Wake Forest Athletics
Men's Golf Heads to NCAA Championships
5/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 22, 2003
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Demon Deacon Golf News & Notes
2003 NCAA Championships * Tuesday, May 27-Friday, May 30 * Karsten Creek GC * Stillwater, Okla.
Course
Karsten Creek Golf Club
Stillwater, Okla.
Par 72 * 7,301 Yards
Format
72 holes, 18 each day
WFU Tee Times
1st: beginning at 7:09 a.m.
2nd: beginning at 12:09 p.m.
3rd/4th: based on score
(WFU is paired with Kentucky and New Mexico for the first two rounds.)
Wake Forest Lineup
(stroke avg.)
Bill Haas (70.7)
Brent Wanner (71.7)
Chad Wilfong (73.5)
Chris Yoder (73.6)
Cortland Lowe (74.1)
In The Polls
Golfweek/Sagarin (May 12): 3rd
GCAA (May 7): 4th
GolfWorld (May 16): t-3rd
NCAA History
Wake Forest has won three NCAA championships (1974,'75, '86).... the Deacs are making their fourth consecutive and 43rd overall NCAA Tournament appearance since 1949 ... WFU placed 10th in its last Championship appearance in 2001.
Obtaining Results
Live scoring will be available at www.golfstatlive.com. Release/results will be posted on www.WakeForestSports.com each day.
Deacs Head To Stillwater for NCAA Championships
With a sixth-place finish at the NCAA East Regional, the Wake Forest men's golf team has earned a berth in the 2003 NCAA Championships. Ranked third nationally, the Demon Deacons' championship run continues Tuesday, May 27 with the first of four rounds at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
The top 10 finishers from each Regional (30 teams total) plus six individuals will compete in the Championships. Oklahoma State is serving as host of the event.
Wake Forest, which has won three NCAA Championships (1974-, '75, '86) is searching for its fourth title. The Deacs return to the tournament after a one-year hiatus. It is the 39th overall NCAA Championship appearance since 1949.
Deacs Once Again Enjoying Successful Season
Although the sixth-place at the East Regional halted a streak of nine straight top-five team finishes, the Demon Deacons have once again put together a very successful season. During that nine-event stretch, WFU won two events - the Tulane Invitational and The Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational - while finishing second at the Seminole Intercollegiate and ACC Championship.
In fact, Wake Forest has finished among the top four in 10 of 14 events in the 2002-03 season. After opening up the fall season with two straight tournament victories at The International Collegiate in Scotland and The Ridges in Tennessee, Wake has posted just one 11th-place finish (Carpet Capital Collegiate) and placed no lower than sixth in any other event.
A Look at the Deacon Lineup
Wake Forest will sport a veteran lineup of four seniors and a junior in this year's NCAA Championship. All five players have seen action in at least one national tournament, with two seniors making their third NCAA appearance.
Leading the way for the Deacs is junior Bill Haas (Greer, S.C.), the 2003 ACC Player of the Year and Ben Hogan Award finalist. Haas ranks third in the ACC in stroke average (70.74) and has won individual medalist honors three times this season - at The Ridges, Carpet Capital and Tulane Invitational and finished second at the ACC Championships. He's placed in the top 20 in 10 of 13 tournaments, including nine top-10 finishes. Nearly eighty percent of his rounds have been equal or under par this season, and he's counted 95 percent of his rounds (36 of 38) towards team scoring. Despite a final-round 76, Haas most recently placed 33rd at the NCAA East Regional with a two-over 218.
Senior Brent Wanner (Chatham, Mass.), who captured the individual title at The Schenkel in March, is second on the team (and ninth in the ACC) in stroke average (71.73) and has pocketed a team-best 11 top-20 finishes. Wanner was recently named All-ACC for the fourth straight year, becoming just the fourth Demon Deacon ever to reach that milestone. He will compete in his third NCAA Championship and owns the best NCAA finish among current team members, placing 24th as a freshman at the 2000 tournament. He was the Deacs' top finisher at the Regional last weekend, tying for 18th with a two-under 214.
Senior Chad Wilfong (Thomasville, N.C.), the 2001 N.C. Amateur Champion and 2002 runner-up, has played in 13 WFU events this season with six top-20 finishes. Also named to the All-ACC team, he is currently averaging 73.5 strokes per round, third on the team. This spring he recorded four rounds of 68 and set a new career low in a 54-hole event with a 206 at the Augusta State Invitational. He is making his second career NCAA Championship appearance.
