2009-10 Golf Outlook

For the first time in Jack Jensen’s 33-year tenure as Guilford College’s golf coach, the Quakers are looking to return to national tournament play after a two-year absence. Despite top-10 final national rankings in 2008 and 2009, Guilford failed to win the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s automatic berth or receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships. Jensen returns three letter winners from last year’s team, including two First Team All-ODAC selections, and welcomes a pair of newcomers with significant junior experience. The Hall of Fame coach again has a challenging schedule, which he hopes will help the Quakers clinch their 27th national tournament bid in 34 years.

Seniors Peter Latimer and Brian Creghan have proven themselves as two of the South region’s finest Division III golfers. Latimer, who won two medalist honors a year ago, has four college titles to his credit and is coming off a strong showing at the 2009 Scottish Amateur Championships at Royal Troon where he reached the quarterfinals of match play. The Scot’s strong play in recent months has boosted his R&A World Amateur Ranking to 579 and given him confidence entering his senior season. Latimer has high personal goals for the 2009-10 campaign and Jensen hopes his efforts spark the team as well.

Jensen calls Creghan a “fighter” for the way he constantly battles past challenges on and off the course and expects the senior to deliver his finest season. Like Latimer, Creghan also enjoyed summer success as he qualified for match play in the 2009 Philadelphia Amateur. Creghan has a 76.73 career stroke average in 70 rounds and is the reigning ODAC Golf Scholar-Athlete. In addition, he earned Academic All-American Honors in 2009.

Sophomore Dusty Roberts showed flashes of excellence in his first Guilford season, but Jensen would love to see more consistency from the Reidsville, N.C., resident. Roberts, a long hitter, is not afraid to shoot in the 60s and had a solid 42nd-place showing (74-76-72-75--297) at the 2009 North Carolina Amateur Championship, which Jensen hopes is a harbinger of good things to come.

The Quakers have high hopes for two incoming freshmen, Noah Ratner of Asheville, N.C., and J.T. Thomas of Cary, N.C., both of whom have already distinguished themselves on big stages. Ratner, the Western North Carolina Golfer of the Year according to the Citizen Times, won two gold medals this summer at the Maccabiah Games in Israel. He captured the junior boys individual gold by shooting (77-69-74--220) over three rounds and helped the American team to a five-stroke win over Israel in the team competition. Thomas qualified for his second straight Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach by placing third in a two-day qualifying event in Rogers, Ark. Both Ratner and Thomas competed in match play at the N.C. Junior Boys’ Championship.

Other contenders for spots in the Quakers’ lineup include sophomore Andrew Thayer and senior Josh Sumler, who spent his first two years at Guilford as the baseball team’s starting shortstop.

Jensen has once again assembled a schedule that features nationally ranked competition on excellent courses. The Quakers open the fall season at the Sea Trail Intercollegiate against many NCAA Division I squads and wrap up the fall by hosting the 31st annual Tom and Bettie O’Briant Memorial, which typically features 10-12 nationally ranked Division III teams. Guilford will also face top teams at the Pine Needles Intercollegiate and the Marine Federal Credit Union Intercollegiate in March. The ODAC Championships return to the Bay Creek Golf Club in Cape Charles, Va., for the second straight season.