2006-07 Golf Season Outlook

Coach Jack Jensen begins his 31st season as Guilford’s golf coach with a new challenge: how to weave his talented and proven returning upperclassmen with potentially his best recruiting class to date and put the Quakers in position to contend for a third national title in six years.  Coming off its 2005 Division III National Championship, Guilford started the year ranked first in the GCAA/Bridgestone Coaches Poll and remained in the top spot for most of the year before finishing fifth at the 2006 NCAA Division III Tournament.

“It was a disappointing finish last year at the NCAA Tournament,” Jensen said.  “We were leading after the first two rounds and in a good position going into the weekend, but we were inconsistent down the stretch and that cost us the opportunity to defend our 2005 Division III National Championship.”

With All-Americans Chris Lowman ‘06 and Jeff Osberg ‘06 lost to graduation, Jensen has at least two possible vacancies to fill in the fall.  However the Quakers still return a corps of experienced student-athletes with NCAA Tournament experience.  All-American seniors Colin Clark and Joseph Poplin are joined by junior Steve Walton, who played a strong second half of the season, to round out last year’s starting unit.  Clark, the 2005 NCAA Division III national champion, finished in a tie for second at the 2006 ODAC Championship and has been one of the Quakers’ top golfers since his freshman year. Clark also helped Team USA win its 11th straight Fuji Xerox Collegiate Golf Classic in Japan in 2006.  Classmate Poplin, who tied for fifth at the 2006 ODAC Championship, posted Guilford’s lowest stroke average in 2006 and was the team’s most valuable player.

Joining the corps of experienced veterans is Jensen’s deepest recruiting class in recent years based on talent and numbers.  There could be another star in this year’s class of newcomers, which includes freshman Peter Latimer from Scotland and Benjamin Bershad, who finished second in the New Jersey State championships.  Bershad is part of a contingent of newcomers who hail from the Garden State including Scott Miller and Ryan Phelan.  Brian Creghan, from Pennsylvania, qualified for the New Jersey State Championships along with Phelan and Bershad.  Sophomore Burton Wood, a transfer from Division I UNC Greensboro, comes with excellent experience and should also be a factor.

Jensen believes Guilford’s talent and experience make it good enough to play with the best in the country and sets the stage for a very interesting qualifying season. “With the talent on this team, we should be in the top-five of Division III this year,” Jensen said.  “We are in a great position to win our seventh ODAC championship in eight years and make it back to the NCAA Tournament.” Jensen holds open qualifying only before the fall season with occasional playoffs for one or two spots during the year. With this season’s depth, he plans more spring qualifying to keep the team sharp and identify top players at the season’s end.

Several changes affect the Quakers’ postseason opportunities for the 2006-07 season.  First, the ODAC Tournament is moving to a three-day 54-hole championship format.  Jensen is happy with the change and believes the three-day format allows for the best and most consistent team to win the title.  The ODAC Tournament gains greater importance this year as the NCAA Division III tourney field will be comprised mostly of automatic qualifiers.  The rest of the bids to the 35-team tournament will be given on an at-large basis based on a squad’s strength of schedule and regional ranking.

Guilford has annually played one of the nation's toughest schedules in Division III and this season is no different.  “One of the reasons players come to Guilford is because we play a competitive schedule on top-rated golf courses,” Jensen said.  “Washington and Lee, Methodist, Oglethorpe and Huntingdon will all be strong again this year.  We most likely will see these teams several times during the season.”  The Quakers open their fall season at the Sea Trail Intercollegiate in September before embarking on four contests in October including: The Tom O’Briant Memorial, The Gordin Collegiate Classic, and the Oglethorpe Invitational.  Guilford rounds out its spring with stops at the Mid-Pines/Pfeiffer Invitational, Richard Rendleman Invitational, the Marine Federal Credit Union Intercollegiate, and the Emory Spring Invitational before finishing the regular season at the ODAC Tournament in Virginia.