“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.”
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.”
“It definitely makes it extra special knowing how we felt to lose last year being so close,” Flagler coach Santiago Cavanagh said.
This time last year, the Flagler College team van was headed east across Florida, from Destin back home to St. Augustine, with the bitter taste of a close call. Santiago Cavanagh’s team loves competing at the Raven Golf Club at Sandestin, but a one-shot loss to Nova Southeastern did not sit well.
On Tuesday, the results swung hard the other way, with Flagler College riding high on a 21-shot victory for that trip back east.
“It definitely makes it extra special knowing how we felt to lose last year being so close,” Cavanagh said. “This is one of our favorite events, we love the golf course, it’s challenging. The whole week is very special. I know how much the girls wanted to win this week.”
In Flagler’s second start of the fall season, the team claimed the Golfweek Division II Fall Invitational title by going 5 over at the Raven Golf Club. The Saints built an eight-shot lead in the first round and never looked back, finishing 21 shots ahead of runner-up Rogers State.
Flagler set a new program record for lowest 54-hole score and also broke the record for lowest round with their final-round 5-under 279.
“The golf course was in great shape, just like it was last year,” Cavanagh said. “The greens were just a little bit softer than last year and so that made it better. But the first days, it was extremely windy. We had about 15 to 20 mph wind both days. Finally, today was a little bit less, probably 8 to 12 so it was a little more manageable. But the golf course is awesome.”
Individually, Stella Jelinek, a sophomore from Germany, finished 54 holes at 4 under to medal by five shots over Lydia Sitorus of Rogers State and Yuliana Yapur of Texas A&M International. Jelinek opened the week with a 2-under 69 but had a tough round on Day 2 and backed up to 74. On Tuesday, she posted her first collegiate bogey-free round, a 5-under 66, and calmly pulled away.
“She wanted to win it really bad. She didn’t have the round she wanted yesterday and she started behind today,” Cavanagh said. “She stayed calm all day. It was a very close fight until the end, she just kept playing her game. When you make five birdies and no bogeys, you’re going to close the gap for sure.”
Flagler’s Stella Jelinek
After last year’s close call at the Golfweek event, Flagler rallied to win its home event three weeks later. Last spring, the Saints were second in the Peach Belt Conference Championship and advanced to an NCAA Division II Super Regional, where their season ended.
The start to this season was a little jarring as Flagler arrived at the NCAA D2 South Region Preview at Cleveland Country Club in Cleveland, Tennessee, ready to start a strong fall campaign and finished ninth out of 17 teams.
“We went up there feeling very good and not having the finish you want, it’s like a bucket of cold water,” Cavanagh said.
The disappointing opener motivated his team to come home, work harder and prepare smarter for the next tournament – not a hard task considering how much Cavanagh’s players love this stop on the schedule.
Cavanagh looks down this year’s lineup and likes the mix of experience and new blood he sees. It’s a long, tough road the rest of the year, with Flagler’s own Fall Slam and the Rollins-hosted National Championship Fall Preview – to be played at Orange County National in Orlando, Florida – on tap for later this month.
“We’re going one tournament at a time and I definitely have a team that I’m not surprised when I see these numbers,” he said.
Emory’s men’s and women’s golf teams defended their titles.
A practice round with Katie Futcher is deliberate. It’s a fact-finding mission and it’s also a perfect example of the detail-oriented culture that Futcher has established at Emory, where the girls golf program is only four years old.
“We’re engaged,” Futcher said of that crucial day before a tournament. “Our team is engaged the entire time. We’re going through our plans, we’re talking about our shots. We’re not just hitting it out there anywhere. That day sets us up really well on challenging courses and in challenging conditions.”
Over the final 36 holes at the Golfweek DIII Invite, especially as conditions turned cold and windy at Baytowne Golf Links in Sandestin, Florida, in the final round, Emory’s preparation paid off. Emory trailed Oglethorpe by a shot after the first round but spent the next two days pulling away from the 24-team field. The Eagles completed their title defense with a 12-shot victory at 10 over.
Emory sophomore Sharon Mun won the individual title at 6 under.
The Emory women’s golf team defended its title at the 2022 Golfweek DIII Invite. (Photo: Golfweek)
Emory is a program with Futcher’s unique stamp. Futcher retired from the LPGA after a nine-year career during which she competed in more than 25 major championships and 120 events while earning Class A status with the LPGA.
After a few months spent “in the woods,” she came out on the other side realizing she could put her golf background to use pursuing another passion: helping people.
Futcher spent the 2016-17 season as a volunteer assistant at her alma mater, Penn State (Futcher was the leading scorer for the Nittany Lions throughout her four-year career there). Then she spent the 2017-18 season as the assistant coach at James Madison. She applied for the head coaching position at Emory because it also offered the chance to build a team from the ground up – Futcher is the first head coach in program history.
And Emory wasn’t just looking to just experiment with the sport. The Atlanta school is academically rigorous, and with more than 20 NCAA titles across all sports, Futcher’s drive matched that winning culture.
“You don’t get the opportunity to build a program from scratch at any division,” Futcher said. “I never thought I’d be in Division III, but to be able to have complete control and nobody else to blame if something goes wrong – it’s all your players, all your vision – that really intrigued me and I really was interested in that challenge.
“I had this formula in my head I thought might produce a team that would play well. I really wanted to try it out. That’s why I really chose Emory.”
The Eagles won five times in the 2021-22 season, then added the NCAA Division III Women’s National Championship last spring. The Golfweek win is Emory’s second this fall.
