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Oglethorpe Beats Emory in Dramatic Playoff
Second win in the fall for Petrel golfers.
10-20-02, Stone Mountain, GA; The third ranked Oglethorpe golf team
capped off an excellent fall golf season by winning the Emory Fall
Invitational at Smokerise Golf Club near Stone Mountain.
Senior Robert Miller hit a six foot putt for par to seal the victory
on the first hole in the playoff. "It was good that Robert was able
to hole the putt to seal the victory because he felt like he let
Emory back in the match by scoring a double bogey on both the
seventeenth and eighteenth holes just thirty minutes prior to the
playoff," stated Coach Jim Owen. "It’s true that the Petrels did not
finish as strong as usual. We were seven strokes up through fifteen
holes, but to give credit to Emory and in Particular Jason Scherr
who birdied four of his last five holes for a closing 67," Owen
added. "That last stretch of holes, 14-18, is no easy stretch of
golf and to play them in four under par is amazing," continued Coach
Owen.
Oglethorpe junior Trent Erb playing in the pairing with Emory’s
Scherr fired a spectacular three under par score of his own. Also
playing in the group was Savannah College of A & D’s Grant McMahon.
His one under par 71 placed the threesome at nine under par for a
two day total of three under par as a group. Erb shot an opening
round of even par 72 for a two day total of three under par 141,
good enough for medalist honors. Erb’s record breaking round bested
Scherr by two strokes, for the tournament victory. It was his first
collegiate victory and the 6th individual victory by an Oglethorpe
golfer in the history of this program. Oglethorpe senior Chris
Summers shot rounds of 75-74(149) to finish 5th and earn All
Tournament Honors. Freshmen Joe Green 77-74(151) earned his first
collegiate top ten finish and lead the Petrels on the first playoff
hole.
The Stormy Petrels fired an impressive eight over par 296 in damp
and dreary conditions to take a six stroke lead over Emory(302) and
a 13 stroke lead over Sewanee(309) in third place and a twenty
stroke lead over fourth place SCAD(316) after day one. Erb’s 72 was
followed by Miller’s 74 and Summers and sophomore Corey Garner at 75
each. In the final round Oglethorpe held the lead all day, but Emory
closed fast and when Jason Scherr rolled in his birdie on 18 the
first five man team playoff in school history was on.
The playoff format for college golf involves all five players from
each team paired in two threesomes and a foursome. The holes are
played one at a time, the scores are totaled after the five players
complete the hole, then the highest score is thrown out for each
team and the remaining four scores totaled. If still tied the format
is followed on the second playoff hole until one team has a lower
total than the other.
Joe Green paired with two Emory players led off for the Petrels and
got OU off to a great start. He birdied the first hole sinking a
15ft putt while one of his opponents went out of bounds and
eventually carded an eight and the other bogeyed the hole to give OU
a two stroke lead. In the next pairing Garner bogeyed and Summers
made a par while Emory’s Mike Lebow made birdie to keep Emory in the
match. In the last pairing Emory scored a par and a bogey, and OU’s
Trent Erb made a bogey. Playing with Erb was Robert Miller who holed
a crucial putt for par to seal an emotional victory for Oglethorpe.
The first shot was played at 9:30am and the playoff ended at 4:00pm
marking one of the longest and most exciting golf rounds in school
history.
The Petrels closed out the fall schedule with two tournament wins, a
second place, and fourth place finish. The Petrels are ranked number
3 nationally and number 2 in the South Region.
Oglethorpe leads the nation in fairways hit and in total short game
categories and is ranked top 5 in par 3 scoring, par 4 scoring,
greens in regulation, and putting. The spring season begins in grand
style in Pinehurst at the Pine Needles Golf Course at Southern
Pines, N.C.
Petrel Golfers Fall One Stroke Short at Salem Glen
10-09-02, Greensboro, NC; The Oglethorpe Men’s Golf team made a
strong finish on the back nine, but came up one stroke short at the
Greensboro College Invitational. The tournament is played at the
7,012yd Salem Glen Country Club in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
The Stormy Petrels were tied with Methodist College after the first
round at 290. Methodist pulled away a few strokes in the middle of
the second round, and after 15 holes the Petrels were down 5 strokes
with only three holes to play. They made up one shot on sixteen, two
shots on seventeen and another shot on eighteen but came up one
short. It was a two team race in the final round as Oglethorpe and
Methodist distanced themselves from the field by 17 strokes.
Individually, sophomore Corey Garner fired an even par 71 on Monday
and followed it with a two under par 69 on Tuesday to tie Methodist
junior James Stewart for first place. On the third hole of the
playoff Stewart parred, Garner holed in a bogey to give Medalist
Honors to Stewart. In addition to Garner finishing second, senior
Robert Miller finished 9th overall with rounds of 73-73-146.
