Scots Aiming for Top-Three Finish at NCAC Championships

The College of Wooster golfers are eyeing a top-three finish at this weekend’s season-ending North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. The tourney, a 54-hole event over Saturday and Sunday, May 3-4, at the Granville Golf Course in Granville, Ohio, will be the fourth of four NCAC events, which determine the league’s final standings for the 2007-08 season. The champion receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Div. III Championships. The Fighting Scots enter the NCACs as one of three teams vying for third-place, with Denison University currently leading that pack at 1856 strokes. Wooster is fourth with 1867, followed by Wittenberg University (1874), while Ohio Wesleyan University (1782) possesses a 10-stroke lead over Allegheny College (1792) in the race for the top spot. The other four schools are well behind. The Scots’ lineup will consist of Pat Lynch (Naperville, Ill. / Marmion Academy), Jason Greenwald (North Bethesda, Md. / Sherwood), Jim Ipema (Western Springs, Ill. / Lyons Township), Tim Sullivan (Bethel Park, Pa. / Seton-LaSalle), and Erik Shoger (Cleveland Hts., Ohio / Cleveland Heights).

Last Event: On April 19-20, Wooster translated home-course advantage into its top finish of the spring, placing fifth among a field of 12 at the Nye Intercollegiate, held at the par-72, 6,455-yard Wooster Country Club. The Scots were fourth after the first day with a 313, but despite shooting a similar second score of 316 (629 total), slipped back one spot, while No. 9 ranked Ohio Wesleyan won the title via rounds of 303 and 300 (603 total).

Wooster was paced by Pat Lynch (Naperville, Ill. / Marmion Academy), who was in the 70s both days. He started with a 77 and then shaved three strokes off of that for a 74, including going two-under on the front nine, all of which resulted in a sixth-place individual finish (151). Also for the Scots, Jason Greenwald’s (North Bethesda, Md. / Sherwood) tie for 17th-place was keyed by an opening day 75, part of a 157 total, while Jim Ipema (Western Springs, Ill. / Lyons Township), Erik Shoger (Cleveland Hts., Ohio / Cleveland Heights), and Tim Sullivan (Bethel Park, Pa. / Seton-LaSalle) were just two strokes apart, finishing in a tie for 31st (80-81), alone in 34th-place (83-79), and in a tie for 35th (81-82), respectively.

Outside of the starting lineup, Wooster had four others competing as individuals. That group was highlighted by Sean Glaser’s (McMurray, Pa. / Peters Township) 77, which occurred over the first 18.