No. 14 Golf Claims Fourth at ODAC Championship
Alden leads Quakers with second-straight top-ten finish
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications at The Guilford College
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Headlined by a tenth-place finish from James Alden (East Northport, N.Y.), the No. 14 nationally ranked Guilford College men’s golf team secured a fourth-place finish at the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Championship, on Monday through Wednesday at Forest Oaks Country Club.
Pleasant weather with high-70’s to low-80’s on the thermometer for the 54 holes spread across three days at the par-72 course made for brilliant golfing with No. 8 nationally ranked University of Lynchburg securing the crown for the eighth time with a team score of 859 (-5). Jonathan McEwen topped the conference runners-up and No. 1 nationally ranked Washington & Lee University with a new ODAC Championship record individual score of 204 with the team scoring at 869 (+5). No. 18 nationally-ranked Hampden-Sydney College rounded out the podium with a team score of 887 (+23) with the Quakers finishing two strokes off the Tigers at 889 (+25).
Alden scuffled on Monday, posting three bogeys and a double-bogey with a birdie mixed in, but he really got comfortable on day two. Starting on the back nine, he took advantage of a pair of par-five’s and one par-four with birdies over his first nine holes. He did mix in one bogey and then had two more on the front-nine, but still finished with a break-even day then duplicated the feat on Wednesday, finishing the event with consecutive par days to finish at 220 (+4).
It was a bunch of balance after that for Guilford, with Parker Cumbea (Fuquay Varina, N.C.) and Andrew Perry (Fuquay Varina, N.C.) each tying for 20th at 224 (+8) apiece. The senior had a slow day one, opening with a double-bogey while intermixing a pair of birdies with four bogeys the rest of the way to finish four-over, but settled in from there. A trio of birdies against five bogeys on Tuesday resulted in a plus-two day then he duplicated his score on Wednesday. Perry’s path was vastly different, posting four bogeys in his first seven tees, he pilled up a five-over day one. His Tuesday was brilliant, however, posting the best round by a Quaker in the event. Dodging bogeys his entire 18 and mixing in a pair of birdies, he finished day two at two-under before posting a five-over final day.
Evan Mendyk (Summerfield, N.C.) has seen better tournaments, but he started out excellent, keeping GC in the mix with a 71 round-one score, good for one-under. He struggled to duplicate the effort, however, posting plus-five 77’s the final two days. As a result, he finished tied for 24th with a 225 (+9) event.
Rounding out the GC contributors, Luke Wise (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) had a steady event. Opening with a plus-three 75 opening 18, he followed that up with a pair of 76 round scores, bringing his final tally to 227 (+11) and tied for 28th in the standings.
The Quakers are well-positioned, but ultimately their fate lies with the selection committee as to whether the team or any individuals will make the NCAA Championship. The field will be released on Monday, May 12, on NCAA.com.
#GoQuakes