Men's Golf Tourney Preview
Complete Release | Golf Coaches Assn. of America Poll
Paul Weston, Swarthmore
Around the Conference
McDaniel has the low team stroke average entering the Centennial championship at 312.43 – nearly two strokes better than Franklin & Marshall. The Diplomats are 2-1-1 against the Green Terror in head-to-head competition and the teams tied at the Falcon Classic on Tuesday.
Swarthmore freshman Andrew Park (Korea / Seoul Foreign) holds the lowest individual average at 76.47 – just a shade ahead of McDaniel senior Greg Bowman (Catonsville, MD / Catonsville) and Franklin & Marshall senior Cameron Warner (Richmond, VA / St. Christopher's School) at 76.84 and 76.88, respectively. The trio has combined for seven tournament victories in 2011-12.
Diplomat freshman Robert Svigals (Villanova, PA / Episcopal Academy) won the Falcon Classic on Tuesday at Blue Ridge CC – site of this weekend's tournament – with a 76. Bowman took medalist honors at Blue Ridge in March at the Dickinson Invitational with a 74.
Ursinus sophomore Chris McCann (Sandy Hook, CT / Newtown) won three tourneys in a row at Swarthmore, Ursinus and Alvernia, averaging 75.0 strokes in the three wins.
Championship Facts
Four players share the Conference record for low round in the championship at 71 – Gettysburg's Peter Ruymann (2011), Muhlenberg's Zachary Oyer (2011), Dickinson's Tucker Joyce (2009) and Swarthmore's Matt Kaufman (2000). Joyce and Kaufman's total was 1-under-par, while Ruymann and Oyer were 1-over-par.
Franklin & Marshall's Nick Leigh holds the three-round record at 4-over-par 220 at Eagle's Landing GC in 2003, giving him a CC-record 11-stroke victory.
Two championships were decided in playoffs – 2000 between Gettysburg's Mike McLaughin and Ursinus' Dave Fisher, and 2010 between McDaniel's Paul Kovalcheck and F&M's Cameron Warner. McLaughlin and Kovalcheck prevailed.
McDaniel is the defending champion. The Green Terror has a Conference-best six championships, followed by Franklin & Marshall (4), Muhlenberg (4), Gettysburg (3) and Dickinson (1).
Franklin & Marshall senior Cameron Warner and Swarthmore senior Paul Weston have the opportunity to become the fifth and sixth players to earn first-team All-Centennial honors three times by finishing in the top five at the championship. The last player to join the elite club was Matt Katz of Muhlenberg in 2004.
Only 15 freshman and four since 2004 have earned first-team All-Centennial honors by finishing first at the Conference championship. Three rookies have captured medalist honors – Brian Barry of McDaniel (1994), Carson Crooms of Franklin & Marshall (2004) and Tucker Joyce of Dickinson (2009).
76.84 - Greg Bowman, McDaniel, Sr.
76.88 - Cameron Warner, Franklin & Marshall, Sr.
77.79 - James Lillie, McDaniel, Fr.
78.12 - Paul Weston, Swarthmore, Sr.
312.43 - McDaniel
314.41 - Franklin & Marshall
316.06 - Swarthmore
321.39 - Gettysburg
322.67 - Dickinson
323.14 - Muhlenberg
335.92 - Ursinus
