Six tournament wins, their third OAC Championship in four years and a trio of seasoned seniors are all leading up to the chance to compete for a national title for the men’s golf team.
After winning the conference, the Cardinals are making an appearance at the NCAA Division III Championships May 15-18 at Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. As the season winds down, seniors Brock Neighbors and Taylor Ford and graduate student Ben Adams express their expectations for the NCAA Championship and reflect on their experience at Otterbein.
The Cards have been crowned golf OAC champions for the third time in four years. Graduate student Ben Adams finished first overall, individually taking medalist honors at the OAC. Sophomore Matt Mosca placed fifth while Ford and Neighbors tied for sixth. Junior Taylor Harle tied for 23rd.
When the Cardinals last appeared at the NCAA Championship in 2009 and 2010, they placed 13th. This year, Neighbors feels that finishing in the top five or 10 is a realistic goal.
Adams has high hopes for the tournament as well. Even though he doesn’t expect any specific results, he has faith in his teammates, who he said can compete with anyone.
Ford hopes the Cards get off to a good start early in the first two days, and then that will secure them to do well for the rest of the tournament.
“It’s all about having fun, though, and that’s the main goal,” Ford said.
Adams, Ford and Neighbors have made some lasting memories during their golfing career at Otterbein. One memory that stuck out to Adams was when the team reenacted a scene from “A Night at the Roxbury” in the van on their way to a tournament. The song “What is Love” by Haddaway was bursting out of the van while the golf team, including the driver, nodded their white hats to the right.
Ford’s favorite memory from his four years at Otterbein was during his freshman year after the Cards had finished the NCAA Championships. “We were all really happy with how we finished, and I gained a couple lifelong friends. The whole week was incredible.”
Neighbor’s favorite memory was during his freshman year when the Cardinals upset John Carroll to win the OAC. “The seniors on that team had never been to Nationals, and helping them finally make it was pretty awesome.”
Fond memories that Adams recalled were how the team played a lot of golf and won a lot of tournaments. “I hope we can bring this to nationals,” he said.
For Brock, his favorite memory had to be last week at the OAC. “Seeing Ben finishing up his round knowing that we were going to win was an incredible feeling,” Neighbors said.
For Ford, the team was successful because they are a close-knit group of good friends and have been going through the season as a real team. “It’s better than a sport like football where there are 50 players and it is really hard to become close with everyone, but golf makes that possible. We are all good friends, so it’s made a memorable senior season.”
In addition to qualifying, the team’s head coach Matt Cooperrider was recently named the 2012 OAC Coach of the Year.
The team will leave to compete during finals week. The tournament has 210 participants battling it out to call themselves a national champion.
