The Guilford College Men’s golf team shot one-overpar in their close triumph at the Green Turtle Invitational on Sept. 10. It was shortened from a two day, 36-hole tournament to a one day, 18-hole due to unrelenting rain.

Previous head coach Justin Tereshko led the Quakers in the last two seasons to a list of accolades. The Quakers finished in the top 10 rankings of Division III golf on Golfstat and NCAA leaderboards, while also placing in the top 5 twice in the NCAA Championships. However, after taking a job as assistant head golf coach at the University of Louisville, Tereshko left the seat vacant for new head coach Adam Crawford.

Crawford hails from Ferrum College and has a thorough knowledge of many of Guilford’s golfers. He competed against Guilford in the West Cup tournament in 2017 in La Verne, California during his time with the Ferrum Panthers. Crawford says the major difference between him and Tereshko is the style of coaching.

“(Tereshko and I) are both laid back and know when it is time to be competitive,” said Crawford. “He did a very good job recruiting and bringing these guys in. If you want to be successful, you have to be able to recruit.”

This same mentality of practicing and being competitive has already transferred into his athletes. Sophomore Terence Schmutz, who did not play in the one-day tournament on Sept. 10, says that with the help of senior Joshua Hill, this team has evolved and are more hungry than last year for a national championship.

“This year, our senior and team captain, Josh, has taken a lot of responsibility,” said Schmutz. “He has been pushing us because, I feel, that he knows this is his last chance to win a national championship. I also think we all want to work for each other, so we can all get there. Golf isn’t like many other sports here, its five guys from a school competing against other schools. Everyone is pushed by that to beat each other because everyone likes that competitive drive.”

Sophomore Jack Lee says that this competitive drive makes qualifying for tournaments more difficult, which is something he looks forward to every week.

“We all view our qualifying as a tournament which makes things extremely competitive between us,” said Lee. “We consider our qualifying more difficult than the tournaments which helps all of us push each other to improve our performance.”

Hill led his team in the tournament, finishing three under par and sharing overall first place medalist honors with Bridgewater College’s first-year A.J. Stouffer. Hill managed to fix an early round first hole bogey by scrapping together multiple birdies to help his team. He says this victory puts on display the hard work the golf team has been doing thus far into the season.

“Everyone (on) this team hates losing,” says Hill. “It’s pretty easy to stay motivated and work hard. There is no greater feeling than having your hard work pay off with a big win. Coach Crawford is moving the program in the right direction and has done a great job getting us ready every week.”

Hill and his teammates were confident entering the tournament, knowing that they should win. However, they are also confident in their abilities and strongly assure to each other that this is one step in the right direction. Schmutz says that he knows the team’s strength and pace and that it will only be a matter of time before they get back to that.

“It is a good start and we shot overall one-over-par,” said Schmutz. “However, at other tournaments with better teams, that will not get the job done. We all realize that even though we have a nice ranking and all play golf well, we have a long way to go.”

Guilford Golf continues their trek towards the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championships with a busy fall schedule. Their next tournament is on Oct. 1, where they travel to Columbus, Ohio for the Gordin Collegiate Classic.