Springfield, Ohio – Jeff Roope has led Wittenberg University’s men’s and women’s golf teams to unprecedented levels of success in nine years as head coach. After annually leading the Tigers to succeed on a national stage, Roope will move to a global stage as he takes the reins of Team USA for the TOYOTA Junior Golf World Cup June 14-17 in Toyota City, Japan.
The TOYOTA Junior Golf World Cup 2016 is the world’s only junior golf competition in which national teams, featuring winners of regional qualifiers held across six continents, compete for the title of world champion. Team USA, which in 2016 includes Austin Eckroat from Edmond, Okla., Will Thomson from Pittsford, NY, Matthew Wolff from Agoura Hills, Calif., and Norman Xiong from San Diego, Calif., is among 60 teams entered in the four-round event at Chuyko Golf Club’s Ishino Course.
Team USA - which is supported by Nike Golf - has won the tournament five times since its inception in 1992. The team’s last title came in 2005, however, and most recently Team USA finished fourth in 2015.
“I am extremely honored to have been selected to coach the Junior World Cup team for the United States,” Roope said in a news release distributed by the Golf Coaches Association of America. “The chance to represent my country in such a competition is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I could not be more excited.
“The opportunity to coach and collaborate with some of the best young talent in the United States is equally unique and a chance I’m looking forward to as much as the competition. What an amazing year to be part of international competition! With the Olympics and Ryder Cup being played in 2016, the interest in golf around the world might never be higher. I'm so excited to just play a small part in growing the game around the globe.”
Roope was named head coach of both the Tiger men’s and women’s golf programs in 2007. Within three years, he had the Tiger men atop the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), the start of a run of six straight league championships heading into the 2016 NCAC Championship Series April 23-May 1. He has led the Tiger men to six straight NCAA Division III Tournaments, including four top-10 finishes, culminating in a program-best third-place performance in 2015.
The Tiger women have taken up residence in the top 25 national rankings since 2010, but the breakthrough came in 2015, when the Tigers won their first NCAC championship and nearly pulled off a stunning NCAA Division III Tournament victory as well. Appearing in the national event for the first time in program history, the Tiger women earned a runner-up finish as Macy Hubbard took second place in the final standings, the best individual performance ever by a Wittenberg golfer in a NCAA competition.
Before he heads across the Pacific Ocean to lead Team USA, Roope has plenty of work left to do in 2015-16 with the Tigers. Both teams head into the NCAC Championship Series as the favorite, as both are ranked in the top five nationally in the latest GolfStat statistical rankings. The Tiger men have finished in the top five in all nine tournaments during the campaign, including a pair of first-place finishes, and the Tiger women also have all top-five performances, starting with four tournament victories in a row during the fall portion of the season.
“I am honored to represent Wittenberg at an international golf event,” said Roope, a 1993 graduate of Bowling Green State University. “I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the student-athletes who have played for me at Wittenberg. It is their success and dedication that has afforded me this opportunity.”
Written By: Ryan Maurer