This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster men's golf team is competing in this week's North Coast Athletic Conference Championship, which runs May 2-4 at Otter Creek Golf Club in Columbus, Indiana. DePauw University and Wabash College are hosting this year's championship, which is a single-event, 54-hole format with 18 holes scheduled for each day.
Media Coverage: Fans can follow LeaderboardKing for live scoring and check WoosterAthletics.com for end-of-day recaps.
Looking Back at 2024's NCAC Championship: Wooster ramped it up with a 286 on day two of the 2024 NCAC Championship. That marked the team's lowest round since at least 1985, which is since when complete records for the program are available. The most recent lower team round that was found in the archives prior to last year's 286 took place during the program's 1975 NCAA Div. III national championship season. The national championship team shot at worst a 281 at Kent State University's Tournament, or the score could have been a 279, as players who played in events that season gave the appearance of a six-count-four format potentially being used in the regular season.
Wooster went even lower in the final round, capping the year with a 3-over-par 283, the best round of the day at the championship. Alumnus Tyler Hilbert capped his standout career with back-to-back 1-under-par 69s. His play over the last two days of the championship netted him his first All-NCAC award. Hilbert tied for ninth-place at 214. During the championship, he drove the par-4, 365-yard sixth hole and had about a 20-foot look for eagle. Alumnus Jacob Ullom and current sophomore Andrew Carey (Rockford, Ill./Guilford) joined Hilbert on the all-conference team (note all-conference is now nominated for and voted on by head coaches after the championship and is no longer tied into an individual's conference finish).
Starting the Year as Champs Again: Wooster brought home the hardware to start the year for the third consecutive season, with the Scots' 586 beating out Mount Aloysius College by four strokes at the program's annual lid-lifting Gatorade Collegiate. Wooster picked up right where it left off in the spring, shooting a 1-over-par 289 in the opening round of the Gatorade. Carey fired back-to-back 73s for a sixth-place score of 146. The sophomore eagled the par-4, 340-yard 17th hole to move to 1-under-par on the back nine in the opening round. He turned at even par in round two of the Gatorade.
Crushing the Competition: Wooster's entire lineup finished in the field's top-four at the Westfield Insurance Companies Invitational in mid-September. Wooster's 574 led the field by 49 strokes and gave the Scots a second team title on the year. The win marked the first time in program history Wooster won multiple tournament titles in three consecutive seasons. Wooster's 282 in the opening round of the tournament was just shy of the school record for the lowest round in program history. Carey captured the medalist honors with an even-par 140 for the 36-hole tournament on Westfield's North Course. The 70s marked a collegiate-best for the two-time NCAC Athlete of the Week, who improved his 36-hole collegiate-best by six strokes at Westfield. In fact, Carey's 36-hole score is tied for the lowest 36-hole score in the program annals since 1990. Current senior Krish Nayak (Bengaluru, India/Mallya Aditi International School) went 4-under-par for a 140 at the 2022 Gatorade Collegiate.
Success in the Windy City: One of Chicago's popular nicknames is the Windy City, and the Scots got a taste of that when they played in North Central College's Cardinal Classic. There, Wooster shot a 304 in round two for the program's lowest round of the spring. First-years Nunth Khamkhokgruad (Bangkok, Thailand/Monteverde Academy (Fla.)) and Max Shulman (Superior Twp., Mich./Greenhills School) were at the forefront of the spring low with matching 74s. They were followed by a 76 from Carey and sophomore Jake Cammarata's (Long Beach, Calif./Millikan) 80.
Carey in the Hunt for Program History: Carey is vying to be just the fifth Scot to finish a year with a sub-76 scoring average in the tournament era. Wooster's record for this stat includes all seasons since 1972 unless two or more complete tournament results are missing from College archives (page 8 of the program's record book has the list of those tournaments). Alumnus Marcus Carano, who played in two U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championships with fellow alumnus John Angelo, had a 75.12 average over 17 rounds during the 2015-16 season. Colin O'Hern finished the 2017-18 season with a 75.44 average over 16 rounds. Alumni Evan Ferrara went 75.52 over 16.5 rounds in 2018-19 and last spring, Hilbert capped his senior season with a 75.78 average over 19 rounds. Carey enters the championship with a 75.4 average.