Senior Chris Yoder (Ashland, Ohio) has really come on as of late, dropping his stroke average from 75.3 in the fall to 72.8 this spring. He has seen action in 11 events this season, compiling an overall stroke average of 73.6. Yoder posted a season-best 10th-place finish at The International Collegiate in Scotland in September and has pocketed four top-20 finishes, including an 11th at the ACC Championships and a 39th (+3) at the NCAA East Regional.
Rounding out the lineup is senior Cortland Lowe (Augusta, Ga.). Lowe has seen action in 11 events this season with a 74.1 stroke average. He also dropped his average from fall to spring, going from a 74.6 to a 73.7. Lowe's best finish so far this year was a 13th at The PING-Golfweek Preview. In fact, he was WFU's top finisher in that event, which was played at Karsten Creek, site of the 2003 NCAA Championships.
Senior Send-Off
The NCAA Championships will mark the final collegiate event for 80 percent of the Wake Forest lineup. Four seniors - Cortland Lowe, Brent Wanner, Chad Wilfong, and Chris Yoder - will close out their Demon Deacon careers.
This group can claim much credit for the resurgence of the WFU golf program over the last few years. As a group, this class has won eight tournaments, collected 19 individual top five finishes, placed fourth or better in each of their ACC Championship appearances, have been to four straight NCAA Regionals and earned a berth in three national championships. In addition, they've had Wake Forest consistently ranked among the top 10 over the last three seasons, including a ranking of No. 1 in the fall of 2001.
A Look At the Championship Field
Although the competition at the NCAA Championships will be tough, it should at least look familiar. Wake Forest has faced 26 of the other 29 NCAA participants at least once this season. The Deacs own a .500 or better record against all but five opponents - Augusta State (3-4), Clemson (1-7), Texas (0-4), UCLA (0-1) and UNLV (0-1-1). Texas and UCLA are the only teams WFU has not defeated head-to-head at least once this season. Overall, the Deacs own a .682 record (72-33-2) this year against NCAA participants.
WFU Golf - A Long and Successful NCAA History
Wake Forest men's golf has a long NCAA championship history, having captured three NCAA team titles (1974, '75 and '86). As a team, WFU has made 42 trips to the NCAAs, including a streak of 32 straight appearances from 1962 to '98. Included in that span is a streak of nine consecutive top 10 finishes, from 1962 to 72.
Additionally, four former Deacons have either been the NCAA medalist or pocketed the individual championship - Arnold Palmer (1949, '50), Curtis Strange (1974), Jay Haas (1975) and Gary Hallberg (1979).
A Look Back ... Last NCAA Championship Appearance (2001)
DURHAM, N.C. - The Wake Forest men's golf team completed the NCAA Championships in 10th place after closing out the third round with a nine-over par and scoring a seven-over in the final round on Saturday at the Duke University Golf Course.
The 10th-place finish marked the 24th time in 38 NCAA Championship appearances that Wake Forest has finished 10th or better. It also marks Wake's best NCAA finish since placing second in 1997. Wake Forest, which competed this week with one freshman, three sophomores and a junior, returns every player on its roster next season.
The University of Florida, which was tied with Arizona going into the final round, surged ahead to win the national title with at 26 under par, 18 strokes ahead of second-place Clemson. The Tigers passed Arizona in the closing holes, defeating the Wildcats by one stroke.
Wake Forest was in sixth place with a three-over par when the day began, picking up where it left off in the third round following Friday's rain delay. Several early birdies soon moved the Deacs up to fourth with a two-under par, but the team then struggled on the final holes of the round, losing 11 strokes to finish at nine-over par after three rounds.
Wake Forest entered the final round in eighth place, and lost a little more ground as three players finished the round at least five strokes over par. Sophomore Cortland Lowe posted his best score of the tournament, carding a team-best 69 in the final round.
Junior Jay Morgan posted the team's best overall finish, placing 30th overall with a three-over 291 (76-70-74-71). Sophomore Chris Yoder finished one stroke back, placing 34th with a 292 (74-68-73-77). Sophomore Brent Wanner placed 39th with a six-over 294 (70-72-74-78), Lowe was 46th at one stroke back (75-74-77-69), while freshman Bill Haas placed 66th with a 13-over 301 (75-72-76-78).
Florida's Nick Gilliam captured the NCAA individual crown by a three-stroke margin over his teammate, Camilo Benedetti and Augusta State's Jamie Elson, who tied for second. Gilliam finished the tournament with a 12-under 276 (69-70-66-71).
