NORTH AUGUSTA --- Before every major disc golf tournament he competes in, Mississippi State junior Drew Davis gets a mohawk.

"I always play better with a mohawk," Davis said.

Heading into the final individual round Saturday at the Collegiate Disc Golf Championships, however, it appeared that Davis and his new hairstyle would have to settle for at best a top-5 finish.

But down nine strokes to Arkansas' Matt Scott, Davis fired 5-under-par 63 on the challenging Hippodrome Black Course to capture the national title in his first championship appearance.

"I'm ecstatic," Davis said. "I wasn't expecting this at all."

The 21-year-old native of Tupelo, Miss., came into the day six shots behind and in a three-way tie for fifth.

After a strong third round at the top of the leaderboard by Scott, Davis found himself tied for third yet with an even larger deficit. But a remarkable par save on the 11th hole with what Davis described as a "four-skipper" helped salvaged what would be the low final round of the field.

"That was really huge," said Davis. "I could have easily had a five or a six on that hole."

Scott, who said going into the final round that his approach would be to play as safe as possible because he felt par would secure him the title, struggled to keep his disc in bounds in the final three holes to finish with 73.

"I blew it," said Scott, who had held the lead since the second round. "I just played bad. I don't know what happened. It was going well until the last three holes."

Davis' performance did more than just help him climb the individual leaderboard; it catapulted Mississippi State into the top spot in the team standings as well.

Just as Davis did in the individual ranks, the Bulldogs rallied from nine shots down to take a one shot lead over Alabama-Huntsville at 41-under-par into today's final action.

Today's final round features alternate shot doubles and putting.

The top-six finishers in the individual tournament earned All-American honors.

Joining Davis and Scott were Zac Simpson, Nathan Pitts and Tyler Harbin of Alabama-Huntsville, and North Augusta native Ray Cartledge. of Clemson. Georgia Southern's Mark Wilhelmi, an Augusta native, finished tied for sixth but lost a tiebreaker to Harbin.

Reach Joey Jones at (706) 724-0851 or joey.jones@augustachronicle.com.