Golf team swings into spring season

By Mark Schulman
Assistant Editor

The golf team has teed-off their spring season, ranking 27 in the Division II standings according to Golfstat, an online database that ranks Division I, II, and III teams.

The Braves finished first when they hosted the Lacey Gane Intercollegiate in Lumberton that took place on March 15-16 with a total score of 573. Junior Greg Dobbins who earned his first individual title led the team with a five-under 139 tying the record for the best individual round in UNCP history.

Breaking another record, the team finished its best round in school history on March 15 with a seven-under 281. This is the fourth time they took home first in the team’s 24-year history hosting the Intercollegiate.

At the previous tournament, UNCP placed an impressive second out of 15 teams at the Richard Rendleman Invitational on March 8-9 with a score of 595. Freshman Mark Long shot 147 leading the Braves at the two-day event. Junior Rex Willoughby followed up the team with a 150. Carson-Newman College placed first at the Invitational finishing up with a combined score of 582.

UNCP finished seventh out of sixteen teams at the Hombre Intercollegiate in Panama City, Fla. on Feb. 9-10. Their respective total score of 630 fell short of sixth place to Columbus State who shot 627.

“The strongest point of our team is depth,” head coach John Haskins said.

Juniors Greg Dobbin and Rex Willoughby return to the Braves in hopes of leading the 14-member team to a winning season.

Talented Sophomores Kyle Covington, Lee Negberger, John Thompson and Tommy Baker bring a high level of skills and abilities to the team. Freshman Chris Helms, Mark Long, Ted Guteman and Travis Marshall will help catch victories in this season’s tournaments.

“Our goal is to qualify for the NCAA regional tournament,” Haskins said. “If we play well this spring there is a strong possibility of that.”

The team does have their share of challenges to climb higher in the rankings.

“The biggest improvement we need to make is playing more consistent and eliminating big numbers,” Haskins said.

Haskins will finish coaching the golf team before he takes over as coach of the women’s basketball team next season.