“This has been my most rewarding victory in four years as head coach.”
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Dave Reinhardt knows how big of an accomplishment his team pulled off Tuesday.
Entering the final round of the 2024 Golfweek October Classic trailing Emory by eight shots, Washington-St. Louis had no margin for error if it wanted to come from behind and steal the team title at arguably the strongest event in all of Division III golf.
When the final putt dropped on the 18th hole at Sandestin Resort’s Links Course, Reinhardt told his player Sydney Kuo they had won, and she screamed in celebration and sprinted off the green to join her teammates, who were doing the same on the other side of the pond.
Washington-St. Louis was stellar in the final round, shooting 4 under to finish at 4-over 868 for the tournament, two shots ahead of Carnegie Mellon and nine in front of Emory, which shot 13 over Tuesday to fall to third. The 4-under 284 Washington St. Louis shot in the final round was the second-best team total of the week.
“I kept telling the girls, focus and play your game,” Reinhardt said. “We had a big refresh for this season. I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“This has been my most rewarding victory in four years as head coach.”
Washington-St. Louis and Carnegie Mellon were the only teams to shoot under par on the Links Course in the final round, a new course for the women this year at the Golfweek October Classic.
The win was also significant for seventh-ranked Washington St. Louis, as the team topped the top two teams in the latest Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll in Carnegie Mellon and Emory. The field featured seven of the top 10 teams in the country.
“This is one of the top tournaments in all of fall golf, if not the entire season,” Reinhardt said. “To come here and win this, it’s something we can use and build on as we head into spring.”
Kuo finished solo second in the individual standings, four shots behind Emory’s Zimo Lee, the only player in the field to shoot three consecutive rounds under par, finishing at 6-under 210 for the event.
Carnegie Mellon’s Cecilia Jia placed solo third at even par, and Pomona-Pitzer’s Rachel LeMay and Carnegie Mellon’s Emma Wong tied for fourth at 1 over.
“They were going to win, they said that when they got here.”
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — When Washington & Lee’s men’s golf team arrived at Sandestin Resort’s Raven Course, the players called their shot.
“They were going to win, they said that when they got here,” Washington & Lee coach Pete Gyscek said.
And win they did.
Washington & Lee captured the team title at the 2024 Golfweek October Classic on Tuesday, holding off a charge from Sewanee to top a loaded field that included a majority of the top teams in Division III golf. Washington & Lee finished at 30-under 822 for the 54-hole tournament, which is believed to be a record.
“I am proud of them,” Gyscek said. “They came down, and they did not let up just one thing. They played every hole aggressively. They said they were going to do that, and they played really well.”
Six teams finished under par, with Sewanee coming in at 23 under to claim second. LeTourneau was third at 6 under while Methodist, the 2023 champion, and Lynchburg tied for fourth at 5 under. Oglethorpe was the other team to finish in the red at 3 under.
At the preview for NCAAs, Washington & Lee placed second and was making a late charge for the win. Then, the next tournament with an even stronger field, they led going into the final round but ended up in second.
That was motivation for this week, and it started with the team captains.
“We have only seven players on our team and two freshmen in the lineup, which is always something different,” Gyscek said. “I’ve got two seniors who are the best leaders in the country. It’s as simple as that. Leadership, and they help the young kids.”
One of those seniors, Jonathan McEwen, was a part of a three-way tie for medalist honors at 11-under 202. Joining him was freshman teammate Elias Malakoff and Carnegie Mellon’s Justin Chan.
Sewanee’s Colin Edwards was solo fourth at 9 under while LeTourneau’s Corbin Barton came in fifth at 8 under.
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Lauren Cupp is always on the run.
She’s the men’s and women’s golf coach at Hamilton College in New York, her alma mater. She and her husband, Wes, own Rome Country Club. The couple has three children, ages 10, 7 and 3.
When she’s not running around the country coaching her teams, handling her duties as a mother and more, she’s running on the golf course.
No, literally.
Cupp is a speedgolfer. And not just any speedgolfer. She’s a world record holder and the best female speedgolfer in the world.
