COLUMBUS, Ohio --- Guilford College won
its first men's golf tournament of the season and Quakers'
sophomore Ty
Palmer 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 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.
--- This release is
courtesy of the Guilford College sports information department.
---
www.guilfordquakers.com