COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State men's golf team will play in the final tournament of the fall season Nov.9-11 as they travel to San Martin, Calif. to take part in the Gifford Collegiate Championship at CordeValle. The three-day, 54-hole tournament will take place at the par-72, 7,169 yard CordeValle Country Club. The event begins at 8:30 a.m. (PT) each morning with tee times off hole Nos. 1 and 10.
IF YOU CAN'T MAKE IT TO CALIFORNIA...
Live scoring for the Gifford Collegiate Championship at CordeValle will be available online at www.golfstat.com. Links to livescoring are on the men's golf schedule page on OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
TOURNAMENT BASICS
Name: Gifford Collegiate Championship at CordeValle
Course: CordeValle Country Club (par 72, 7,169 yards)
Field (14 teams):
Arizona
Augusta State
Charlotte
Colorado
Duke
Lamar
Long Beach State
Northwestern
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Schedule:
Monday, Nov. 9 - 8:30 a.m. (PT), tee times off Nos. 1 and 10
Tuesday, Nov. 10 - 8:30 a.m. (PT), tee times off Nos. 1 and 10
Wednesday, Nov. 11 - 8:30 a.m. (PT), tee times off Nos. 1 and 10
THE BUCKEYE SIX
The Clifford Collegiate Championship at CordeValle is a 6-count-5 event. Leading the Buckeyes' charge will be juniors Bo Hoag and Michael Cress, senior Brad Wright, redshirt-freshman Jamie Sindelar and rookies Johnny Henno and Matthew Turner.
This is the fourth event of the fall for Hoag and the third for Wright. Turner will be making his second-career start and Cress will be making his first team appearance of the fall. Sindelar and Henno are playing in the first collegiate team events of their career.
AGAINST THE FIELD
The Buckeyes have faced just two of the teams in the CordeValle field thus far in the season, having defeated Colorado and Lamar. Northwestern will be the fourth Big Ten team Ohio State has faced, having already topped Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin.
DID YOU KNOW?
The fifth annual CordeValle Collegiate Golf Championship has been re-named the "Gifford Collegiate Championship at CordeValle", to honor its long time sponsor and Bay Area philanthropist Jack Gifford. Gifford who passed away unexpectedly in January and his wife Rhodine have been long time supporters of collegiate sports and have been major contributors to UCLA's athletic programs.
BEFORE THEY BEGIN
The Gifford Collegiate Championship at CordeValle begins with the "Gifford Showcase/College Am" event Sunday where 30 Bay Area amateur golfers will be paired with the number one golfer and head coach from each of the college teams.
ABOUT THE COURSE
CordeValle, a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. designed golf course, was named California's No. 1 golf destination by CondeNast Traveler's June 2007 Readers' Poll and was ranked the No. 13 golf resort in North America, the Caribbean and Atlantic, Ireland and Scotland. CordeValle was also ranked in the top three in the 2007-08 issue of Zagat Guide's America's Top Golf Courses.
HOAG TO PLAY IN ALL-AMERICA EVENT
The field has been set for the 35th annual Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic and it includes Ohio State junior Bo Hoag, a 2009 Honorable Mention All-America and First Team All-Big Ten selection. The tournament, which is hosted by the Sun Bowl Association, is slated for Nov. 22-24 at the par-71, 6,837-yard El Paso Country Club.
In all, the field includes 32 All-Americans from the previous year, making it the largest field in the 35-year existence of the event. In 2005, 31 players competed in the Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic.
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS
Junior Bo Hoag leads the team with a 73.67 stroke average with senior Brad Wright behind him with a 74.88 mark. Hoag is the lone Buckeye to have played in all nine fall rounds and also has carded the lowest round of the season with a 68.
The Buckeyes have finished strong in their last two final rounds, closing out the Fighting Irish Gridiron Classic and Memphis Intercollegiate with team scores of 3-over.
