GC's Hill Wins Playoff for Individual Medal
NELLYSFORD, Va. --- The final two players on the course decided 54 holes in the rain wasn't enough to complete play at the 2017 ODAC Men's Golf Championships. Guilford College duo Josh Hill and Kell Graham needed an extra hole to determine the individual champion after three days in the rain at Stoney Creek Golf Club at Wintergreen Resort, but there was no doubt about the team champion as the Quakers completed a wire-to-wire run to a 24-stroke win over second place Washington and Lee University.
Hill and Graham each fired rounds of 75 on Tuesday afternoon to finish at 2-over-par 218 and the top position in a field of 54 golfers. The two travelled back to the 18th tee for a playoff hole. Hill found the bottom of the cup with a par to best Graham's bogey to secure individual medalist honors.
The less than ideal conditions forced tournament officials to adjust the format from a standard tee time setup where all players begin each round on the first hole to a shotgun start with all players taking to the course at the same time on various holes. On Sunday, each participant completed a full 18 holes, but then continued on until 6:00 p.m. local time to attempt to get ahead of the weather forecasted for the area.
The strategy proved fruitful as heavier rains fell on Monday after the players completed the 10 or so holes that remained of their second rounds.
Round three featured rain throughout much of the early portion of the competition before letting up later in the day. The course, which featured competition on three separate nine-hole layouts, held the water extraordinarily well and remained playable throughout the entire 54-hole event.
RELATED: Team Results | Player Leaderboard
Each member of Guilford's five-man team shot 79 or better for all three rounds as the Quakers racked up an 889 (294-294-301) team total to hoist its 16th overall conference trophy. The win also secured the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship.
In addition to Hill (72-71-75) and Graham (73-70-75) locking for the top spot, Ty Palmer (74-76-77) chimed in fifth and Harrison Frye (77-78-74) turned in a seventh-place performance. Zach Evens (75-77-79) completed his first ODAC season in Greensboro just two strokes back of Frye in a tie for eighth.
Washington and Lee's Luke Farley (73-70-80) joined Graham in posting 2-under 70's in the second round as the best rounds of the tournament. Guilford twice fire team rounds of 294 over the first two days, which marked the lone sub-300 rounds during the three-day event.
Selections for the Division III Championships are slated for the evening of Monday, May 8. Go to www.ncaa.com that evening to see if Guilford will be joined by other ODAC teams or individuals in the national field.
For more information on ODAC men's golf, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com. Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and follow @odacathletics on Twitter and Instagram.