosted Tommy Snell Invitational
East Mississippi Community College’s Pelayo Castillo made the Tommy Snell Invitational All-Tournament Team by finishing in a four-way tie for third place during this week’s Mississippi Gulf Coast-hosted men’s golf tournament played at Sunkist Country Club in Biloxi.
BILOXI – East Mississippi Community College's Pelayo Castillo made the Tommy Snell Invitational All-Tournament Team by finishing in a four-way tie for third place during this week's Mississippi Gulf Coast-hosted men's golf tournament played at Sunkist Country Club in Biloxi.
Castillo, a sophomore from Spain, finished Wednesday's two rounds tied with two other golfers atop the individual leaderboard after firing an opening-round 72 and a 1-under-par 69. He then added a 73 during Thursday's third round to complete the 54-hole, two-day event tied for third along with the trio of Daniel Young, Dax Reaux and Jace Duckworth from tournament winner Meridian Community College.
"Pelayo had an outstanding tournament, and it was well deserved," EMCC head golf coach Mark Furnari said. "He was the last one at practice every day last week trying to get dialed in. I really expect Pelayo to carry this momentum into the rest of the spring season and make a push to win a tournament title."
Castillo carded 12 birdies and 27 pars on the 6,396-yard, par-70 layout en route to firing a three-round total of 214 (72-69-73).
Individual medalist honors were claimed by Northeast Mississippi's Olof Behle (68-73-70—211), who finished two shots ahead of runner-up Stephen Faucheaux (71-70-72—213) of Hinds.
As a team, the EMCC Lions posted their best collective score of the tournament with a 298 during Thursday's final round. EMCC finished in 12th place with a three-round total of 913 (311-304-298).
Meridian (289-288-282—859) bested host Mississippi Gulf Coast (292-279-291—862) by three shots to claim the team title. Pearl River (295-293-295—883) placed third, followed by East Central (297-292-296—885) and Jones College (292-298-299—889) in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Contributing to the Lions' improved play on Thursday, EMCC sophomores Watkins Dumas and Whitt Welch posted their best scores of the tournament on the final day with a 73 and 74, respectively. Dumas, a Starkville native, and Welch, a Leake Academy product, tied for 49th and 53rd place with respective totals of 232 (81-78-73) and 234 (79-81-74).
Fellow EMCC sophomore Lawson Burton (Fulton, MS/Itawamba Agricultural HS) tied for 57th place with an opening-round 79 followed by a pair of 78s to finish with a 235 total.
Bryce Shivers (Prentiss, MS/Prentiss Christian School) rounded out the Lions' scorecard this week in Biloxi with a three-round total of 240 (82-79-79) to finish in a tie for 65th place.
The EMCC men's golf team is set to resume conference competition at the upcoming (March 2-3) Chris Clark Invitational, hosted by East Central Community College at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in Philadelphia.