Ohio State Heads to Tennessee to Defend Memphis Intercollegiate Title – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Buckeyes look to build momentum in fall season after runner-up finish last time out
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s golf team will play in its third of four fall tournaments Oct. 19-20 at the sixth-annual Memphis Intercollegiate in Tennessee. The two-day, 54-hole event hosted by the University of Memphis will be held on the par-72, 7,259-yard South Course at the Colonial Country Club with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Monday and tee times beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
IF YOU’RE SCORING AT HOME
Live scoring for the Memphis Intercollegiate will be available on www.golfstat.com. Links to the tournament are available on the men’s golf schedule page on www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
TOURNAMENT BASICS
Name: Sixth-Annual Memphis Intercollegiate
Course: Colonial Country Club, South Course (par 72, 7,259 yards)
Field (16 teams):
Arkansas State
Arkansas-Little Rock
Denver
Iowa State
Louisville
Louisiana-Lafayette
Louisiana Tech
Maryland
Memphis
Mississippi State
Ohio State
Penn State
South Alabama
Southern Miss
Wisconsin
Xavier
Schedule:
Monday, Oct. 19 – 8 a.m. (36 holes, shotgun start)
Tuesday, Oct.20 – 8 a.m. (18 holes, tee times)
THE BUCKEYE FIVE
Representing Ohio State this week will be junior Bo Hoag, sophomores Alex Redfield, Dan Charen, and Michael Kinkopf and freshman Matthew Turner. This is the third event of the fall for Hoag and the second for Charen and Kinkopf. Redfield competed as an individual last time out, but this will be his first team event of the fall season and Turner’s first collegiate tournament of his career.
ALSO PLAYING …
Four Buckeyes will head west to Dayton, Ohio, to compete in the 36-hole UD Fall Invitational Oct. 19-20. Playing as individuals will be juniors Michael Cress and Brad Smith, redshirt-freshman Jamie Sindelar and freshman Zachery Sobel. It will be Cress’ first action of the fall while the other three have played in at least one event. Shotgun starts begin at 10 a.m. both Monday and Tuesday and the event will be played on the par 71, 6,824-yard NCR South Course.
REWIND TO 2008 MEMPHIS INTERCOLLEGIATE
Last year, Ohio State claimed its first tournament victory since 2004 by winning the Memphis Intercollegiate after the third round was rained out Oct. 6-7, 2008 in Memphis, Tenn. Then-senior Vaughn Snyder became the first Buckeye medalist since 2004 as well, winning the event with a total of 6-under 138. It was one of his two tournaments wins last season.
The Buckeyes topped the Memphis Intercollegiate leaderboard after 36 hole the first day with rounds of 299 and 289. Ohio State’s total of 12-over 588 led the 16-team field by three strokes. Tournament host Memphis placed second at 591, followed by Mississippi State at 594.
LAST TIME OUT AT 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.
AHEAD OF THE PACK
In his two tournaments of the 2009 fall season, junior Bo Hoag has finished in a tie for eighth place and a tie for 10th place. The Upper Arlington, Ohio, native has now compiled 14 top-10 finishes in his career at Ohio State. He also has finished in the top-five in four of these occasions.
THE COURSE AHEAD
The Colonial Country Club was founded in 1913 with the South Course added in 1972 after the club moved from its original East Memphis location to its current home in eastern Shelby County. The par 72, 7,259-yard course has a slope of 148 and a 77.2 rating with Bermuda grass fairways and rough and bent-grass greens. The PGA Tour’s St. Jude Classic was first held at Colonial, where it was played for 17 years from 1972-88.
DID YOU KNOW?
The South Course has seen several historic moments, including Lee Trevino’s victory in the first PGA Tour stop on the new layout in 1972. At the 1977 Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, U.S. President Gerald Ford registered an ace in the Pro-Am. That same year, Al Geiberger shot a second-round 59 on the South Course, a score that remains a PGA Tour single round record.
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.
TROPHY SHELF
As a sophomore, Bo Hoag collected a number of awards. The Upper Arlington, Ohio, native was named a PING All-America Honorable Mention selection by the Golf Coaches Association of America, becoming the first Buckeye to earn a spot on the team since Zach Doran in 2003. Hoag also was a PING All-Midwest Region honoree as well as a First Team All-Big Ten award winner.
Hoag led the Buckeyes in 2008-09 with a stroke average of 72.59 while playing in all 37 rounds. Hoag posted 15 rounds of even-par or below with eight top-10 finishes, including six in the last eight events.
BUCKEYE BREAKDOWN
The 2009-10 Buckeye roster breaks down a number of ways:
* 7 different states – Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, Arizona, California and Florida
* 3 different countries – United States, Spain and UAE
* 3 seniors, 4 juniors, 4 sophomores, 2 redshirt freshmen and 3 freshmen
* 5 Ohio cities – Cambridge, Columbus, Dublin, Hilliard and Upper Arlington
UP NEXT
Ohio State wraps up its fall season at the Corde Valle Collegiate, Nov. 9-11 in San Martin, Calif.
