Release courtesy of Franklin & Marshall Athletic Communications
LANCASTER, Pa. - Franklin & Marshall men's golf team is set for its 14th all-time appearance at the NCAA Division III Championship this week. The 2021 Tournament opens on Tuesday, May 11 and continues through Friday, May 14. The four-round, 72-hole event will be held at the Oglebay Golf Course in Wheeling, West Virginia.
To follow along with live results, please see the links at the top of the preview.
F&M's Road to the Tournament
The Diplomats earned one of 30 automatic qualifying bids after winning their 11th Centennial Conference Championship in program history. That total is the most of any team in the conference. Head coach Andy Tompos '69 has led his alma mater to the Centennial Conference Championship in nine of his 12 seasons that the championship has been held. To earn that automatic bid, the Diplomats rallied from a three-shot deficit heading into the final round and won by a single stroke in what was the second-closest team finish in conference history.
The Diplomats competing
The same five golfers who captured the 2021 Centennial Conference Championship for F&M will be back on the links for the NCAA Championship. All five players will be making their NCAA debuts at the event. All-Centennial Conference selections Jas Fuhrer and Jared Berlin are tied for a team-best 75.3 scoring average this spring. Berlin, the 2019 Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year, earned his second straight all-conference accolade. He turned in his best round of the year (69) when he took home medalist honors at the F&M Invitational and was subsequently named the conference's player of the week. Berlin placed fourth at the Centennial Conference Championships with the lowest score (74) during the second round of the tournament.
Fuhrer, a sophomore, earned his first All-Centennial Conference recognition. Fuhrer started his spring tying for the low score at McDaniel and followed that up with a runner-up finish to Berlin at the F&M Invitational. Fuhrer was a top-five finisher at four of the five tournaments this season, capped by a runner-up finish at the conference championship. He was also one of the team's most consistent golfers this year, with all of his rounds finishing in the 70s.
Sophomore Michael Gallagher and first-year Dominic Sculti have identical scoring averages of 77.0 during the 2021 campaign. Gallagher took home medalist honors and was named the Centennial Conference's Player of the Week with his low round (73) during the season-opening McDaniel Invitational. He placed 12th at the Centennial Conference Championships. Sculti finished in a tie for sixth at the Centennial Conference Championships. He also turned in his low round of the year (74) at McDaniel's invitational where he tied for third. Junior Jordan Hubal made his way into the team's lineup after third and fourth place finishes in his first two events of the year. Hubal's low round of 73 came at the Dickinson Spring Invitational and he will bring a 78.2 scoring average into the national championship.
Franklin & Marshall at the NCAA Championships
The Diplomats have made 10 of their 14 NCAA appearances since the 2007 season. Since joining the Centennial Conference, F&M's best finish was during the 2015 season when the Diplomats tied for 17th overall. The Diplomats have placed in the top 20 during seven of their previous 13 appearances, with the best showing being a seventh-place performance during the 1987 Division III Championship. F&M placed 28th overall in its most recent appearance at the national championship, which came in 2018.
Tee Times
Day one will see Franklin & Marshall paired with Catholic while the final three players to tee off for both teams will also be playing alongside individual qualifiers. The Diplomats will be playing the par-70 (6,621 yds.) Palmer Course at Oglebay on Tuesday. Jordan Hubal will be the first Diplomat to the tee box at 10:05 a.m. He will be followed by Michael Gallagher (10:15 a.m.), Dominic Sculti (10:25 a.m.), Jared Berlin (10:35 a.m.), and Jas Fuhrer (10:45 a.m.).
Day two will be an early tee time for F&M on the par-71 (6,857 yds.) Speidel Jones Course. Playing with Catholic and the individuals once again, F&M will be first on the tee box that round with Hubal at 7:35 a.m.. He will be followed in the same order by Gallagher (7:45 a.m.), Sculti (7:55 a.m.), Berlin (8:05 a.m.), and Fuhrer (8:15 a.m.). After the team cut following round two, tee times will be posted with the remaining teams trough the live scoring links above.