Guilford College Men’s Golf Takes T-Seventh at O’Briant Jensen Memorial To Finish Fall Slate
Gillen & Slate place within top-15 as Quakers build momentum into winter
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Highlighted by top-15 finishes from Sawyer Slate (Walnut Cove, N.C.) and Braeden Gillen (Holly Springs, N.C.), the (RV) Guilford College men’s golf team put the finishing touches on their fall slate, hosting the O’Briant Jensen Memorial and posting a team score of 890 (+38), good for a tie for seventh at The Cardinal by Pete Dye across Monday and Tuesday.
The Gate City provided some magnificent late-October weather for competition over the two days, with temps starting in the 50’s before rising into the low 70’s around midday under virtually-cloudless skies. Notoriously one of the more-rigorous courses on the Division-III circuit, with hills, valleys, and hazards littered throughout The Cardinal’s 6,824 yards, the course is also the lone par-71 that Guilford has played at this season, with the field averaging a score of 75.74 (+5) strokes per round. A premier DIII showcase, 10 of the 15 teams in attendance were at-minimum receiving votes in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek national poll including seven squads within the top-25. The top-two ranked squads in attendance showed why with No. 1 Emory University riding the best team round score in the tournament’s history of 274 (-10) in their second round to create some massive distance to top the field. The Eagles also flexed the top-two scorers, Zach Pelzar with a 206 (-7) and Kevin Mu at 209 (-4), with Pelzar burying a hole-in-one on two during his second round. No. 4 Carnegie Mellon University would be this year’s distant runner-up, finishing 10 strokes behind with 866 (+14), before another wide margin of 17 strikes prior to No. 11 Washington and Lee University, who claimed third with a mark of 883 (+31). W&L topped the five Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) squads in attendance, with No. 24 Shenandoah University claiming sixth to finish just ahead of the Quakers and No. 21 University of Lynchburg, who tied for seventh. Averett University rounded out conference foes and the field, finishing 15th.
Settling in after a tough opening 18, Gillen proceeded to play some of the best golf of his collegiate career, although unfortunately it would not help the Quakers as he was registered as an individual at the event. Opening each round on 18, the junior had three bogeys and three double-bogeys over his first nine holes, but found a nice rhythm in the second half of his round with birdies on 10 and 11 to finish in 79 (+8) strokes. He rode that momentum into Monday afternoon, playing elite golf, never going above par during the entire round, and racking up four birdies, including three in a four-hole span straddling the turn to shoot a career-best 67 (-4), matching the best round by a GC golfer this fall. His round on Tuesday was a bit more tumultuous, but still strong, birdieing on two, 10, and 16 to dampen his five one-over pins to finish the round with a 73 (+2). Gillen would post the 10th-most par holes in the event with 33 and wind up tied as GC’s top finisher, claiming a tie for 13th with a final score of 219 (+6).
One of the men Gillen would tie with would be Slate, who shaved three strokes off each round to take his share of 13th with a 219 (+6), good for the best score of his young career. The one Quaker whose three rounds would have factored into the team scoring no matter how you run the numbers, he would open on the second tee box and finish a few decimal points above the competition average with a 76 (+5) on his opening 18 thanks to birdies on three and 10 against seven one-above-par pins. He began his afternoon round with a bogey, but had just two other holes at one-over and one pin finishing two-above the rest of his round, gathering birdies on four, 12, and 17 to record a 73 (+2) in his second trip. Starting day two on the back nine, he bogeyed on 12, but went below par thanks to birdies on 14 and 17 then an eagle after the turn on four. While a couple of bogeys on six and seven brought him up some, Slate finished with his first below-par round on an “A” team event of his career, recording a 70 (-1). The key for Slate was executing on the short flags and avoiding a blowup, finishing tied as the tournament’s leader by going one-under overall on the par-three’s while finishing as one-of-11 golfers with just one double-bogey to record his score.
Gavin Peach (Charlotte, N.C.) just missed a top-20 finish, splitting two quality rounds on either side of an okay second trip to finish tied for 22nd. Starting on three, Peach’s first round was a wild ride, going two above on five and 10 and one-over on three other holes, but also racked up five birdies to temper their effect to net a 73 (+2). He was not as fortunate on Monday afternoon, though, countering his two birdies with two bogeys while also finishing two flags two-above, and one three-over to finish with a 78 (+7). Peach’s final 18 would be his smoothest, particularly on the back-nine where he started, posting birdies on 11, 14, and 18 and while two double-bogeys and one bogey on the front, brought his score up, he still turned in a strong 73 (+2) score. Leading GC in birdies with 10 throughout the competition, the senior recorded a score of 224 (+11).
The third GC scorer was Connor Lynde (Winston-Salem, N.C.), who claimed a tie for 29th with a score of 226 (+13). While his opening round did not build off the momentum from the Jeff Roope Invitational, Lynde turned in a satisfactory start after starting on five, never going more than one-over on a hole while posting a tandem of below-par pins to record a 75 (+4). His second trip was easily his best, as the freshman really caught fire to finish his round. Standing one-over through nine played, he would string together four birdies over his final seven holes and while a bogey nullified one of them, he ducked under par with a 70 (-1). Tuesday would end up being tough, though, going two-over thrice and one-above five times while only getting a single birdie to shoot an 81 (+10) that would end up getting thrown out anyway.
The final-two Quaker finishers, Charley Robinson (Raleigh, N.C.) and Holden Yakola (Mebane, N.C.), finished even in the solo standings, as they were two of the six men to finish in a tie for 40th with a score of 229 (+16). For Robinson, the open would be rough, never getting below par on a hole during his first trip that started on four, and the result was a 78 (+7) that would not count toward the team scoring. He finally got a birdie on his 19th tee of Monday to open his second trip but closed the front-nine going four-over on his final two holes. The back nine would be good for him, as a bogey on 13 was offset by birdies on 10 and 14 to go under-par on that nine before going bogey, birdie, bogey to close his day after the turn with a (+3) . Starting on 11 on Tuesday, Robinson had three bogeys and a double over his first-six holes, but settled in to have just one above-par pin the remainder of his round while birdieing on four to end up with a contributing score of a 77 (+6).
For Yakola, his Monday was the inverse of his freshman counterpart. While his initial trip was not at the lofty standard, he has set throughout his first fall, he avoided a blowup despite going one-over six times while also posting three birdies to net a 74 (+3) that was the second-best on team in the opening round. His second venture was not as fortuitous, opening on one with a double-bogey, getting back level with birdies on three and four, but then went two-over again on six and never recovered, ending with a 78 (+7). Yakola’s round on Tuesday started on 11 and he was three-over by 13 before settling for a while. Unfortunately, the front proved tough, offsetting a bogey on one with a birdie on four, then going one-over on four of the final five flags then going into the winter on a high-note with a birdie on 10, with that all coming out to a 77 (+6).
Closing the 2026 portion of the schedule with their top-two placings of the fall, Guilford builds momentum into the winter and will not hit the course for competition until the start of March 2027 when they attend the Savannah Invitational, hosted by Berry College on March 1-2 at The Club at Savannah Harbor.
#GoQuakes