SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — For the first time in 12 years, Wittenberg University will play host to the North Coast Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Championship Tournament. For the first time ever, Windy Knoll Golf Club in Springfield will be the site, with play beginning with 8 a.m. tee times Friday, April 28.
The two-day tournament has some other new wrinkles as well, most notably a 54-hole format that is sure to test the mettle of the conference’s best and brightest linksmen. Players will play 27 holes on Friday and then return to the course for another 27 holes on Saturday, also starting at 8 a.m.
“This year’s field includes two of the top teams in the country in Allegheny and Ohio Wesleyan and a strong group of challengers from the rest of the member institution schools,” said Garnett Purnell, director of athletics and recreation and head men’s golf coach at Wittenberg. “With such outstanding competition on a championship-caliber golf course like Windy Knoll, I expect a tremendous tournament.”
Windy Knoll Golf Club, formerly a world-renowned horse farm, is a links-style course that opened in 2002. The par-71, 18-hole course plays 6,822 yards from the professional tees. Windy Knoll is co-owned by Dan D’Arrigo, class of 1978.
Ohio Wesleyan, which has captured the last four NCAC Tournament titles, is the No. 1 seed in this year’s event. Allegheny, which won six of the seven conference crowns between 1995 and 2001, is the No. 2 seed. Wittenberg is the third seed, followed by Wooster, Denison, Wabash, Kenyon, Hiram and Oberlin. Earlham does not field a varsity team in men’s golf.
Ohio Wesleyan has an NCAC-best 11 conference titles in men’s golf, followed closely by Allegheny with eight. The only other schools to break through for a championship are Wooster in the inaugural event in 1985 and Wittenberg in 1992. The Tigers captured the title that year at Quail Hollow Golf Course in an event hosted by Case Western Reserve. Wittenberg Head Coach Dave Maurer was named Coach of the Year as Dave Fisher placed second and Rick Lyons took third in the individual standings.
This year’s Wittenberg team is very young, with four freshmen joining senior captain Kris Schmelzer (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) in the starting lineup last week at the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational. The team leader in scoring average is freshman Garrett Smith (Powell, Ohio/Worthington Christian), who checks in with a 77.9 mark through 16 rounds this year.
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