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2002-03 Wittenberg University
Golf Press Releases

All Releases Written by: Ryan Maurer
Director of Sports Information
E-Mail: rmaurer@wittenberg.edu

May 6, 2003

Andy Bonar

The Tiger men’s golf team capped one of its best seasons in years with a fifth-place finish in the NCAC Championship Tournament at Oberlin Golf Club last weekend. While the team’s placement in the NCAC was one spot lower than the last two seasons, the team score was better and the competition, with three national qualifyiers among nine teams in the event, was better as well.

Sophomore Andy Bonar (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) put together an outstanding weekend of golf, claiming a third-place tie with a five-over-par two-day total of 149. He shot 74 the first day and 75 the second. After a second-team All-NCAC finish a year ago, Bonar moved up to first-team All-NCAC in 2003.

Freshman Clinton Anderson (Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Mechanicsburg) put together his finest finish as a collegiate golfer, finishing below 80 both days in posting a two-day total of 154. He shot 75 the first day and 79 the second, and his tie for 10th place was good for second-team All-NCAC honors.

Rounding things out were freshman Dane Sandridge (Westfield Center, Ohio/Lodi Cloverleaf), junior Adam Knowlton (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) and freshmen Kristopher Schmelzer (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster), who finished with 163, 164 and 165 respectively. Those were good for 26th, 28th and 30th place ties.

For the season, Bonar had the best spring scoring average of 77.75. The other four players who saw action in the NCAC tournament finished with scoring averages of 81 or lower in at least 10 rounds this spring.

Next: Season Complete

April 29, 2003

Andy Bonar

The Tiger men’s golf team turned in another quality finish over the weekend, taking seventh place against a loaded 17-team field at the Ohio Wesleyan University Strimer Invitational at Oakhaven Golf Club in Delaware. Eight of the nine NCAC schools that sponsor golf participated and the Tigers again hung tough with the upper echelon, finishing behind nationally ranked Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster and Denison in the final standings.

Every Tiger golfer involved in the tournament posted at least one score in the 70’s, led by sophomore Andy Bonar (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster), who finished eighth with his best score of the 2002-03 season, a two-day total of 149 (74-75). Junior Adam Knowlton (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) also had his best outing of the season, turning in a 157 (78-79) to finish tied for 35th.

Rounding out the Tiger scorers were freshmen Kristopher Schmelzer (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) and Clinton Anderson (Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Mechanicsburg), both of whom carded a 161 (tie for 61st), and freshman Dane Sandridge (Westfield Center, Ohio/Lodi Cloverleaf), who had a 162 (tie for 68th).

Bonar, a second-team All-NCAC honoree in 2002, leads the Tigers with a scoring average of 78.4 during the spring season. Schmelzer has a scoring average less than 80, checking in at 79.6. They are two of the main reasons the Tigers have posted a winning head-to-head record in 2003 for the first time in at least five years. Head-to-head winning percentage is based upon a team’s placement in tournaments compared to other teams. At Ohio Wesleyan, for example, Wittenberg went 10-6 by finishing seventh out of 17 teams.

The season comes to a close in all likelihood this weekend as the Tigers participate in the NCAC Championship Tournament in Oberlin. Wittenberg has finished fourth each of the last two years. With four conference rivals taking turns among the top 25 in the nation in the season, however, it will be quite a challenge for the young Tigers to equal that mark again this year.

Next: 5/2-3 NCAC Championships
Hosted by Oberlin

April 22, 2003

Dane Sandridge

The Tiger men’s golf team turned in its best finish of the 2003 season over the weekend, shooting lights out on Day 2 of the College of Wooster Parlor Invitational to end up in fourth place in a loaded 15-team field. The tourney was played at the difficult Wooster Country Club and included six NCAC teams, including the nationally ranked host team that had won the Denison Invitational the previous week.

Two highlights stand out following the weekend’s action. Freshman Kristopher Schmelzer (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) carded a personal collegiate best two-day score of 155 (79, 76). That was good for a third-place tie, also his best finish in his inaugural season in the Red & White. The other highlight was turned in by freshman Dane Sandridge (Westfield Center, Ohio/Lodi Cloverleaf), who also had his best collegiate finish (158, tie for 16th place). His biggest shot of the weekend came on Day 2 when he made a hole-in-one at the 168-yard eighth hole with a seven-iron.

Junior Adam Knowlton (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) finished tied for 21st with a 160, freshman Clinton Anderson (Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Mechanicsburg) finished tied for 25th with a 161 and sophomore Andy Bonar (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) rounded things out with a 163, good for a tie for 30th place.

This week, the Tigers again face a strong field on a tough course as Ohio Wesleyan hosts its annual Strimer Invitational tournament on Saturday and Sunday. The host Bishops are the defending NCAC champion and are annually among the top teams in the nation. The tourney is played at Oakhaven Golf Club, just north of Delaware.

Next: 4/26-27 Ohio Wesleyan Strimer Invitational

April 15, 2003

Kristopher Schmelzer

The Tiger men’s golf team finished 10th in a loaded 17-team field at the Denison Spring Invitational last weekend at Granville Country Club. In a tightly packed field, the Tigers finished 27 strokes off the 612 posted by Wooster, which won by five strokes over the host Big Red and perennial power Muskingum and seven over nationally ranked Ohio Wesleyan.