Cupp’s women’s golf team is at Sandestin Resort’s Links Course this week for the Golfweek October Classic, which comprises one of the strongest fields in Division III history. Not only did she start the women’s team at Hamilton, building them into a top-25 power, she has become a global star in speed golf, even if the sports isn’t as popular in the United States as places like Japan, where she’ll head in a couple weeks to compete in the Speedgolf World Championships.
“I’ve been able to connect with people from all over the planet, which is pretty cool, through this little dorky sport,” Cupp said.
Hamilton golf coach Lauren Cupp is the top-ranked female speedgolfer in the world. (Photo provided)
Cupp is an accomplished golfer herself, but when her daughter was born 10 years ago and her time became more restricted, she wanted golf to remain a part of her life.
Enter speedgolf.
Speedgolf is scored with two results: the number of strokes taken plus time elapsed from the first tee shot to the final putt dropping. If Cupp shoots 75 in 55 minutes and 30 seconds, her score would be 130.30.
She started when her daughter was in a stroller, pushing her around while starting with 9 holes at a time. She and Wes watched an ESPN clip of the sport, and while there were frustrating moments at first, they were hooked immediately.
“I could do like nine holes and like 48, 49 minutes with the stroller just jogging,” Cupp said. “Then I found out it was a sport you could play competitively.”
And in speedgolf, you don’t need a lot of time to finish a round.
Cupp lives at Rome Country Club, and she can look out and see when the final groups of the day are nearing the 16th and 17th holes. That means it’s time to sprint off the first tee and get a quick 18 in.
Hamilton golf coach Lauren Cupp is the top-ranked female speedgolfer in the world. (Photo provided)
“That’s the best thing about speedgolf is that you can practice it quickly in the morning before the kids are even awake,” Cupp said.
Ranked as the No. 1 female speedgolfer in the world, she holds the world record with a 1-under 72 in 50 minutes and 48 seconds at Teugega Country Club, another course in Rome. She shot the round in the 2021 New York State Open.
Earlier this summer, Cupp won the U.S. Speedgolf Open, which she and Wes hosted at Rome Country Club. Instead of an 18-hole sprint, it was a 54-hole marathon. The event was comprised of the first 18 holes on one evening, and the next day was an 18-hole round in the morning and then again in the evening.
Cupp has used a Sunday bag for close to 10 years, and she normally carries five clubs: a driver, 6-iron, 9-iron, wedge and putter. That’s more than a majority of high-ranking players. However, she’s considering changing to a silo golf club carrier, which is a small device that clubs clip into, before the World Speedgolf Championships next month in Tokyo.
“I do think I’m faster with it,” Cupp said. “I know I’m faster with that than the bag. The issue for me is the putting. So right now I’m like tucking it under my armpit and putting with two hands. I just cannot get into the one handed putting, which is what a lot of people do. I struggle enough with two hands.”
Her fame has risen in the United States, though the sport isn’t as big yet. Cupp has been featured on national news outlets and been an incredible advocate for the sport, but she remains grounded. Hamilton is where her heart is.
She played volleyball and competed in track and field while a student at Hamilton. The school didn’t have a women’s golf program, so she started a club team. In 2012, Hamilton made women’s golf an official sport, and Cupp became the head coach, where she has remained since. Cupp took over the men’s job in 2017.
A couple weeks ago, a pair of Cupp’s men’s players were near the end of practice, and it was getting dark and cold. They decided to play speedgolf the final two holes, something that made Cupp smile when the two were sprinting down the fairway with their full bags.
They both finished practice with a pair of pars.
“They both joked it was a lot better than the last time they played 17 and 18,” Cupp said.
Hamilton golf coach Lauren Cupp is the top-ranked female speedgolfer in the world. (Photo provided)
There have been other times Cupp’s players have played speedgolf, as well. The fast-paced environment of the sport, combined with the fundamentals of golf, can challenge players and force them to hit different types of shots and be creative. More often than not in speedgolf, a player is between clubs, forcing them to be creative and be an athlete, an invaluable lesson when faced with a difficult circumstance on the course.
“There is something to be said about that, about just being an athlete, getting the ball in the hole in the fewest amount of shots, not getting caught up with all these swing thoughts and TrackMan parameters and things,” Cupp said. “And there’s certainly value to those things. But there is something to be said about just remembering that you’re just an athlete playing a sport, and we’re just trying to get the job done.”
