“I mean, definitely a little bit shocked right now.”
Heading into Friday’s second round at the Lecom Suncoast Classic, Mac Meissner was facing a missed cut.
Eighteen holes later, he’s in the record books.
Meissner carded a 12-under 59 during the second round at Lakewood National’s Commander Course in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, the eighth sub-60 round in Korn Ferry Tour history. He vaulted more than 100 spots up the leaderboard and was only four shots behind leader Kevin Daugherty after the morning wave.
“Based on how yesterday went, I didn’t expect today to go as it did,” Meissner said. “Didn’t hit it great, did not putt very well. I was hoping I could just sneak in the cut and ended up shooting 59. I mean, definitely a little bit shocked right now. That’s my first one ever, and to do it in competition is pretty insane.”
History was made at the LECOM Suncoast Classic 😳
Mac Meissner became just the eighth Korn Ferry Tour member to shoot a sub-60 round. pic.twitter.com/AE5OQhHrRB
The 24-year-old from Charleston, South Carolina, lost in a playoff against Sam Saunders and Pierceson Coody in Panama earlier this year, and his best round of the season coming in was a 67.
In fact, Saunders was the last person to shoot in the 50s on the Korn Ferry Tour, coming in 2017 at the Tour Championship.
His day started on the back nine, where he birdied two of his first three holes and then three of his last four to turn in 5-under 30. Meissner started the back nine with a pair of pars before birdieing four straight. After a par on 16, he went birdie-eagle to card a 7-under 29 on the back and signed for a 59.
“I’ve had a few 61s, a 60, so been around there, but actually never had a putt for 59,” Meissner said. “That was cool to have one on 18, or on 9. It was kind of a tough putt and I just made a good-sized one on 8 and I was like, ‘Why not?’ It rolled in right in the middle, that was pretty crazy.”
Meissner sits tied for third at 12 under par with Chris Gotterup after the morning wave.
Heading into Saturday, Meissner hopes he can continue the momentum.
“Yesterday I made two birdies, didn’t hit — hit it to a bunch of fringes, just felt like I was close, couldn’t really get the ball on the right side of the hole,” he said. “I just kind of shot a really average even par round out here. That just goes to show you that every day’s different. You wake up, you never know what can happen. I’m just super fortunate to be able to do this in a tournament.”
McClure Meissner has been named the Byron Nelson Award winner, an honor given to a college senior who demonstrates character and integrity.
SMU senior McClure Meissner has been awarded the 2021 Byron Nelson Award presented by Srixon/Cleveland Golf. The award is presented in cooperation with the Salesmanship Club of Dallas and the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Meissner was chosen from a pool of college seniors who demonstrated character, integrity and citizenship throughout their college golf career.
“McClure’s success on the golf course, in the classroom and in his local community represents excellence in all phases of the student-athlete. He joins an outstanding group of former Byron Nelson Award recipients who continue to succeed in many endeavors, including the PGA Tour,” Mike Dunphy, player development manager at Srixon/Cleveland Golf, said in a release. “We wish McClure Meissner the best on his journey and are proud he will be representing collegiate golf’s finest award going forward.”
Meissner, a native San Antonio, Texas, capped his SMU career with a scoring average of 71.24 and holds the school single-season scoring record. Last summer he won the Southern Amateur at Maridoe Golf Club in Dallas. McClure, an alternate on the victorious Walker Cup team, saw action in one foursomes match over the weekend at Seminole Golf Club, in which he combined with Ricky Castillo to win an early point for the U.S. team.
Off the golf course, Meissner has served his community by volunteering at Brother Bill’s Helping Hand, the College Golf Fellowship and Watermark Church.
As the Byron Nelson Award winner, Meissner will receive an exemption to play in the 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.
USA’s Mac Meissner and GB&I’s Jake Bolton both were called into active duty as illness sidelined players during the first Walker Cup session
JUNO BEACH, Fla. – When Mac Meissner drop-kicked his tee shot at the second hole of Seminole Golf Club into the water, it made him sick to his stomach.
“I thought I was going to go right back to where I was on Thursday night, just throwing up,” he said.
