Anderson’s 60 more than a feeling
- Updated: September 9, 2014
JSU senior sets school, course records in posting his fifth career win (another JSU record)
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Tomasz Anderson just felt he had a big round coming – and it came out Tuesday.
The Jacksonville State senior golfer shot one of the lowest rounds in collegiate golf history, firing a bogey-free, course- and school-record 12-under-par 60 to win the Golfweek Program Challenge in Pawley’s Island, S.C.
The best single-round in school history gave the Walker Cup hopeful a 54-hole total of 19-under 197 for his fifth career victory, passing Nick Mackay on JSU’s all-time list. He is the first JSU player to break 200, beating the school-record he shot while winning this event as a freshman in 2011. He won by five shots.
“It just felt like a rhythm, a routine,” he said. “The pars felt like bogeys.
“I’d been playing good for three weeks; I knew I had a round coming. I shot 4-under (the first day) almost playing badly and the next day shot 3-under and should’ve shot 7. Today was the culmination of the last month of hard work.”
The 60 broke the True Blue course record from any tee by two shots and the previous record from its black tees by three.
Playing favorable lift, clean and place rules, after parring his first two holes of the round Anderson zipped off four birdies in a row and incredibly nine in his next 10 holes. The only hole he missed in the run was the par-3 seventh.
He missed eight-foot birdie putts on 13 and 14 or could have hit golf’s magic number – 59 – or beyond.
“You can think about that, but you also can think about the putts that went in that maybe shouldn’t have,” he said. “You can’t really say I should’ve done this or that. What happened happened. Sixty is still a great score.”
Only a handful of players have ever shot 60 in competition, among them Daniel Summerhays, Bryce Molder and Paul Casey. No one has shot in the 50s in competition.
“This is as good as it gets right there,” Gamecocks coach James Hobbs said. “It’s pretty mindboggling.
“After he won Auburn (last year) I knew he was off and going. You could see his game coming together, starting to zone in on making birdies and shooting low numbers. It’s a momentum thing. You build a little momentum, then get to believe stronger in the game; that’s pretty much what’s happened to him.”
The Gamecocks finished third in the tournament, behind winner Old Dominion and Jacksonville University.
The JSU women’s team was playing simultaneously on the adjacent Caledonia Golf and Fish Club course and finished tied for ninth. Maya Parsons matched her career best round with a final-round 67 to tie for 18th and former Piedmont player Erin Gunnels shot 74 to finish T-36.
Here is Tomasz Anderson’s final round scorecard
543 544 345 37 534 435 344 35 72
542 433 334 31 423 434 333 29 60
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