Guilford’s youthful line-up surprises with victory

By STEVE WILLIAMS

 Guilford College coach Jack Jensen knew his 2003-04 Quakers were going to be young, but the squad is even younger than he had envisioned.

Dave Patterson, a three-year mainstay who finished second individually while leading Guilford to the 2001 NCAA Division III Championship, decided to take a year off although he is still in school.

Patterson plans to return for his final year of eligibility in 2004-05, but for now Jensen has had do a little bit of shuffling. He went with qualifying scores to determine his line-up for the fall season opener at Old North State Club Sept. 16-17 and what he got was two freshmen and three sophomores.

But with youth there is excitement and promise.

Guilford surprised everybody – including Jensen – by walking off with the title of the Johnny Palmer/Old North State Invitational.

“We have never won that tournament and we have gone down there with some really good teams,” Jensen said. “To go down there and win was totally unexpected.”

Sophomores Daniel Day (72-73) and Brant Stovall (74-72) placed fifth and sixth and freshman Joseph Poplin (77-73) was 17th while leading the Quakers’ effort. Another freshman, Colin Clark, ignited Guilford in the first round with a 70 and sophomore Chris Lowman came through with a needed 78 in the second round.

Guilford’s team total of 589 (293-296) placed first in a 22-team field that included some of the top Division II teams in the country. Eighth-ranked South Carolina-Aiken was second at 593.

“We’re unbelievably young,” Jensen said. “But this is tremendously exciting for me. They’ve got a great attitude and the atmosphere is so different from last year.”

The Quakers have plenty more tough tests to pass this fall before the excitement can be carried over to next spring. They will run up against old rivals Methodist, Greensboro and Averett several times along the way.

Methodist was ranked No. 1 in Division III, Greensboro No. 7, defending NCAA champion Averett No. 8 and Guilford No. 12 in the Sept. 24 Precept Coaches Poll.

Methodist, Greensboro and Averett will all be making their fall campaign debuts in Guilford territory at the Cardinal Country Club Sept. 29-30 in the Tom O’Briant Memorial.

UNC-W wins in Wisconsin

 Jason Widener’s first tournament as UNC-Wilmington’s new head coach is one he’ll not soon forget.

The Seahawks traveled to Verona, Wisconsin Sept. 12-14 and came away with the championship of the Badger Invitational. The win was over a quality field and it vaulted UNC-W to fourth in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.

Shooting 295-290 in the rain shortened event, the Seahawks ended with three-shot margin over Kansas State.

Although the national ranking means little with just one tournament to base it on, it was still an important win for the Seahawks who have high aspirations this season.

Although there’s a new coach, most of the team is the same one that made the NCAA regionals for the first time in school history a year ago and finished just 11 shots away from a national championship appearance.

Senior Derek Brown, a four-year starter from Walnut Cove, led UNC-W to the Badger title, shooting 73-70 and finishing second, three shots off the pace of Michigan State’s Craig Revell.

The Seahawks had two other players in the top ten: Marc-Andre Roy tied for sixth and Brian Joyce tied for ninth.

Tony DiBitetto, the fourth returnee, finished tied for 21st and sophomore Chris Colomb tied for 31st.

ACC Preview

 The ACC’s four-team contingent in the Golfweek/Ping Fall Preview gave a preview of what might be a balanced conference this season.

UCLA won the rain-shortened event Sept. 23-24 at The Cascades course at Hot Springs, Va., by one shot over Georgia Tech, 572-573. Clemson, the defending national champion, was third at 575.

Wake Forest and North Carolina both shot 582 and shared seventh place.

Sophomore Kevin Silva of North Carolina led the Tar Heels with a second-place finish, shooting 68-71, while Kyle Reifers, a Wake Forest soph, led the Deacons by shooting 69-72 and placing fifth.

All-Americans Bill Haas of Wake and Dustin Bray of UNC settled for 12th and 20th, respectively. Haas shot 71-72 and Bray 72-73.

 Catawba’s Harvey wins

 Catawba’s Steven Harvey, a junior from Salisbury, began his season with a victory in the Billy Joe Patton Intercollegiate at Mimosa Hills in Morganton.

Harvey fired rounds of 68 and 73, then defeated Aaron Wisener of Tusculum with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

Harvey’s play led the Indians to a fifth-place team finish in an event won by Tusculum.

Harvey came back a week later to post a 15th place finish in the Johnny Palmer event at Old North State Club, shooting 72-77.

Top-ten finishes

 Jason Harris of Clemmons, Nick Baker of Madison and Jack Ferguson of High Point posted top-six finishes in their fall tournament debuts.

Harris, an East Carolina senior, used a second-round 66 as the key to his fourth-place finish in the First Reliance Intercollegiate at the Country Club of South Carolina in Florence Sept. 22-23.

Harris sandwiched the 66 with 74 and 76 and he finished four shots out of first place. The round of 66 tied a school low round record shared by six other Pirates.

UNC-Greensboro sophomore Baker shot 71-69-71 in the Mid Pines Intercollegiate Sept. 8-9 in Southern Pines and claimed sixth place. He was nine shots off the pace.

Ferguson, a Clemson junior, notched a sixth-place finish in the Bank of Tennessee at the Ridges Tournament in Tennessee Sept. 13-14.

Ferguson shot 73-69-72.

Smith off to fast start

 Clint Smith, who signed with USC-Aiken out of High Point Central, earned his spot in the Pacers’ line-up.  He hasn’t disappointed with a pair of top-12 performances in his first three events that were low for UNCA. In the Mason Rudolph Collegiate Championship Sept. 22-23, he shot 69-76 to tie for 12th and in the Johnny Palmer/North State Invitational Sept. 16-17 he shot 69-79 to tie for 10th.