TUNICA RESORTS, Miss. — The Wittenberg Tigers stepped out of the Great Lakes Region and into one of the best NCAA Division III fields of the 2009-10 season. When the dust had settled at Tunica National Golf Resort, Wittenberg had placed a more-than-respectable seventh in a loaded 20-team field.
For perspective, five of the six teams that finished ahead of Wittenberg in the Rhodes Fall Collegiate Classic were ranked among the top 19 in the National Golf Coaches Association preseason poll. After standing fifth after Day 1, the Tigers dropped back two spots to finish 19 strokes behind second-ranked Huntingdon in the final standings with a 600-stroke total.
Southwestern University, like Wittenberg unranked to start the season, placed second, followed by 19th-ranked Transylvania, 13th-ranked Rhodes and defending national champion and top-ranked Oglethorpe in a three-way tie for third. The Tigers finished four strokes back of 14th-ranked Emory, but they finished ahead of nationally ranked Texas-Tyler, Texas-Dallas, Texas Lutheran, Centre and Illinois Wesleyan.
Individually, sophomore Ricky Boerner (Hilliard, Ohio/Watterson) placed 22nd with a 148, followed by freshman Craig Osterbrock (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington) in 24th with a 149, junior Bleu George (Lancaster, Ohio/Fisher Catholic) in 38th with a 152, sophomore Jordan Millice (Cable, Ohio/Triad) in 38th with a 152 and sophomore Ben Smith (North Bend, Ohio/Elder) in 79th with a 161. Boerner's first-day 71 was the best individual round by a Wittenberg player.
The Tigers step back into North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) action Sept. 26 and 27 at Hiram. Wittenberg won the opening NCAC Championship Series event at nationally ranked Ohio Wesleyan Sept. 12-13.