Wanner Named Finalist For Byron Nelson Award
WFU's Brent Wanner has been named one of five finalists for the 2003 Byron Nelson Award. The award is administered by The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) and presented by Cleveland Golf.
Candidates for the Nelson must be graduating seniors, and the selection committee equally considers a nominee's entire collegiate academic career, entire collegiate golf career and his character and integrity while in college. Particular consideration will be given to a nominee's good citizenship, as portrayed by Mr. Byron Nelson over the course of his life and golf career.
Joining Wanner on the list of finalists for the 2003 Nelson are Old Dominion's Geoff Harris, Troy Matteson of Georgia Tech, NC State's Justin Walters and Northwestern's Bjorn Widerstedt.
The recipient of the 2003 Nelson Award will be named at the GCAA Division I National Awards Banquet on the evening of May 30. Jason Allred of Pepperdine was the inaugural Nelson recipient last year.
The Rankings Report
Wake Forest is currently checking in at No. 3 in the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings. Just nine-hundredths of a point separate the Deacs (70.78) from second-place Florida (70.69). Clemson (69.67) is the nation's No. 1 team in the ratings, as it has been for nearly the entire season. Texas and Oklahoma are next in the rankings, both trailing WFU by nine-hundredths of a point (70.87).
WFU also ranks tied for third (with Augusta State) in the most recent GolfWorld poll, while the coaches' association ranks the Deacs fourth.
In the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings for individuals, Deacon Bill Haas ranks fourth nationally. Just nine-tenths of one ratings point separates the players ranked 1st-5th, including top-ranked Hunter Mahan of Oklahoma State (68.72), No. 2 D.J. Trahan of Clemson (69.17), No. 3 Troy Matteson of Georgia Tech (69.48), Haas at No. 4 (69.52) and No. 5 Jack Ferguson of Clemson (69.62).
Other ranked Deacs in the NCAA lineup include Brent Wanner at No. 26, Chad Wilfong at 111th, Chris Yoder at 196th and Cortland Lowe at 219th. Freshman Kyle Reifers, although he's not competing in the tournament, rates 208th.
Deacs Among Select Company In The ACC
The ACC always seems to be well-represented in the NCAA Men's Golf Tournament, and this year is no exception. Six league teams - Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State and Wake Forest - will represent the league at the NCAA Championships. Interestingly enough, despite the strength of the league, only one league school - Wake Forest in 1974, '75 and '86 - has won the national title. An ACC school has finished second in five of the last six years - WFU in 1997, Clemson in 1988 and 2001, and Georgia Tech in 2000 and '02.
Currently, three ACC schools - Clemson, Wake Forest and North Carolina - are ranked 1-3-10 in the country in the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings. Six ACC schools are also ranked among the nation's top 25 teams - in addition to the three teams in the top 10, Georgia Tech checks in at No. 13, NC State at No. 18, and Duke at No. 25.
Ten ACC players are currently ranked among the nation's top 45 golfers - including four of the top five (see chart on page 2 of this package).
Pomp & Circumstance
Two Demon Deacons are competing this week as graduates of Wake Forest University. Cortland Lowe and Brent Wanner participated in the school's commencement ceremony on Monday, May 19 with Lowe earning a degree in Sociology and Wanner in Mathematical Economics. Senior Chad Wilfong will finish up coursework this summer, while Chris Yoder will complete his degree this fall.
Streaky Deacs
* Bill Haas put together a streak of 13 straight rounds equal or under par from the second round of the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate in February to the second round of the ACC Championships last month. In records dating back to 1988, that stands as the longest streak of par or better rounds in school history. Haas also set two separate streaks of nine and eight rounds last year, which rank 2nd and 3rd all-time at WFU.
* As a team, Wake Forest put together a streak of 10 straight rounds under par in March and April of this season.
* Wake Forest has finished among the top four in seven of its last eight tournaments.
* WFU has also had at least one individual place among the top 20 in every tournament this season - 14 events.
* The Demon Deacons have placed fourth or better in each of the last four ACC championships.
Statistically Speaking
Collectively, nearly 44 percent (18-of-41) of Wake Forest team rounds this season have been equal or under par ... three Deacons - Brent Wanner (207), Chad Wilfong (206) and Chris Yoder (209) - have set new career-best tournament scores this season ... the Deacs are one of just two ACC teams averaging under par, as their 71.87 average is second behind Clemson (70.96) ... team members have combined for 36 top-20 finishes this season and 22 top-10 showings ... Wake Forest has compiled a won-loss record of 155-37-2 (.804) ... versus ACC competition, the Deacs own a record of 32-13 (.711).
Players Mentioned