Cupp’s life is nonstop, like a round of speedgolf. But no matter how busy her schedule gets, when there’s free time and an open course in front of her, Cupp will blaze new records and continue growing the sport that has taken over her life.
“I have become a much better golfer playing speed golf,” Cupp said. “I’ve had a lot of really cool opportunities.”
The sport is as in good of a place as it has ever been.
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Not every team is going low, but the ones who are, are doing so like never before.
The Golfweek October Classic is one of the best events in Division III college golf, on both the men’s and women’s side. Yet after two rounds at Sandestin Resort’s Raven Course, Washington & Lee is dominating the men’s competition, reaching 26-under 542, a number that would shatter the previous 54-hole scoring record, even if Washington & Lee plays even-par golf Tuesday in the final round. On Monday, however, it carded a 16-under round, which is where second-place Sewanee sits after 36 holes.
Low scores, tighter leaderboards and depth of fields is becoming more and more common at the Division III level. That’s because the sport is as in good of a place as it has ever been.
“These kids have more access to better technology at a younger age,” Guilford College coach Ben Potter said. “I’m only 27, and even when I was growing up, not everyone had access to Trackman technology.”
Methodist has dominated the sport in the 21st century. Coach Steve Conley has collected 14 national championships and maintains one of the best programs in the country, regardless of division. However, the gap between his program and others has shrunk, and it’s not because he’s doing less.
It’s because others are doing more.
As Potter alluded to, practice facilities across the nation have become better. Players work with coaches all year round, whether in school or on their own, and access to numbers and swing analytics help fine tune swings and produce better results on the course.
There’s also the depth, which gets better each and every year. In year’s past, a team would have three or four players who were safe in the lineup, no matter what. Now, most of the top teams are leaving players at home who didn’t qualify that could be a top player at another school.
” I’d even venture to say our kids at the top Division III schools are as good as kids at the mid level D-Is, and we see it in summer tournaments, too,” Illinois Wesleyan coach Jim Ott said. “If you ever look at our top teams that go play in tournaments with D-Is, we hold ourselves very well to the to the mid-major type schools, maybe not the Texas or Vandy, but the other ones I mean, it’s right there.”
With how good Division III golf has become, it’s only going to get better.
With scholarship limits coming to Division I sports, teams are likely going to be limited to eight or nine roster spots, meaning teams with 11 or 12 players are going to have to cut some.
That means a trickle-down effect, where players will move down, and it will build up D-II golf and then D-III will also improve with a bit better players.
“In the top-30 teams, you have guys who are as strong as some of the guys I had at Jacksonville State,” Rhodes College coach Michael Brice, who took the job this year, said. “These top teams can go anywhere and compete.”
The senior at Wisconsin-Whitewater ditched her shoes and socked and jumped into the shallow water of the pond flanking the right side of the 18th green. She got her stance, settled her feet into the moss and mud and flung her club at the ball.
A big splash ensued, but her shot didn’t get out of the pond. No need to fear, she quickly shuffled her feet, repositioned and hit again. It was a brilliant shot, coming to rest a couple feet from the hole, and Lux knocked in her bogey putt without ever placing her socks or shoes back on.
It was a risky shot that perhaps Lux wouldn’t have tried under normal circumstances, but Wisconsin-Whitewater coach Andrea Wieland encouraged Lux to take the risk. She earned the right to do so.
A week ago, Wisconsin-Whitewater won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for the eighth straight year, punching its ticket to the Division III national championship in May. This week, the Warhawks are one of 24 women’s team at the Golfweek October Classic. It’s the last tournament on their schedule, though they’re going to add a couple more in the spring before nationals. And it’s an interesting wrinkle the Warhawks and others face: having won conference titles with months to go until a chance to win a national title.
“This event has always been like a reward for us winning conference,” Wieland said. “We won conference, we get to go to the beach and just go out and play free. We always try to learn something we play.”
During the opening round of the Golfweek October Classic, Wisconsin-Whitewater struggled on the last hole, with Lux’s bogey tying for their best score from their five players. It was a disappointing finish, but as Wieland said, tomorrow is a chance to be better.