Freshman Joe Green shot 73-76-149 to finish 17th. Trent Erb fired a
76-74-150 to place 19th overall, and Chris Summer placed 25th
shooting a 73-78-151. Freshman, Drew Anders shot 71-82 for a 153 and
thirty fifth place finish.
The Stormy Petrel moved to the #2 spot in the nation in this week’s
poll. For National ranking information go to www.golfstat.com and
click on NCAA Head to Head Results for Division III.
Trent Erb leads the nation in scoring average and par 4 scoring.
Corey Garner leads the nation in last round scoring average and is
ninth in par 3 scoring. Summers is eighth nationally in pars per
round at 12.50. As a team the Stormy Petrel lead the nation in last
round scoring average at just over 72 strokes per player
Oglethorpe leaves for Myrtle Beach this Friday for the Wilson-Gordin
Invitational. Invitations are extended to only the top 12 teams in
the nation.
Oglethorpe Comeback Wins The Cardinal Golf Tournament
10-01-02, Greensboro, NC; The #3 ranked Stormy Petrels golf team
came from eleven shots back to win the Division III Tom O'Briant
Memorial Golf Tournament in Greensboro, NC yesterday. In first round
play on Monday the team shot an unremarkable 300 and were in sixth
place eleven shots behind the Nations #1 team Methodist College and
five strokes back of both the host #6 ranked Guilford College and #8
ranked Wesley College of Dover, Delaware. Greensboro College and
Ohio Wesleyan, two other top ten teams, led the Stormy Petrels by
three and one shot respectively. After the first round Trent Erb was
second individually with an even par 70 on the 6691 yard Cardinal
Golf Club which was made more difficult with recent rains.
The Stormy Petrels got out of the gates fast on Tuesday's second
round. After 7 holes the team's four best scores were a phenomenal 4
under par. Freshman Joe Green and sophomore Corey Garner both were
two under par and Robert Miller and Erb were even par while senior
All American Chris Summers was at 2 over par. "We had to negotiate
the incredibly difficult 8, 9, 10 and 11th holes and although we
came back to over par as a team we handled them extremely well,"
commented Coach Jim Owen. The Petrels went on to play the next two
holes in three under and began to steel themselves for the brutal
15, 16, 17 and 18th finishing holes.
The team posted a school record 288 (at the Cardinal) for their
final round score and then had to sit patiently and wait on the last
five schools to finish. The Wesley College squad followed up their
295 on Monday with a solid 293 to tie the Stormy Petrels at 588. The
other three schools posted higher second day scores and that left
only 9 time National Champion Methodist College. As their scores
were posted one at a time it was clear it was going to be close.
Methodist College Sophomore Mike Townsend two putted the 18th green
for a closing 75 to give Methodist a team total of 299 for the day
and an overall total of 588 producing a three way tie for first for
the Division III teams. A scorecard playoff between fifth scores of
the three teams pitted Summers against the other fifth scores and
his second round 74 proved to be the difference.
The Stormy Petrels placed their top five players in the top 21. Erb
followed up his 70 with a superb closing 72 and a two day total of
142 to earn runner-up honors to Duke University's Tom Lefebrue 65-75
(140) who won medalist honors. Duke won the overall Cardinal event
for the third year in a row with rounds of 285-296 (581).
Chris Summers (75-74) (149) and Corey Garner (78-71) (149) tied for
15th and Robert Miller (77-73) (150) and Joe Green (78-72) (150)
tied for 21st.
Tuesday's comeback was the second year in a row Oglethorpe came from
well back to win the year's first south region Division III event.
Guilford led Oglethorpe by nine after the first round in last year's
event.
This Sunday the Petrels travel back to North Carolina to Winston
Salem for the Greensboro College Invitational at Salem Glen Country
Club.
Men's Golf Team Ranked 4th in Coaches Poll
9-22-02, Atlanta, GA; The Precept Coaches Poll Division III Top 25
ranked Oglethorpe golfers 4th in the country.
Fans can also vote for Oglethorpe in the Precept/GCAA Fans Poll
Division III Top 25
OU Men's Golf Ranked 3rd in the Nation in a Preseason
Publication!
9-10-02, Atlanta, GA; The Men's Golf team, coached by Jim Owen, is
headed for another promising year. In the national publication of
Golf Week magazine, the September Collegiate Preview Edition ranked
OU as 3rd in the nation among division three schools. The magazine
hits newsstands this week.
Visit these websites for more on the OU golf team!!
http://www.teamline.cc/college02/3031.htm
http://www.teamline.cc/Images/TEAMLINE2.jpg
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