“We really care as coaches about the things you can directly control,” Futcher said when asked about that the national title – referencing assistant coach Christel Boeljon, who won five times on the Ladies European Tour and appeared on the victorious 2011 European Solheim Cup team.
Futcher ticks off a list of variables– hydration, nutrition, attitude, decision-making, pre-shot routine – that she and Boeljon preach to the team. If her players take care of those things, Futcher reasons, success follows.
There is structure in the way Futcher runs her program – maybe more than any other team at the Division III level.
“We have scheduled practice,” she said. “You have to come for a certain amount of hours and time. It’s not this revolving door where you can come when you want and stay as long as you want. We do have pretty structured practice times and that doesn’t suit everybody so it’s my job to try to find the recruits that that does work for them and that’s what they want to be a part of.”
From Emory head men’s coach John Sjoberg’s perspective, Futcher has been key in moving the whole golf program forward.
“She has been unbelievable to work with for the last four years,” said Sjoberg, who has been at the helm of Emory’s men’s program since 2011. “She’s made us better, just the ideas she’s brought to our day to day. How they practice and what she did on tour. . . Our guys really respect what (Futcher and Boeljon) say and how they say it.”
Sjoberg’s squad has a tendency to be explosive and that’s what got the Eagles to the finish line for their own title defense across the street at Sandestin’s Raven Golf Club. Emory and Oglethorpe went back and forth all day in the final round, with Emory down by a handful of shots approaching the closing stretch.
The Emory men’s golf team defended its title at the 2022 Golfweek DIII Invite. (Photo: Golfweek)
Emory played Nos. 15-18 in 10 under – with the four counting scorers going 8 under – to edge Oglethorpe by five. Oglethorpe’s Michael O’Sullivan won the individual title at 6 under.
“Momentum is a tangible thing, and you can just see it,” Sjoberg said. “Jackson (Klutznick) was our first guy out and he made a couple in a row there, and it just filters through the lineup and all of a sudden, a couple of 6 footers go in, we play the par 5 (No. 17) really well. The momentum works great in both directions and fortunately for us there, we got it going in the right direction.”
Emory’s men have competed in the Golfweek DIII Invite every year since its inception in 2009. Accuracy off the tee is paramount at the Raven, but it’s not a particularly difficult second-shot golf course, Sjoberg’s players have learned. Emory has now won this title three times.
Emory teed it up at the Golfweek event after winning the Piedmont Invitational early in October. Emory’s play puts the team in a national conversation – the Eagles were ranked No. 2 in the latest Golfweek/Bushnell Coaches Poll.
“I think certainly we have a lot of the makings of a lot of the good programs around the country,” Sjoberg said. “…Us being a D3 program is a huge asset because we can recruit kids who want to compete for a championship at the end of the year.”
It’s been a good run at Emory these past few years, and the momentum looks to continue.
While the women mounted a comeback on Centre College, the men won wire to wire.
Emory head coach Katie Futcher keeps an important statistic for her team throughout the season. The bounce-back column is all about what a player does after she makes a bogey.
At the Golfweek Division III Fall Invitational, Emory pulled off the ultimate bounce-back, coming from two shots behind Centre entering the final round to win the tournament, its second in four starts this fall.
“Fighting, always finishing to the end, we always try to preach that with all of our ladies in our program,” Futcher said of the importance of that stat. “To finish today with a win after coming in trailing is good.”
Emory’s round of 8-over 296 was its best round of the week at Baytowne Golf Club in Destin, Florida. At 35 over, Emory was two better than Centre College for 54 holes. Emory freshman Sharun Mun won the individual title at 3 over.
It’s the midway point of the semester for many teams, Emory included. Futcher’s players were coming off midterms and the exhaustion that often comes with that. But Futcher never looks at scoring during a tournament and stays in the moment. She didn’t know her team had a chance for the comeback win until the final putt.
Futcher is an accomplished player herself, having been the leading scorer at Penn State for all four years of her college career before going on to play on the LPGA for nine years. After qualifying for the LPGA in just her second attempt, Futcher competed in more than 25 major championships and 120 events while earning Class A status with the LPGA. In 2012, she made 18 cuts in 23 events and posted a pair of top-10 finishes including ties for eighth at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open and the RICOH Women’s British Open.
She took the helm at Emory in 2018 and has watched the program grow.
“They’ve been working really hard, last tournament of the season, really tried to just keep them focused, keep them calm,” Futcher said of this week’s win. “Really had them rely on all the work they’ve put in this semester. I don’t think anyone has outworked us and that’s part of winning. Winning feels good – the work part doesn’t always feel good – but you have to do the work to win.”
Emory’s men made it a sweep for the Eagles by finishing 13 shots ahead of runner-up Methodist. At 12 under par, Emory was the only team in the red at the end of three rounds at the Raven Golf Club.
The Eagles tied for first at the Wabash Invitational to start the month and last week, won outright at the Tartan Invitational.
“We’ve been good this fall, I thought we’d be competitive,” said head coach John Sjoberg. “Our start today was just unbelievable, five birdies on the first hole and that kind of separated us a little bit form Methodist and we were able to continue to play well and hold them off.”
Emory’s men after winning the Golfweek DIII Fall Invitational.
Last month, Emory finished second to Methodist at the Division III Fall Preview at Mission Inn.
Sjoberg says this team is deeper – Nos. 1 to 9 – than it ever has been.
“Qualifying has been really competitive so that’s really set us up to come to events like this and feel like we’ve got a good chance to be a good team,” he said.
In the individual competition, Averett’s Caleb Kimbrough went 8 under to edge Carnegie Mellon’s William Knauth and Emory’s Jackson Klutznick.
