With the ODAC tournament this weekend, the Guilford golf team looks like it will be one of the teams to beat.Guilford’s golf team has already broken three records this year, the individual 18-hole score, the individual 36-hole score and the team 18-hole score. They even look like they have the opportunity to break the single-season lowest-stroke average in the history of the school.
Guilford’s team has finished among the top 10 in all of its tournaments and is ranked second in the nation after Methodist College in two separate surveys, golfstate.com and the official poll for the College Golf Association, for NCAA Division III schools.
Because Guilford is a Division III school, students are not awarded scholarships to play for sports teams. Guilford’s student athletes “come here for love of the game,” said Sports Information Director Dave Walters.
“Most of the student athletes that come to Guilford realize that the school provides the opportunities to play in their respected sports at a professional level . they really enjoy the sport and they want to apply themselves to that and receiving a good education,” continued Walters.
It is not only love of the game that makes a player great, but also skill. There has been one player, Joe Poplin, who has broken or tied three records this season and has within his grasp the record for single season lowest stroke average in the history of the school.
Poplin broke the lowest score for one round with a 62 compared to the 66 of last year, the 2-round score of 133 compared to last year’s 137 and tied the 3-round game at 207 that was set by Bill Brooks back in 1983.
Jack Jensen, the multi-award winning golf coach of Guilford College for 31 seasons, said that if Poplin keeps his average below 144, he has a good shot of breaking Guilford’s lowest-stroke average. However, Poplin isn’t the only outstanding member on the team.
First-year Peter Latimer, tournament winner at Emory Springs, expresses his team’s desire to win.
“I believe that most of the guys on the team would be disappointed with second place. We have worked all year for this, and we want to win.”
As of the last conference game played by Guilford, they were ranked second nationally, right behind Methodist College. With one more conference game to go, Jensen, hedging his bets, said, “that we should end up at least fifth in the nation.”
The real question is whether or not the team can make it to the championship on April 23 in Amherst, Virginia. They first have to win the ODAC tournament on April 21-23 to qualify for the nationals, and there are factors that could get in their way.
The first is Methodist College, which is Guilford’s biggest rival at this point. Inclement weather is the second.
“Methodist is the team to beat, but we have an advantage. We are one of the few teams that have beaten them all season. There is something to be said about that,” said Jensen.
“And also we have been really lucky this season to have had such good weather and good playing conditions, but next week it is calling for rain. If that happens, who knows what direction the day might take?