Sophomore Andy Bonar (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) and freshman Kristopher Schmelzer (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) carded matching158s, good for a tie for 26th place. In addition, freshman Clinton Anderson (Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Mechanicsburg) finished 50th with a 162 and junior Adam Knowlton (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) and senior Jesse Fyffe (Chillicothe, Ohio/Chillicothe) finished with matching 167s, which earned a tie for 70th.

This week, the Tigers again face a strong field on a tough course as Wooster hosts its annual invitational tournament on Friday and Saturday.

Next: 4/18-19 Wooster Invitational

April 8, 2003

Dane Sandridge

The Tiger golf team is nearing the midway point of the 2003 season, with hopes that they will be able to climb into the upper echelon of the ultra-competitive North Coast Athletic Conference by season’s end.

Last weekend, the Tigers finished seventh in the 16-team Kenyon Cup at Apple Valley Golf Club. Eight of the nine conference schools that sponsor men’s golf as an intercollegiate varsity sport had a team entered, and the Tigers finished third among that group.

The Tigers’ low scorer was freshman Dane Sandridge (Westfield Center, Ohio/Lodi Cloverleaf), who rallied from an 85 on the first day to post a team-best 76 on Day 2 to finish 21st in the tournament, which was played in frigid, windy conditions. Sophomore Andy Bonar (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) added a 163, good for 27th, junior Adam Knowlton (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) finished with a 166 (33rd), freshman Kristopher Schmelzer (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) carded a 169 (43rd) and freshman Clinton Anderson (Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Mechanicsburg) rounded out the top five with a 170 (48th).

Next up for the Tigers is the Denison Spring Invitational, where many of the NCAC schools will again be competing.

Next: 4/12-13 at Denison Invitational

April 1, 2003

Adam Knowlton

The Tiger men's golf team got off to a solid start to the spring 2003 campaign with a sixth place finish in the Muskingum Invitational last weekend at Eagle Sticks Golf Club in Zanesville, Ohio. Thirteen teams from around the state were involved in the competition, including five NCAC schools, and of the conference schools involved the Tigers trailed only the top two teams in the entire tournament, nationally ranked Ohio Wesleyan and Denison.

The top score of the weekend was turned in by sophomore Andy Bonar (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster), who finished 12th with a solid two-day total of 151. Freshman Kristopher Schmelzer (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) added a 14th place finish with a two-day total of 153. Both golfers were in the 70s both days.

The best rounds of the tournament for the Tigers was turned in by junior Adam Knowlton (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee), who finished with a 76 on the first day and a two-day total of 157, good for 25th place, and Bonar, who had a 74.

Next: 4/5-6 at Kenyon Cup

March 10, 2003

Andy Bonar

Adam Knowlton

The Wittenberg golf team is beginning a new era this spring as Scott Isphording takes over as the team’s head coach. He inherits a team in transition after back-to-back fourth-place finishes in the always-tough North Coast Athletic Conference, home to perennial national powers Allegheny and Ohio Wesleyan, as well as several other schools, including Wittenberg, that have strong golf traditions.

Leading the way in 2003 will be sophomore Andy Bonar (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster), the team’s top scorer a year ago who earned second-team All-NCAC honors for his stellar performance at the conference meet. Bonar’s best finish of the 2002 season was third at the College of Wooster Invitational, an event in which he shot back-to-back 74s en route to a team season-best two-day total of 148. He followed that up with a fine sixth-place finish (159) in the NCAC event at Apple Valley.

The other returning letterwinners are junior Adam Knowlton (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee), who played the most rounds of any golfer on the team in 2001-02, and senior Jesse Fyffe (Chillicothe, Ohio/Chillicothe). Knowlton lettered his first two years as a collegian and ranked among the team’s top five golfers both seasons. Last year, Knowlton posted an average of 81.33, while Fyffe checked in with an average of 82.11 in five tournaments.

What the team lacks in experience, it makes up for in depth and potential. Sophomore Mike Aughenbaugh (Aurora, Ohio/Aurora) played one varsity tournament last year and will be counted on to carry a much more significant load in 2003. Also competing for playing time are freshmen Clinton Anderson (Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Mechanicsburg), Nathan Delaney (Toledo, Ohio/St. John’s Jesuit), Mark Sanders (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin), Dane Sandridge (Westfield Center, Ohio/Lodi Cloverleaf) and Kristopher Schmelzer (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster).

Next: 3/28-29 @ Muskingum

October 1, 2002

Andy Bonar

The Tiger golf team has gotten a facelift in 2002, starting at the top with first-year coach Scott Isphording. Several of the team’s top players have opted to concentrate on their studies, leaving some voids but also some tremendous opportunities that a precocious group of freshman have capitalized upon.

Wittenberg has participated in fall tournaments that included some of the best competition in the midwest each of the last two weeks. At the Denison Invitational two weeks ago, the Tigers finished 11th of 14 teams and were paced by sophomore Andy Bonar (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster), a second-team All-NCAC performer a year ago, who carded a 154, good for 20th place.

At Otterbein last weekend, the Tigers had a better showing, finishing fourth in the eight-team field. The competition was pared down to one round due to rain, and Wittenberg was paced by freshman Clinton Anderson (Mechanicsburg, Ohio/Mechanicsburg), who was sixth with a 76.

Next: 10/13-14 @ DePauw