College Men’s Golf Results – Ty Palmer Helps Guilford to 2014 Gordin Classic Titles

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Guilford College won its first men’s golf tournament of the season and Quakers’ sophomore Ty Palmer (Kernersville, N.C./Forsyth Country Day) claimed his first college medalist honor Tuesday at the Gordin Classic. The victory marks the Quakers’ fifth Gordin Classic title and their first since 2010.

The Quakers shot 10-over-par 298 in Tuesday’s third and final round of the 12-team event at the Columbus Country Club. Guilford, ranked 11th in the preseason Golf Coaches’ Association of America Division III Poll, shot 290-284-298-872 over three rounds. The Quakers outdistanced second-place Rhodes College (889) by 17 shots and top-ranked Oglethorpe University (890) by 18 strokes. Guilford started the day with a 17-shot lead. The 872 matches the 14th-best 54-hole score in school history.

Palmer shot 10-under 206 for the tournament. He sparked the Quakers with matching rounds of 66 Monday for the lowest 36-hole individual total (132) in school history. Palmer played the par-72, 7.010-yard course one-under through 15 holes Tuesday, but bogeyed the final three holes for a final-round 74. His 66-66-74-206 is Guilford’s second-lowest 54-hole score of all time, trailing only Noah Ratner’s ’13 204 at the 2011 Golfweek Invitational. Palmer is Guilford’s second Gordin medalist, joining Ratner, who won the 2011 title.

Palmer started the day with a 10-stroke edge on Berry College’s Ryan Elmore, who shot 73 Tuesday and finished nine strokes off the lead in second place. Oglethorpe senior Anthony Maccaglia, a three-time PING First Team All-American and the winner of last week’s Tournament Town Championship Preview at Grandover Resort, finished in a three-way tie for third in the 60-man field at 216.

Guilford senior Drew Thompson, playing not far from his hometown of Pickerington, Ohio, shot a final-round 73 Tuesday and shared sixth place among leaders at 75-70-73-218. Quakers’ rookie Harrison Frye (High Point, N.C./High Point Central) was 17th with a 73-76-76-225.

Hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University since 1991, the Gordin Classic annually matches 12 of NCAA Division III’s top teams, featuring most, if not all, of the top-10 finishers from the previous spring’s Division III Championship.

The tournament is named for longtime Ohio Wesleyan coach Dick Gordin, who served as the Bishops’ mentor from 1955-93. He guided 22 of his last 25 teams to the NCAA Division III or College Division tournaments, bringing home six top-five finishes in his last eight years, including runner-up efforts in 1990 and 1993. Ohio Wesleyan won 12 league titles in five different decades under Gordin, who was named NCAA Division III Coach of the Year in 1987 and 1993.

Coach Justin Tereshko’s club is back in action Oct. 12-14 at the Golfweek Invitational in Destin, Fla.