NELLYSFORD, Virginia – Guilford College sophomore Josh Hill (Superior, Colo./Monarch) won a one-hole playoff over teammate Kell Graham (Matthews, N.C./Charlotte Christian) for his first college win and helped the Quakers clinch their league-record 16th Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Men’s Golf Championship Tuesday. Guilford placed all five contestants among the top-eight finishers in the 54-man tournament.
From right to left: Zach Evens, Harrison Frye, Josh Hill, Ty Palmer, Kell Graham, coach Justin Tereshko. Credit – Guilford Athletics/Sideline Media Productions.
Guilford shot 294-294-301-889 (+25) over 54 rain-soaked holes at the Wintergreen Resort for the Quakers’ sixth league title in eight years. The Quakers led wire-to-wire and finished with a 24-stroke advantage over second-place Washington and Lee University, the defending tournament champion. Guilford’s second win of the season secured the ODAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championships at the Mission Inn Resort in Florida May 16-19.
Hill held the lead all three days and entered Tuesday atop the 54-man leaderboard with Graham and Washington and Lee University’s Luke Farley. Hill made the turn Tuesday with a three-shot lead on Graham and a four-stroke edge over Farley. Graham made up ground with two birdies and five pars on the back nine, while Hill had six pars. Graham’s birdie on the 17th hole moved him into a share of the lead, forcing a playoff on the 18th hole. Hill made par on the par-four hole, while Graham shot a five.
The Quakers’ Ty Palmer (Kernersville, N.C./Forsyth Country Day) joined Hill and Graham on the all-tournament team with a fifth-place finish. He shot 74-76-77-227, two strokes ahead of teammate Harrison Frye (High Point, N.C./High Point Central), who carded Tuesday’s low round (74) to finish seventh at 77-78-74-229. Freshman Zach Evens (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island) shot 75-77-79-231 and shared eighth place.
Hill shot 72-71-75-218 to become the Quakers’ 15th ODAC Championship medalist. Graham shot 73-70-75-218. Hill and Evens were named to the First Team All-ODAC Team at Monday night’s awards banquet.
Coach Justin Tereshko’s Quakers are ranked 17th in this week’s Bushnell/Golfweek Division III Coaches’ Poll and 19th in Golfstat.com’s NCAA Division III Head-to-Head Rankings. Guilford will be making its 22nd appearance in the national tournament, which comes to Greensboro’s Grandover Resort in 2018.