Meissner needed two IV bags that evening, one of several players at the 48th Walker Cup stricken with a stomach virus. But the SMU senior, who was first alternate for the U.S. squad, rose to the occasion, teaming with Ricky Castillo for a 2-up victory in the third of four morning foursomes match over Jack Dyer and Matty Lamb of Great Britain & Ireland.
Meissner wasn’t the only alternate called into active duty. Jake Bolton partnered with Angus Flanagan for GB&I and nailed clutch shot after clutch shot on the home stretch to secure a point for his team, 1 up, over Stewart Hagestad and William Mouw in the final foursomes match of the morning.
It was something out of a bad script for a movie – an outbreak of food poisoning knocking several players for a loop. Imagine an astronaut training for two years to go to the moon and the night before blast off falling sick. Bolton, who had avoided the Walker Cup plague, got a phone call from his captain, Stuart Wilson, late last night telling him to be ready to go. He thought he was here simply coming from England to provide moral support, but was happy to put the pom-poms down and drained a 35-foot putt at the 17th hole to win the hole and give his team a 1-up lead.
“We had to make it,” Bolton said.
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Rescuing par from a waste bunker left of the green was no easy feat. How good was it? “It will probably be the best up and down of the week,” he said.
Then, for good measure, at 18, he stuffed a 5-iron from 175 yards into a strong breeze to 8 feet that all but locked up victory. If that’s the last shot he ever hits at the Walker Cup, it was a heckuva walk-off. But Bolton smiled at the thought of possibly getting an encore on Sunday.
“If I’m needed, I’ll be there,” he said.
As for Meissner, he heard rumblings throughout the day on Friday that Team USA might require his services, after all. How sure was he that he would be in a ceremonial role this week, soaking in the atmosphere and the experience of playing practice rounds at famed Seminole? He told his father, a urologist, who was on call this weekend in San Antonio, not to come. But as he and his teammate dealt with a stomach virus, his chance of playing hinged on how Pierceson Coody, John Pak and Tyler Strafaci recovered from the illness that made its way through both locker rooms. Ultimately, U.S. team captain Nathaniel Crosby decided that asking his players under the weather to play 36 holes was too big of an ask. Crosby informed his team around 9 o’clock during a meeting.
“I was instantly nervous but so excited,” said Meissner, who said it was too late for his parents to attend. “I worked my butt off to be able to have a chance to play and for that dream to come true has been so cool.”
Ricky Castillo and Mac Meissner fist bump on the 17th hole during Foursomes at the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida on Saturday, May 8, 2021. (Photo: Chris Keane/USGA)
Meissner was such an afterthought to play at the beginning of the week that it didn’t seem to matter that he didn’t have the same pants as his other teammates. But he and Castillo at least had some familiarity with their games, playing together in the first practice round on Sunday at Seminole and in the practice session in Orlando at Bay Hill. Nevertheless, they got off to a rocky start when Castillo tugged his tee shot left on the first hole and into a dicey lie in a bunker.
“I was thinking if he gets it inside 30 yards of the green it would be an amazing shot and he got it on to the fringe,” Castillo said.
But then Meissner hit “the worst drive of my life,” at the second before calming down and finding his rhythm.
“We were rock solid after that. It was pretty sick,” Meissner said.
No pun intended.
Meissner was quick to credit Castillo for hitting the shot that turned the match in their favor, a spectacular explosion from a bunker at No. 8 that led to a win for Team USA. But Meissner hit an equally impressive bunker shot. At the par-5 14th, Castillo’s second shot from 185 yards landed on the front of the green but before any of the fans could even begin to clap, the ball backed up all the way into the front bunker. It was a classic example of what they call at Seminole “green visited.”
“You got this,” Castillo said.
“No, I don’t. This lie sucks,” Meissner said of their ball that had rolled into a rake mark.
Meissner splashed to three feet and Castillo cleaned up for birdie. When GB&I took three putts from 30 feet, the match was even and Team USA won the 15th with Meissner canning the short birdie putt. Castillo delivered the knock out punch with an approach to 6 feet at 18 that was conceded when GB&I made bogey.