And in a field that features seven of the top-10 teams in the country, doing better every day is a key to finding success in the national championship.
Sunday was only the opening round of a regular-season event, but as many coaches have said, this week’s field is arguably the strongest in the history of Division III golf outside of the national championship, and even stronger than that some years. It’s a great chance for teams to gauge where they’re at against the top teams in the country, but it’s also not make-or-break, considering the biggest trophy remains up for grabs in a few months.
Enter Wisconsin-Whitewater. Its conference is comprised of eight schools from Wisconsin, and because of their location, golf in the winter and early spring isn’t ideal.
The Warhawks plan to go to California in the spring and may have another tournament to play in the following week, but there’s going to be a lot of non-competitive time between now and the national championship.
Even this week, where does the motivation come from to play well with a conference title locked up and a national championship berth secured? There’s plenty there for Wieland’s team.
“Winning our conference is so important to us,” Wieland said. “I don’t want those seniors to be like, sad all spring.”
In Wieland’s first year as head coach, they didn’t win the conference title. She saw her seniors that year check out, and other players became disinterested.
She never wanted to see her players have those reactions and feelings again. Since then, they haven’t.
Regardless of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s finish this week, the Warhawks have a tee time in the national championship secured. That doesn’t take away from the team trying new things, like ditching shoes to get into a pond, and working to be better and prepared for a national championship that seems a year away.
The offseason will be filled with indoor practices and other training regimes. Wieland isn’t worried about her team’s motivation. The first goal of winning the conference title is finish. Now it’s time to build toward winning the biggest goal.
“We’re always trying to figure things out,” Wieland said. “But it’s good to get out of your comfort zone and play free and aggressive and learn something for the future.”
“It’s probably the most fun tournament round I’ve had forever.”
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Carter and Peyton Sichol were looking forward to seeing each other for the first time since they left home for their junior seasons at Carleton College and Hamilton College.
The twins, juniors at their respective schools, are like plenty of other twins in the world. They grew up doing everything together, including golf. When it came time to go to college, Carter decided to go to Carleton in Minnesota. Peyton, however, chose Hamilton in New York.
When the schedule came out this year, there was a similar tournament on the schedule for only the second time in their college careers: the Golfweek October Classic at Sandestin’s Links Course. Then when they checked their pairings for the first round, they were in for another surprise.
They were paired together for the first time in a competitive round.
“I was super excited,” Carter said.
Added Peyton: “It’s Hamilton’s first time here. I was just excited to hang out with Carter. But this, yeah, it was really fun.”
The sisters were stellar in the opening round. Carter shot an even-par 72 while Peyton signed for a 1-over 73. Carter is T-9 after the opening round, and Peyton is T-13.
While there was plenty of competition between the two, it was also a round they’ll never forget.
“During the summer, we play together almost every day,” Carter said. “I felt the most relaxed I’ve ever felt in a tournament round.”
“It’s probably the most fun tournament round I’ve had forever,” Peyton responded.
Early on, their playing partners knew something was up.
By about the third hole Sunday, as Carter and Peyton were chatting it up like the two best friends they are, one of them asked whether they were old friends or friends from before because of how well they seemed to know each other.
“We’re actually twins,” they responded.
It was also a special day for Carter and Peyton’s parents, Adam and Lowey, both Hamilton graduates who were there for all 18 holes to support the twins, and they did so in a unique way.
Mom and dad each wore mismatched clothing, wearing a hat from one school and a shirt from the other.
“It’s one of my favorite tournament days ever,” Peyton said.
Even if they’re never paired together again, the Sichols will always have Sunday.
“There were a couple of short putts that we almost missed that we were laughing at each other,” Carter said. “But we did make them.”
Both fields resemble ones that you can find at a national championship.
It’s not the national championship, but it’s a good preview of who could be there come spring.
The Golfweek D-III October Classic kicks off Sunday in Sandestin, Florida, at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort’s Raven and Links courses. The men’s field will take on the Raven while the women will battle the Links.
And both fields resemble ones that you can find at a national championship.
The Golfweek October Classic has long been one of the top events on the Div. III calendar, but this year, a few more top teams joined the field, making it even stronger and giving teams a good test near the end of the fall season to gauge where they’re at before winter break.
