News

Men's golf ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation

Team's year so far includes tournament win at Michigan, two players honored by A-10 and school record broken

10/07/03

Each year for the last 14 years, the University's men's golf team has lowered its collective stroke average—sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. And as its strokes have gone down, its ranking has gone up, culminating in a No. 2 ranking nationally in September, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.

The team was 34 points behind the University of California in that rating. The Musketeers finished four strokes behind the Golden Bears at the season-opening Mid Pines Intercollegiate tournament, finishing in second place. The team has since won the 15-team Northern Intercollegiate golf tournament at the University of Michigan and was in first place after 36 holes in the 49er Collegiate Classic golf tournament in Huntersville, N.C., on Monday, Oct. 6.

The team also has been shattering school records in the process. In the 49er Classic, the team opened the tournament with a record round of 275, and then combined it with an afternoon round of 283 for a 36-hole score of 558, which is also a school record. The school record of 295.37 team stroke average hasn't been broken yet, but appears to be in jeopardy. The team has a 286.36 stroke average this year, with five golfers averaging below 73 strokes per round. Senior Miles Maillet shot a round of 65 in the 49er Classic, which was the third lowest round in school history and just two shots off his school record of 63. He is also one of three Xavier golfers to record a hole-in-one this year, along with senior Matt Makinson and freshman Jason Kokrak.

Kokrak has already been honored by the Atlantic 10 Conference this year as its rookie of the week, joining junior Neal Grusczynski, who has been honored as the A-10 performer of the week. Grusczynski was the runner-up at the Northern Invitational.

Xavier's next tournament is its own—the Xavier Provident Invitational at the Golf Center at Kings Island on Oct. 13-14. The 21-team tournament includes: Akron, Ball State, Boston College, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Georgetown, Indiana, Iowa, Marquette, Marshall, Charlotte, Ohio, Richmond, Saint Joseph's, Western Kentucky, William & Mary, Wisconsin, Wright State and Xavier. Admission is free.