Quakers' Senior Wins Five-Man Playoff for Final Individual Spot
DESTIN, Fla. – Guilford College shot
305 in Wednesday's second round of the NCAA Division III Golf
Championships at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. The Quakers'
two-day score of 612 placed 17th in the 41-team
field and missed the 15-team cut line by six strokes. The remaining
15 squads will play 36 holes for the national title over the next
two days on the par-71, 6,854 The Raven Course.
Transylvania University and the University of Texas-Tyler share
first place with matching 36-hole scores of 579. First-round leader
Methodist University shot 295 Wednesday on The Raven Course and is
six strokes off the lead at 585. Illinois Wesleyan University
(294-295-589) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (299-296-595)
round out the top five. Top-ranked and defending national champion
Oglethorpe University shot 310-307-617 and did not make the cut,
which claimed four clubs ranked among the top 10 in the latest
Golfstat.com Head-to-Head Ratings. Guilford is ranked seventh in
the ratings.
Guilford senior Noah
Ratner won a thrilling five-man playoff to secure the last
of six individual spots reserved for low-scoring students of
non-advancing teams. Ratner, a two-time First Team PING
All-American, drained a 20-foot, sloping putt over a ridge for a
birdie on 18, which gave him a team-best round of 74. His 150 total
shares 39th place in the 210-man field with a group
of students that included Whitworth College's Stephen Plopper,
Skidmore College's Garrett Colgan, Milwaukee School of
Engineering's Miguel Diaz Garcia and Redlands College's John
McCord.
Plopper, who completed his second round early in the day, left the
course and did not return for the playoff, which left four students
competing for the final position in the 81-man individual field.
They headed to the par-four 18th hole of The Raven
Course, where Guilford and 19 other teams competed Wednesday. (The
remaining squads played the par-72, 6,636-yard The Links Course,
which Guilford and the others played Tuesday.)
Ratner hit the fairway off the tee, made it onto the green and
two-putted for par, as did Colgan. Diaz Garcia and McCord could not
keep pace and were eliminated after the first playoff hole. The
Guilford senior and Skidmore senior returned to 18 and again both
students made it to the green in two shots. Colgan's birdie out
lipped out and he tapped in for par. Ratner two-putted from eight
feet away and the pair headed back to the 18th tee
for one more hole in the fading daylight.
Hitting first, Colgan did not hit his tee shot full and his ball
landed in the water to the right of the fairway. Ratner put his
first shot in the fairway and his second onto the green. Colgan
took a one-stroke penalty, teed off again and reached the green in
four shots. Ratner two-putted for par, which clinched the
81st and final position.
Ratner's dramatic finish highlighted an otherwise disappointing day
for the Quakers. Despite ideal playing conditions and two evenly
matched courses, Guilford shot 21-over par for 36 holes. The
Quakers started Wednesday's round in 15th place and
made the turn tied for 13th. However, the team shot a
combined nine-over par over the final four holes and missed the cut
for the first time since the NCAA started trimming the field after
36 holes.
Guilford sophomore Travis
Tolbert shot 75-78-153 and placed
64th among individuals. Classmate Drew
Thompson fired a 76 Wednesday to finish with a two-round
154 in 69th place. Sophomore Nick
Shedd (78-81-159) shared 113th place and
junior Dallas
Page (84-77-161) was tied for 125th.
Ratner resumes his quest for All-America honors Thursday morning in
the day's first group, which is scheduled to tee off at 8:20 a.m.
The tournament concludes Friday. The third and fourth rounds will
be played on The Raven Course.
Guilford and the Greensboro Sports Commission will co-host the 2014
and 2015 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships at the
Grandover Resort in Greensboro.
--- This release is
courtesy of the Guilford College sports information department.
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www.guilfordquakers.com