Wake Forest Athletics
Deacs Look To Defend Title At The Schenkel
3/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
March 17, 2004
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WAKE FOREST MEN'S GOLF
NEWS & NOTES
COMING UP NEXT
March 20-21
The Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational
Forest Heights CC/Statesboro, GA
Par 72 * 6,945 yards
Live scoring available at Golfstat.com.
Participating Teams (15): Georgia Southern (host), Auburn, Augusta State, Clemson, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana State, North Carolina, NC State, Ohio State, South Carolina, Southern Cal, Tennessee, Wake Forest
Deacs Look To Defend Title At Schenkel
Wake Forest travels to Statesboro, Ga. this weekend for the 2004 Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational. Fifteen teams -- 11 of which are ranked in the top 30 -- are competing in the two-day, 54-hole event hosted by Georgia Southern at Forest Heights Country Club (par 72, 6,945 yards). Teams will play 36 holes on Saturday, March 20 with the final 18 on Sunday.
The Demon Deacons are the defending champions at this event, after winning the 2003 Schenkel with a 20-under par 844 last season. Wake Forest completed the sweep as former Deac Brent Wanner captured individual medalist honors with a career-best 207 (-9).
The Wake Forest Lineup
This weekend's lineup includes senior Bill Haas and sophomore Kyle Reifers, both of whom competed for the Deacs in their successful Schenkel run last season. Haas tied for second in 2003 with a six-under 210, while Reifers tied for 32nd at +2. Both Deacs are currently averaging under par, as Haas owns a 69.04 stroke average and Reifers sits at 71.96. The duo has played in every event for WFU so far this season.
Also competing in Statesboro this weekend are sophomore Alex Yates and freshmen Sean Moore and Chad Wilcox. Yates will see his first action of the spring after an elbow injury sidelined him for the Gen. Jim Hackler Invitational nearly two weeks ago. Wilcox, like Haas and Reifers, has played in every tournament this season, ranking third on the team with a 74.96 average. Moore got back on track last weekend, shooting 75-75-72 at Southern Highlands Collegiate after struggling in his previous event.
Deacs In The Rankings
Wake Forest is currently ranked 17th in the GolfWorld coaches poll (Feb. 20), 17th in the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) poll (March 11) and 19th in the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings (March 15). The Deacs have held pretty steady in the 'teens in all three sets of rankings this season after being ranked 7th by GolfWorld and 6th by the GCAA in the preseason. Sagarin, which also ranks strength of schedule, lists WFU's 2003-04 tournament slate as the 13th-toughest in the nation.
Individually speaking, Haas tops the charts at No. 1 in the Sagarin ratings, a position he has held all season long. Haas' rating of 67.79 is over one and a quarter points better than the No. 2 player, Matt Hendrix of Clemson. Haas' head-to-head record so far this season is 569-34-12.
Reifers, with some strong performances so far this spring, has climbed to an impressive 37th in the ratings and is eighth-highest rated ACC player. WFU, Clemson and Georgia Tech are the only three ACC teams to have more than one player ranked among the top 50.
Some Schenkel History
Wake Forest has a long and successful history at the Schenkel, having won six team titles as well as six individual crowns since the inception of the tournament in 1971. WFU and Oklahoma State own the most Schenkel with six apiece, while Wake lays claim to the most individual medalists in Schenkel history.
The 1986 Deacons set a tournament record (and a school record as well) with a team score of 39-under 825. That same year, Chris Kite set a Schenkel and WFU record with a tournament score of 21-under 195. Wake Forest's winning score of 20-under 844 in the 2003 Schenkel is the fifth-best tournament score in school history.
Statistically Speaking
Haas has counted 97.8 percent of his rounds toward team totals, finished among the top 20 in all eight events entered this season, and has shot equal or under par in over 82.6 percent of his rounds ... Reifers is juts one behind Haas with four top 10 finishes this season ... WFU boasts two of the top 10 stroke averages in the ACC, as Haas leads the league with 69.04 and Reifers is eighth at 71.96 ... as a team, Wake Forest has shot under par seven times, or 30 percent of its rounds.
Streaky Deac
Last week, Haas tied his own school record by carding his 13th consecutive round under par. The chance to break the record ended with a second-round 79 in the General Jim Hackler Invitational, his highest score of the season. Haas' most recent streak began with the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate in October, and his scoring average was 67.77 during that span. When he originally set the record last season, his stroke average during the streak was 70.00.
Haas may have started a new streak. In last week's Southern Highlands Collegiate, he posted three straight rounds under par (68-67-71) and carries that into the Schenkel this weekend.
Haas did break another of his own school records earlier this spring with a run of seven straight rounds in the 60s. That breaks his previous record of four straight, set in the spring of 2002.
