Ohio State Looks To Continue Strong Fall Play at Landfall Tradition – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Buckeyes have placed fourth in two previous fall tournaments
COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio State men’s golf team travels to Wilmington, N.C., for their third tournament of the fall season, competing in the Landfall Tradition, Oct. 26-28. The event, hosted by the UNC-Wilmington, is played at the par 72, 7,130-yard Country Club of Landfall on the Jack Nicklaus Course. This is the second-consecutive season Ohio State has played in the tournament, finishing fourth in 2006 with two Buckeyes in the Top 10 of the individual standings. The Buckeye women’s golf team also will be playing in the Landfall Tradition women’s tournament.
KEEPING TRACK
Live scoring for the entire event is available through golfstat.com, with links to the site on the Ohio State men’s golf schedule at ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
TOURNAMENT BASICS
Name: Sixth-Annual Landfall Tradition
Course: Country Club of Landfall, Jack Nicklaus Course (Par 72, 7,130 yards)
Field: 12 teams UNC-Wilmington, Georgia Southern, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio State, Purdue, Tulsa, Virginia, VCU, Virginia Tech, William & Mary, Xavier
Schedule:
Friday, Oct. 26: 18 holes (8:17 a.m. off No. 1 and No. 10)
Saturday Oct. 27: 18 holes (8:17 a.m. off No. 1 and No. 10)
Sunday, Oct. 28: 18 holes (8:17 a.m. off No. 1 and No. 10)
THE BUCKEYE LINEUP
The Buckeye roster will be the same that traveled to Durham, N.C., three weeks ago. Competing for Ohio State at the Landfall Tradition are seniors Zach Sebert and Kyle Coconis, junior Dan Rush, sophomore Patrick Simard and freshman Bo Hoag. The combination of upperclassmen and young players came home with a fourth-place finish at the Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic.
LANDFALL TRADITION HISTORY
Since its inception in 2002, the Landfall Tradition has been one of the premier college golf tournaments each fall, hosting many of the top teams in the nation for both men’s and women’s golf. The tournament has been played at the Jack Nicklaus Course the past four years. In 2002, it was played at the Pete Dye Course.
THE COURSE AHEAD
The par 72 Country Club of Landfall boasts 45 holes of golf situated on two championship courses, the 18-hole Pete Dye Course and the 27-hole Jack Nicklaus Course. The three nines on the Nicklaus Course are named Marsh, Ocean, and Pines since each offers uniquely different terrain. Both fairway and rough are Bermuda grass, and all greens are a mixture of the newest Bent grasses. The tournament will be played on the Marsh and Ocean nines.
CONTINUED SUCCESS
Ohio State continued their stellar play this fall in the Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic with another fourth-place finish. The tournament, played at the Duke University Golf Course, Oct. 7-8, saw the Buckeyes shoot rounds of 285-281-292 to finish at 6-under and tied for fourth with Virginia Tech. Notre Dame finished one stroke ahead of both schools at 7-under. Three Buckeyes finished in the Top 25, with Patrick Simard leading the charge at a tie for fourth. Simard collected his lowest finish and stroke total at 7-under-par. Kyle Coconis finished tied for 15th at 2-under-par and Bo Hoag was tied for 25th at 2-over. Zach Sebert placed tied for 38th with a 220 total and Dan Rush finished in 73rd with 228.
START OF SOMETHING GOOD?
Freshman Bo Hoag has continued his success, placing in the Top 25 in both tournaments so far as a collegian. After capturing the team’s Jack Nicklaus Low Fall Qualifier award with a stroke average of 70.1, the native of Upper Arlington, Ohio opened his collegiate career at the William H. Tucker Invitational (Sept. 14-15) with a first round of 67 and finished the event tied for ninth. The following tournament, the Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic, Hoag finished tied to 25th.
ABOVE AVERAGE
Three Buckeyes have a stroke average below 73 this fall. After playing in all six rounds, freshman Bo Hoag has an average of 72.3 and senior Kyle Coconis is at 72.5. Sophomore Patrick Simard played in his first event this fall at the Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic and averaged 69.7 over those three rounds.
LEADING THE WAY
Senior men’s golfers Zach Sebert and Kyle Coconis were named the Ohio State team captains for the 2007-08 season, head coach Jim Brown announced Oct. 3. It is the first captain honor for both Buckeyes. Sebert, from Grove City, Ohio, played in six tournaments in 2006-07 compiling a stroke average of 76.5. While playing this summer, Sebert won the Mid-Ohio Championship and qualified for the U.S. Amateur. Sebert, an NCAA Division III All-American at Otterbein, finished tied for 38th at the Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic.
Coconis, a fifth-year senior from Zanesville, Ohio, followed up a tie for 19th in the season-opening William H. Tucker Invitational with a tie for 15th at the Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic. He played in one tournament last season, finishing in a tie for 53rd at the Kepler Intercollegiate hosted by Ohio State.
TEAMING UP
The 2007-08 roster boasts two pairs of Ohio high school teammates that will continue to play together wearing Scarlet and Gray. Bo Hoag and Tanner Murphy both played for Upper Arlington High School and led it to the 2007 Ohio High School State Championship. The duo of Michael Cress and Evan Wood helped Dublin Jerome High School win state championships in 2004 and 2005. All four freshmen received all-state honors in their high school careers.
SUMMER SUCCESS
Senior Zach Sebert turned in some stellar summer performances and is looking to carry that into the 2007-08 season. He fired rounds of 66-62 to win the Mid-Ohio Invitational in June. Along with the victory, Sebert broke the tournament scoring record by five stokes. In August, he also qualified for the 107th U.S. Amateur held in San Francisco. While he did not advance past stroke play, Sebert, who has played golf for just five years, achieved a major milestone in his young golfing career.
AT THE HELM
Ohio State head coach Jim Brown is in his 35th season at the helm of the Buckeyes. Brown, a 1966 Ohio State graduate, has established his alma mater as one of the top programs in college golf. Under his guidance, the Buckeyes have won 17 Big Ten championships and made 30 NCAA appearances with 11 NCAA Top-10 finishes and an NCAA championship in 1979. Overall, Ohio State has won 157 tournaments under Brown and he has coached 51 All-America selections.
JOINING THE BUCKEYES
Brad Sparling has been named the Ohio State men’s golf associate head coach, announced Sept. 12. Sparling joined the Buckeyes after three years with the Duke golf teams, including the interim men’s golf head coach in 2007 when he guided them to 13th place at the NCAA championships. He was the associate head coach of the Blue Devils the season before that. Prior to his promotion to associate head coach in 2006, he served as the assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s golf teams.
During Sparling’s time with the Blue Devils, the women’s team won two NCAA championships as well as two Atlantic Coast Conference championships and the men’s team won its first ACC championship since 1966. The men’s team also concluded two of its seasons ranked in the Top 10 nationally and finished tied for eighth at the NCAA championships in 2005 and 12th in 2006.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes will conclude their fall season Nov. 5-7 when they compete in the Pacific Invitational at the Brookside Country Club in Stockton, Calif.