LAST TIME OUT AT THE MEMPHIS INTERCOLLEGIATE
The Buckeyes catapulted seven spots in the final two rounds to finish in sixth place at the sixth-annual Memphis Intercollegiate Golf Classic Oct 19-20 in Memphis, Tenn. Ohio State's team score of 905 put them in sixth in the 16-team field and one stroke ahead of Big Ten rival Wisconsin and tournament host Memphis.
The tournament was held on the part 72, 7,259 yard South Course at the Colonial Country Club in Memphis. Ohio State was led by freshman Matthew Turner who fired a 9-over 225 for the 54-hole event. Junior Bo Hoag followed closely behind with a 226 while Alex Redfield carded an 11-over 227. Rounding out the Buckeye lineup were Michael Kinkopf and Dan Charen, who fired totals of 229 and 248, respectively.
REWIND TO THE GRIDIRON CLASSIC
Ohio State was runner-up Oct. 5-6 in its second tournament of the fall season, the fourth-annual Fighting Irish Gridiron Classic in South Bend, Ind. The Buckeyes took second in the 15-team field with a score of 874 (+34) just four strokes behind winner and event host Notre Dame.
Ohio State concluded the 54-hole event with the lowest team score of the tournament at 3-over 283 on the par 70, 7,023-yard Warren Golf Course. The Buckeyes shaved 20 strokes off of their second round performance.
The Buckeyes were led by sophomore Dan Charen, who finished in a tie for second. Charen, playing in his first collegiate golf tournament, paced the Buckeyes at 4-over par (214).
ADAMS CUP RECAP
The Buckeyes opened their season at the Adams Cup of Newport/Cleveland Golf Classic in Newport, R.I., Sept 21-22 and finished in fourth place out of the 17-team field. Ohio State had a 54-hole score of 887 (+23), only three strokes behind third-place New Mexico.
The Buckeyes were lead by Bo Hoag, who posted a team-best eighth place finish. The junior from Upper Arlington tallied three-consecutive rounds of 73 to finish with a 3-over 219. Junior Brad Smith finished in a tie for 16th at 6-over 222 with teammate Brad Wright. Rounding out the Buckeye lineup were sophomore Michael Kinkopf in a tie for 37th at 228 and senior David Becher who tied for 41st with a total of 229.
A NEW ERA
For the first time in 37 years, Ohio State will have a new head coach at the reigns in Donnie Darr. He was named coach of the Buckeyes June 13 following a national search and returned to his home state after serving as assistant coach at national powerhouse Oklahoma State the three previous seasons.
While with the Cowboys, the team extended their record of consecutive NCAA Championship appearances to 63, while placing fourth in 2008 and advancing to the match play portion of the event this season after leading the field in stroke play.
Prior to Oklahoma State, Darr gained experience as the head coach at the University of Akron in 2005-06. During his season with the Zips, he began to rebuild the program and ended the team's nine-year tournament victory drought.
A 1996 Kent State graduate, Darr began his coaching career at his alma mater. He was the assistant coach for the men's and women's golf teams in 2001-02, and was promoted to associate head coach of both programs from 2002-04. Darr also served as assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma during the 2004-05 season.
ALSO NEW TO THE CREW
In July, Donnie Darr added Chris Yoder as his assistant coach. Yoder came to the Buckeyes after six years at his alma mater, Wake Forest. A native of Ashland, Ohio, he assisted under legendary coach Jerry Haas and during his time with the Demon Deacons, he helped haul in some of the most talented recruits in the country, coaching three future PGA Tour players in Bill Haas, Kyle Reifers and Webb Simpson. Wake Forest qualified for five-consecutive NCAA Championships, including a third-place finish in 2006 and two individual runners-up.
The Demon Deacons won nine tournaments the past six seasons, including three victories at the NCAA regional. In Yoder's six seasons, Wake Forest had seven All-Americans, 11 All-ACC selections, two ACC Players of the Year, one ACC Rookie of the Year and an individual champion at the ACC tournament.
Yoder played for the Demon Deacons and graduated with a degree in mathematics in 2003. He was a four-year letter winner, participated in all four ACC Tournaments and helped lead the team to three appearances at the NCAA championships.
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