GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guilford College’s men’s golf team jumped five spots to sixth place in the second Golf World/Nike Golf Division III Coaches’ Poll of the fall season released Friday. The rankings were made by members of the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA). Oglethorpe University earned nine first-place votes and retained the poll’s top spot. Defending NCAA Division III champion Schreiner University captured four top nods and is second in the rankings, 55 points behind the Stormy Petrels.
Guilford won its most recent competition, the 12-team Gordin Classic in Ohio, earlier this week. The Quakers shot 872 in the 54-hole tourney to top 14th-ranked Rhodes College by 17 shots. They were 18 strokes better than Oglethorpe. Guilford sophomore Ty Palmer won the 60-man event thanks to a school-record 66-66-132 in Monday’s opening-two rounds. He shot two-over-par 74 in Tuesday’s final 18 holes and wound up winning his first college medalist honor by nine strokes.
Palmer’s play moved him into third place among Old Dominion Athletic Conference scoring leaders with a team-best 73.0 strokes per round average in six rounds. Guilford’s Drew Thompson is one stroke behind with a 73.2 average, fourth-nest in the league. Tanner Gross, the defending NCAA Division III Rookie of the Year, has a 75.2 average after two tournaments, 10th-lowest in the league.
First-year head coach Justin Tereshko’s squad is back in action Oct. 12-15 at the Golfweek Division III Invitational and hosts the O’Briant-Jensen Memorial Mon. 27-28.
# Q U A K E R S #
Oct. 3 Golf World/Nike Division III Coaches’ Poll
School (First-place votes) Points Last 1. Oglethorpe (9) 342 1 2. Schreiner (4) 287 T3 3. Methodist 274 2 4. Wittenberg (1) 268 6 5. Illinois Wesleyan 240 7 6. Guilford 240 T11 7. Texas-Tyler 237 10 8. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 236 15 9. LaGrange 227 9 10. Redlands 16 T3