WESSON – In the first event of the 2016-17 men's golf season at Wolf Hollow Golf Club, Northwest fired a 308-298 to finish in fourth place out of nine teams.

"We started off fairly well but caught a couple bad breaks," assistant coach Guy Purdy said. "For the first time out this season though, we played pretty well. I think we can build off this start." 

Gulf Coast ran away with the event with a 274-295, finishing 7-under-par and a full 10 strokes ahead of tournament host Copiah-Lincoln and 20 in front of third place Meridian.

Heath Newsom, a sophomore transfer from Meridian Community College, was the Rangers' low finisher, carding a 71-74 (1-over) to place in a tie for eighth.

Freshman Cameron Foster shot 77-70 to finish in a tie for 10th, while Devon Thomas (31st), William Mason (36th), J.T. Moffitt (46th) and Samuel Davis (57th) rounded out the Rangers' lineup. 

Northwest will host next weekend's event, Sept. 25-26, at North Creek Golf Course in Southaven.