For Meissner, his foursomes performance may be his only chance to compete in the Walker Cup, but if that’s the case he’s perfectly pleased knowing his record will forever be etched in the record book as 1-0-0.
“I’ve got the best record in Walker Cup history if this is only my match,” he cracked before turning serious. “I’ve been blessed.”
Mac Meissner, who is about to enter his senior season at SMU, was six shots back starting the day at Maridoe Golf Club but still won.
Sometimes you just need to see some putts go in. This played into McClure Meissner’s Southern Amateur victory on Saturday in a few ways.
Meissner, who is about to enter his senior season at SMU, was six shots back starting the day at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas. He birdied his first two holes to start cutting the deficit. At the first hole, it was a dead-center putt off a 9-iron approach to 18 feet. At No. 2, he hit a 3-hybrid into the back fringe from 275 yards out and two-putted.
The hot start showed Meissner there were birdies available at Maridoe, which is not always the case on this layout. The 21-year-old has played it a handful of times in competition recently and knows it’s tough to make up shots.
“I woke up today and I didn’t think that I really had a chance, honestly,” Meissner said. “The guys at the top were phenomenal players and I knew that I needed something extremely low to have a chance.”
Cole Hammer, the No. 9-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking was 7 under through 54 holes and at the top of the leaderboard. Meissner stood at 1 under and teed off four groups ahead on Saturday.
Meissner’s final day kept progressing, though, with two more birdies at Nos. 6 and 8. His lone bogey came at No. 10, but he followed it with three consecutive birdies from Nos. 12-14. He calls the best shot of the day the 7-iron approach he hit to inside 5 feet at No. 12
“To get the bogey back I made on 10 that quickly,” he said. “I think at that point I saw that I was maybe one back or two back.”
As Meissner was climbing the leaderboard, so was Illinois State’s David Perkins. Meissner shot a final-round 66 but Perkins closed with a 70. It left them both at 7 under, but Meissner won on the first extra hole.
As for Hammer, the Texas junior closed with a pair of double-bogeys for a final-round 79 that dropped him to a tie for 13th.
Quade Cummins finished strong to stand third place with a low score of 70 (-2) to wrap up the final round with a total gross of 283 (-5). . . . Marcus Jones was our Mid-Amateur Champion shooting 76 today for his final round with a total gross of 298 (+10). pic.twitter.com/kAvEd0q8AH
Despite more than four months having passed since he came in fourth at the Southern Highlands Intercollegiate, annually one of the best fields in college golf, it doesn’t seem like Meissner has lost much. The coronavirus pandemic ended all NCAA athletics prematurely on March 12. Meissner finished his classes online and took it easy on the golf.
The San Antonio native spent some time in Dallas with friends, hanging around the lake, not thinking about golf.
That kind of downtime doesn’t happen in a normal year. If you’re a top player, as Meissner is at No. 35 in the world, you go from one college season to the summer amateur circuit to the next season. Many play a handful of tournaments over the winter breaks. There is no off-season.
“As much as it stung for the year to end, I was able to get fresh and take a little time off and focus on other things,” he said.
By mid-May, he was ready to work hard on his golf again. He buckled down with instructor Bryan Gathright to work his swing into a place it felt comfortable.
And he holed a lot of putts. Meissner devoted time to his stroke and his setup, his lag putting and just logged repetition. Before, he’d felt like he was a streaky putter – he’d make everything one day and nothing the next.
“Seeing a lot of putts go in during the time off, it helped me a lot,” he said. Meissner also switched out his putter since he last played in the spring.
Courtesy of his Southern Am win, Meissner earns a spot in U.S. Amateur. Perkins also earns one as the runner-up. Both players were already in the field, however.
Almost exactly a year ago, Meissner finished third at the Maridoe-hosted Trans Miss Amateur, a tournament that was canceled this year because of the pandemic. All that experience carried forward this week.
“It’s a really visually intimidating course and to be able to play it a couple times, it just gives you a lot of confidence,” he said. “… The more I play it, the more I feel comfortable and the more I love it. It’s a great place and it tests every aspect of your game.”
