2005-2006 Season Review

Stormy Petrels Finish 4th at NCAA’s

The 2006 Oglethorpe men’s golf team finished a school best fourth overall at the NCAA Division III National Championship at Firehorn Golf Club in Lincoln, Nebraska May 8 -11. Previously, the Petrels had recorded a sixth overall finish in 2003 in Delaware, Ohio.

Junior Danny Swanick of Tampa, Florida finished fourth individually and earned 1st Team All-American honors to go along with his 3rd Team All-American finish last season. Freshman Joseph Lyda finished tied for 22nd individually to earn a spot on the National All Freshman Team as well as 3rd Team All-American honors. Joseph joins Joe Green (senior) and Taylor Urbanski (sophomore) as the third freshman in four years to make the All-Freshman Team.

Both Joe Green and Taylor Urbanski earned All South Region honors for their outstanding play this season duplicating the feat from a year ago. Green and Urbanski became the 10th and 11th Oglethorpe golfers to earn All-South honors since 1998.

On their way to winning their 6th SCAC Championship, Oglethorpe placed four players on the All-SCAC team. Green finished 2nd individually to earn 1st Team All-SCAC honors for the fourth consecutive season. Urbanski and Lyda finished tied for fourth overall en route to garnering 1st Team All-SCAC honors. For Urbanski, it was the second straight year, for Lyda, the first in his only try.

The 2005-2006 Petrels set or tied ten school records this season. Among the highlights include: Green tying Trent Erb’s record for a low round by shooting a six under par 64…Green also set a record for eagles in a season with three…The Petrels combined to score the most birdies (290) in a season…OU set a record for low score at SCAC Tournament play, besting 2003’s 289 with a 287.

Oglethorpe also finished a school best second overall in the final Golfstat rankings. The Golfstat rankings are based on actual head-to-head competition, adjusted scoring average, strength of schedule, average dropped score and how your team fared versus the other Top 25. The Petrels achieved this #2 ranking by compiling a winning record for the entire season against every team in the country except Methodist College, who the Petrels  defeated 4 out of 10 competitions.

To top off this fantastic season, head coach Jim Owenwas voted SCAC Coach-of-the-Year for the seventh consecutive year and marks the 8th time in 9 years that the Oglethorpe coaching staff has been honored thusly.

Petrels Claim 2005-2006 Georgia Cup

The 2005-2006 Georgia Cup team trophy will rest at Oglethorpe for the sixth consecutive season.  It is also the fourth year in a row that Oglethorpe has led wire to wire from the first tournament of the fall to the traditional season ending Emory Spring Invitational.

Oglethorpe Senior Joe Green was name the Division III Player of the Year and by doing so earned his fourth consecutive berth on the Georgia Cup All State Team.  He joins Oglethorpe graduates Trent Erb, 2001-2004, and Corey Garner, 2002-2005, as the only four time members of the Georgia Cup All State Team.

Green averaged 73.82 in thirty eight adjusted rounds for the season edging out teammate sophomore Taylor Urbanski at 74.18.  Emory freshman Jeremy Evans and Oglethorpe freshmen Josh Kinsey and Joseph Lyda finished third, fourth and fifth in their first year eligible.

Oglethorpe junior Danny Swanick and Emory senior Mike Lebow finished sixth and seventh on the All State Team.  Lebow, Swanick and Urbanski were all making the Georgia Cup team for the second consecutive year.

2004-2005 Season Review

Oglethorpe wrapped up yet another fine season of golf finishing seventh at Mission Inn’s El Campeon Course in the NCAA Championships on May 12th. The seventh place finish gave the men’s team their fifth consecutive top ten at the Championships and helped earn head coach Jim Owen his sixth consecutive nod as SCAC head coach of the year. The Stormy Petrels survived a shaky opening round to storm all the way up the leader board to fourth place before settling for seventh and nipping cross-town rival Emory by one stroke.

The strong finish at the NCAA Championships was indicative of the young and talented team that managed to post many eye-popping statistics both individually and as a team. Among those stats include the team amassing 203 wins versus only 6 defeats for the entire season. This distinction allowed the Petrels to finish 6th overall in Golfstat’s head-to-head rankings of Division III teams and supported their third place finish in the SCAC Conference Championship. Not surprisingly, all five Oglethorpe players managed to finish in the top thirty of the South Regions’ final scoring averages.

Among the individual accolades the players received included freshman standout Taylor Urbanski being honored as the South Regions’ Freshman of the Year at the NCAA banquet. Joining Urbanski in picking up hardware at the banquet was junior Joe Green, who, along with Urbanski, was named to the All South Region Team. It was Urbanski’s ability to hit it long and straight that led to such rewards as he led the nation in fairways hit with an incredible .780 percentage.

Not to be outdone, Joe Green went out and won his first collegiate golf tournament at the Jekyll Island Collegiate Invitational last March. Green totaled rounds of 75 and 70 before closing with a five-under 67 to earn the victory. Joining Green and Urbanski in the teams’ success were senior Corey Garner and juniors Jonathan Davis and Danny Swanick. Garner finished off a stellar career at Oglethorpe by posting four top 25 finishes in eleven tournaments. He rounded out his season and career by earning his second Academic All America Award.

Joining Garner on the Academic All America list was Jonathan Davis, who also got the nod as a 2nd Team All-SCAC player by finishing in the top 25 in five of eleven tournament starts. Swanick, meanwhile, used a strong spring run to finish his season in style. His 17th place finish at the NCAA Division III National Championship capped off a string of five consecutive top 25 finishes and showed why the Oglethorpe Men’s Golf team has a bright future ahead in the upcoming 2005-2006 season.