The men have been playing the Golfweek October Classic in Sandestin since 2011, and the women followed a couple years later. In 2013, the courses joined to host the 2013 Division III National Championship, with the men playing one round each on the Links and Raven courses before a 36-hole cut. The top 15 teams then played the final 36 holes at Raven.
The Raven course hosted the PGA Tour Champions’ Boeing Championship in 2006 and 2007.
Pomona-Pitzer outscored the field on the par 5s at Baytowne Golf Club, and it helped deliver the title at the Golfweek October Classic.
It isn’t always possible to put a finger on where, exactly, a winning team found its edge. In the case of Pomona-Pitzer, however, connecting the dots is relatively easy.
After winning the Golfweek D3 October Classic on Tuesday, what head coach John Wurzer calls the biggest regular-season victory in program history, Wurzer could pretty confidently point to the long holes at Baytowne Golf Links in Sandestin, Florida. He coaches a team of longer-than-average players, and so Wurzer had been chewing on par-5 scoring for a while.
“The first day, they were 9 under on the par 5s,” Wurzer said. “It was, for us, a really amazing performance on those holes and it really kind of separated us the first day.”
For the week, Pomona-Pitzer played the par 5s in 11 under. Carnegie Melon, which finished runner-up to the Sagehens, played them in 4 over. Pomona-Pitzer finished 54 holes at 15 over, 18 shots ahead of Carnegie Melon, the team that had topped Pomona-Pitzer two weeks ago at the Fall Preview.
That’s easy math, and it’s not like Wurzer had intricate, detailed plans for his players – though they could have easily followed them if he did.
Wurzer, in his sixth season as the head coach of Pomona-Pitzer, notes that his program attracts an Ivy League-kind of athlete. “They have to be amazing students, so they’re poised, they’re smart, they’re aware, they’re very coachable,” he said.
It’s a unique setup back home in Claremont, California, where Pomona College and Pitzer College, two separate institutions that combine into one athletic program, help comprise the “5Cs” that also include Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College and Harvey Mudd College. The latter three compete in the combined Claremont-Mudd-Scripps athletic program.
Pomona-Pitzer competes in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference along with perennial powerhouse programs Redlands and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The area is loaded with talent, to the point that Wurzer said his team never competes in a tournament where there isn’t at least a top-8 school in the field. The proverbial bar is no further than two stout par 5s away. That’s the distance to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, which won the 2018 D3 women’s golf title.
“Our main rival for golf is 1,000 yards away, on the same campus,” Wurzer said.
When Wurzer arrived in Claremont six years ago, Pomona-Pitzer was a talented program that had never won the conference title. The Sagehens won it the past two years. He has orchestrated a slow build, and so far this season, his team has won twice and finished runner-up twice.
“For us, it was really about getting competition,” he said of two trips east to start the fall. “We wanted to come to this event because it was really one of the two best regular-season events in the country – in the fall for sure.”
At the Golfweek event, Pomona-Pitzer drew senior leadership from Katelyn Vo, who led the team with a runner-up finish individually. Vo, at 1 over, was three behind individual medalist Sydney Kuo of Washington University-St. Louis.
Sydney Kuo, Washington University-St. Louis
Jessica Mason (fourth) and Emily Chang (T5) also bring back experience, while freshmen Eunice Yi and Rachel LeMay have played the whole fall season with the Sagehens.
“We’ve just built toward rising to the level of competition that’s in our conference and they set the bar and we’ve just tried to kind of reach it and surpass it,” Wurzer said. “Wins like this just show that we have players that have bought in and they’re exceptionally talented. The teams in our conference have pushed us to be great because the only way we accomplish goals that we set is to beat them first and foremost.”
Wurzer knows as well as any college coach that success does not happen overnight. A native of Southern California, his history in the game is layered with teaching, program-building and simply observing at every level.
Wurzer founded the Torrance High School girls golf program in 2000 and coached the team to its first of many California Interscholastic Federation State Girls Golf titles in 2005. Program alumni include Angela Park, the 2007 LPGA Rookie of the Year, plus LPGA players Jane Rah, Jenny Shin and Demi Runas.
