PASS CHRISTIAN – The East Mississippi Community College men’s golf team opened the MACCC’s spring season with a fourth-place finish at the PRCC Wildcat Invitational held this week at The Oaks Golf Club.

The EMCC Lions improved 31 strokes from Monday’s first round by firing a final-round 304 to jump three places and finish fourth overall as a team. Tuesday’s EMCC team score was the fourth-best round recorded by any of the 11 participating teams during this week’s two rounds played on the 7,006-yard, par-72 layout.

The Lions had three players finish among the top 18 individually at the spring-opening tournament hosted by Pearl River Community College. EMCC sophomore Matthew Phillips, out of Columbus Christian Academy, improved 11 strokes from his opening-round 82 to finish Tuesday at 1-under-par 71 and tying for 11^th place overall with a two-day total of 153.

EMCC’s Spence Davis, a transfer from Mississippi Gulf Coast CC by way of Madison Central High School, finished 15th overall with a pair of 78s. Freshman Carter Martin, out of Canton Academy, improved 10 strokes from Monday with a 2-over-par 74 during Tuesday’s final round.

Rounding out East Mississippi’s five-man golf squad this week were freshmen Daniel Martin (Parrish, AL/Oakman HS) and Ben Boggan (Benton Academy), who both trimmed 10 strokes off their opening-round scores to finish tied for 43^rd (91-81—172) and 56^th (95-85—180), respectively.

In claiming the top-four individual places in the tournament, including medalist Chase Kaiser (66-73—139) and runner-up Will Burnham (71-74—145), Mississippi Gulf Coast (290-285) dominated the field with a 35-stroke victory (575-610) over team runner-up Meridian CC (312-298). Copiah-Lincoln earned third-place team honors with a two-day total of 631 (309-322).

Second-year head coach Ashton Maddaloni’s EMCC Lions will take nearly a month away from tournament competition before participating in the East Central CC-hosted MACCC event, March 6-7, at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in Philadelphia.