College Golf News – Guilford Ranked Seventh in Latest Nike Golf/Golf World Coaches’ Poll

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guilford College’s men’s golf team climbed into seventh place in the third Golf World/Nike Golf Division III Coaches’ Poll of the spring 2013 season. The rankings are made by members of the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) and will also be published in the Apr. 22 edition of Golf World. Guilford gained four spots from the previous rating and returned to the poll’s top-10 following a two-poll absence.

Oglethorpe University, the defending national champion, maintained its place atop the latest rankings for the eighth straight poll. The Stormy Petrels hold a 17-point advantage over Methodist University in the overall vote and received nine of 13 first-place votes. Oglethorpe captured its fifth tournament title of the season April 2 at the Emory Spring Invitational.

The Quakers finished fifth at the Emory Spring Invitational, trailing Oglethorpe, Methodist, Huntingdon College and 23rd-ranked Berry College. Guilford’s Noah Ratner finished three strokes off the lead with a three-under-par 73-68-141, his sixth top-10 finish of the year. Dallas Page (Reidsville, N.C./Rockingham County (Averett)) had Guilford’s second-best finish (T24) after shooting 75-76-151.

Ratner, the GCAA’s defending NCAA Division III Player of the Year, leads the Quakers with a 72.80 stroke average that ranks first among Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) golfers. Sophomore Drew Thompson is second on the team with a 74.65 average, which stands third in the league.

Third-year head coach Corey Maggard’s squad is ranked sixth in the Apr. 17 Golfstat.com Division III Head-to-Head Ratings. The Quakers are scheduled to defend their ODAC championship April 21-23 at the Bay Creek Golf Club in Cape Charles, Va.