Folds of Honor Collegiate Finishes with Alabama Men and Arizona Ladies on Top
Michigan State men and women each place 4th
By Tom Lang
The third annual Folds of Honor Collegiate was completed on Sept. 11 – the 23rd anniversary of 9-11, a fact that founder Lt. Col. Dan Rooney said was never planned.
“Totally providential, and affirmation for me that we added first responders a couple years ago as having Folds of Honor recipients – and the fact that 911 is dialed every six seconds in this country – 40 million times a year they are coming to rescue us,” Rooney told me. “It’s really a sin of omission that there really hasn’t been a charity to take care of the families of fallen and disabled first responders and we are blessed to be in a position to do that.”
Most people know that Folds of Honor was developed in Grand Haven by the Rooney family, which led to Jack Nicklaus coming in and recasting the property to what is now American Dunes. The college tournament was conceived when MSU men’s coach Casey Lubahn suggested the idea and it took off as fast as the F-16 Rooney flies.
All three years the event has played live on The Golf Channel, with one year remaining on that contract.
Alabama won with a 3-day team total 12-under par. Illinois finished runner up at minus-5, followed by Texas and MSU. Arizona won it on the women’s side, in the first year of having both men and women competing; 15 teams each. The tournament ran from sun-up to sundown to fit in all 30 teams. Florida State was runners up for the ladies, followed by Ohio State, then three teams at T4; Texas, Baylor and MSU.
Ashton McCulloch placed T4 individually for MSU, at 6-under par. He is now the senior leader for a very young team starting freshmen and sophomores.
“We’ve got a really young team, so it’s good to come out in our first event and kind of be in the hunt a little bit, and feel those nerves and see how everyone handles it, and get ready for college golf,” McColloch said. “I think that we’re in a good spot as a team and me individually – it feels good.
“It’s not easy stepping in to your first college event to be one of this magnitude, and played on TV with some great teams here – and to play for something big. It’s hard for them and they played pretty good.”
The MSU women’s team was led by Brooke Biermann’s 11th place finish at 4-over par.
“The ladies experience was wonderful, what a first-class event,” said MSU coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll. “Knowing that it has so much more meaning than just golf is really cool. All the little things; the skydivers (Wednesday) and the Folds of Honor recipients. Having Dan Rooney there. It was all wonderful, all great.
“Our fourth-place finish wasn’t overly impressive. We tied a team that is ranked below us as well as let one beat us that was ranked below us, so that really isn’t great, but when you start out as slow as we did (17-over in first round ), it’s hard to make that up.”
Slobodnik-Stoll said she thought the turnaround of 1-over both Tuesday and Wednesday were “great.”
“So, we have to clean some things up. We have players sitting at home who are going to get a chance to play in the next tournament, so we’ll see.”
Clearly this is a wonderful college golf event, but so unique in its purpose. Rooney played college golf at Kansas, before working a summer at Hawk Hollow in East Lansing and joining the military.
“I told my wife this morning…this was my soul coming to life,” Rooney said in reference to the college tournament. “God, country and golf and these college kids; and to a person, these young men and women are thankful, and they leave impacted in a way they’ll never feel in another college golf tournament.”
Each participant was given a remembrance gift of a single round of 20mm cannons that F-16s shoot at 100 per second, according to Rooney.
“My ask was that they keep it for the rest of their life, as a reminder that freedom is not free. There were a lot of tears, and that sinks in.”
For full scoring, please visit: https://foldsofhonor.org/golf/collegiate/