Wurzer gained notice for what he was doing in high school golf, mostly as his players were recruited to top schools (or went straight to professional golf), and he spent four years as the Director of Golf Operations at USC, learning under then-head coaches Chris Zambri and Andrea Gaston.
After an assistant coaching stint at Long Beach State, his alma mater, Wurzer found a head-coaching opportunity at Pomona-Pitzer, where he leads the men’s and women’s teams.
After so many years in a pocket of high-caliber golf, Wurzer’s knowledge is deep. He has watched notable careers unfold in all directions – from Lizette Salas, for example, to Stewart Hagestad.
“I’ve seen a lot and it just allows me to have perspective and coach these players, recruit very differently but coach a very similar way and use a lot of those lessons I learned along the way from SC and when I was at Long Beach State,” he said.
As his time at Pomona-Pitzer is showing, the ultimate success of a program comes down to the players. But the identity? That’s built quietly, and painstakingly, by the coach.
Winning never gets any easier, and longtime Methodist coach Steve Conley will be the first to tell you that.
Winning never gets any easier. Steve Conley will be the first to tell you that, even as he closes in on 200 wins in his college coaching career.
At the Golfweek October Classic, Conley checked off career victory No. 159 as his Methodist team went 9 under for 54 holes at the Raven Golf Club in Sandestin, Florida, and won the team title by 17 shots. Part of it comes with familiarity – Methodist hosted the national championship here in 2013 and is a fixture at Golfweek’s annual Sandestin tournament – and part of it was revenge-seeking.
Earlier this month, Methodist let one slip away at the Tartan Invitational at Laurel Valley Country Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. The Monarchs had a big lead with nine to play, only to be overtaken by Emory.
“We’re playing great and Laurel is a tough track, we just kind of got sloppy on the back nine and Emory got hot,” Conley said. “It was a perfect storm.”
Methodist only had two days to shift the focus to Sandestin. Conley left his three returning first-team All-Americans – Andre Chi, Henry Angier and Cooper Hrabak – in the lineup while subbing in two other players and watched his men tidy up their games in another tough field. It’s not like his team doesn’t know what to do, Conley noted. Sometimes it’s just a lack of execution or confidence.
“We have a quality team, but there’s so many good teams in D3 now that you’ve got to be bringing it every week and you also have to be able to finish it,” he said. “Today I’m kind of surprised that we just kind of pulled away because they’re quality teams. My guys kept the pedal down. I think they didn’t want to see one go away like last week.”
Methodist’s 9-under total for 54 holes – which included a field-best round of 7 under on the final day – left them well ahead of Illinois Wesleyan in second. Lynchburg, which played the final round in 6 under, was another shot back in third and Emory was two shots behind that in fourth.
Cameron Cappuzzo, a Methodist senior, won the individual title at 10 under after bookending the tournament with rounds of 5-under 66.
Methodist’s Cameron Cappuzzo
Conley has led Methodist for over 30 years and won 13 national titles, most recently in 2022. D3 golf, like all divisions, has only gotten deeper in that time, forcing Conley to keep finding an edge. Conley says success always is going to lie with the players, but that over the years, he’s had to give them space to play the game more aggressively.
“I’ve had to allow them to be more aggressive in lots of places whereas before we would be a little bit more conservative,” he said. “I would also say just a little different mindset. I think the younger kids are just different than they were 10, 20 years ago. Be tough at times but also be very supportive. Just encouraging, that kind of thing. For me, in the right situations, we’ve got to be aggressive and we’ve got to be tough and keep battling.”
“The mindset I think is really the difference. If you’re not shooting under par on good days, you’re going to get beat. That’s what it really comes down to. And that’s that mentality, right?”
The flip side is that on bad days, Conley has to get his men to grind all the way to the end. The narrow loss at Laurel Valley drove that home.
Team culture has always been paramount for Conley. It doesn’t matter who’s in the bus, everyone has to be in it together. That’s particularly important on this year’s roster, which includes 10 men who have played in A-team events over the past two years. It’s unusual to have that depth, but it means that whoever tees it up for Methodist has to play hard.
“It’s a credit to the upperclassmen for setting the example and it’s a credit to all the guys on our team who buy into that,” he said. “It makes me proud as a coach that the guys are that way.”
