Tigers finish ranked 12th in U.S.

Published 8:23 pm Tuesday, May 28, 2019

The Hampden-Sydney College (H-SC) golf team has been ranked 12th in the final 2018-19 Division III Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll, based upon the program’s recent 12th-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championships in Nicholasville, Kentucky, an H-SC Athletics press release noted.

Another release highlighting the Tigers’ performance at the championships cited that they posted a final-round team score of 301 on May 17 for a 72-hole score of 1,222 (297-315-309-301) to finish in 12th place at the national tournament played at the Keene Trace Golf Club.

Officials noted that H-SC was led by sophomore Allen Smith with his four-day score of 73-80-81-72—306, which tied for 49th among the 96 golfers who played among the Top-18 teams in the country, along with six individual qualifiers.

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Smith was followed by juniors Bruce Shober (71-80-80-78—309, tied for 61st) and Adam Hade (77-78-75-79—309, tied for 61st), along with freshmen Hunter Martin (76-85-79-72—312, tied for 68th) and John Hatcher Ferguson (79-77-75-83—314, tied for 72nd), the release noted.

Playing the Keene Trace Golf Club’s Champion Trace course, a par 72, 7,190-yard layout, Smith and Martin each posted four birdies and 10 pars during their respective even-par rounds of 72 on the final day, the release stated. Shober (78) added four birdies, including three-straight at one point, with nine pars. Hade (79) added two birdies and 11 pars, while Ferguson (83) had one birdie and eight pars. Shober tied for eighth in par 5 scoring (4.69, -5) during the four-day tournament, while Smith and Shober each tied for 13th in birdies (12). The Tigers were tied for ninth in overall birdies (46) and were 16th in overall pars (192).

Officials cited in the release that Hampden-Sydney posted its lowest 72-hole score (1,222) in five overall appearances in the national championships. The previous low score for the program was 1,236 accomplished back in 1976 when the Tigers finished sixth overall. The 12th-place finish this year is the program’s third-best at the national tournament, including a national runner-up finish in 1975 (909, 54 holes).

Nationally ranked No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan University won this year’s national championship with its 1,174 total, followed by No. 2 Huntingdon College (1,177), fellow Old Dominion Athletic Conference member and No. 6 Guilford College (1,181), No. 29 Concordia College (1,193) and No. 5 Methodist University (1,197) to round out the top five, the release cited. Sam Goldenring, of Williams College, took individual medalist and national champion honors at three-under par 285.

The Tigers, coached by H-SC Director of Athletics Chad Eisele, earned six top-five finishes among eight top-10 efforts in 10 overall tournaments this year, officials noted.

They added that H-SC could return as many as 11 lettermen for 2019-20 season, including all five Tigers who competed at the national championships.