Behind the strength of two top-10 finishers, the Hillsdale College men's golf team battled to a fourth place finish in medal play at the G-MAC Championships on Tuesday at Belterra Golf Club in Florence, Indiana, keeping hopes alive of a NCAA Super Regional berth in the process.
Hillsdale shot a 304-298-202=905 as a team to beat fifth-place Ashland by 12 strokes, and finish just two strokes behind third place Tiffin in a tight battle that went down to the final holes. First place Findlay and second place Ohio Dominican advanced to match play on Wednesday to determine the G-MAC Champion.
The Chargers were led by strong play from their two sophomore stars, who each shot 222 for 54 holes to finish together in a three-way tie for sixth place.
Ryan O'Rourke carded a 73-75-74=222, making an eagle on the 18th hole of his final round to move back into the top 10 after briefly falling out in the final round. He was joined at 222 by teammate
Robert Thompson, who posted his second straight top 10 finish at the G-MAC Championships with a 74-74-74=222 to better his seventh place finish in 2024.
Freshman
Jackson Piacsek also had an encouraging outing for the Chargers in his first G-MAC Championship, spending most of the three rounds in the top 10 before some late hiccups in the final round dropped him into 13th with a 75-73-78=226.
Junior
Maxwell Burns was 29th, bouncing back from a first-round 82 to shoot a pair of 77s in the final two rounds to finish at 236. Senior
Filippo Realer rounded out Hillsdale's quintet with a 36th place finish, shooting an 82-76-80=238.
The Chargers spent the entire event in the top five, surging into second place in the second round with a strong front nine and entering the final round just one stroke back of runner-up Ohio Dominican. Ultimately, however, the Panthers pulled away and Hillsdale couldn't hold off a hard late charge by Tiffin who moved past the Chargers into third during the final holes.
Hillsdale was one of the tournament's top teams on Par 5s, shooting six-under to tie for the second best performance on those holes. The Chargers also led all teams with three eagles, two by O'Rourke, and were second to only Findlay with 144 pars. Both Thompson and O'Rourke drove much of Hillsdale's success on Par 5s, shooting a combined 10-under on those holes, and Thompson was second among all players in the field with 11 total birdies.
The Chargers entered the G-MAC Championship knowing that they likely needed a finish of fourth or better to have a real chance of making their first NCAA Super Regional since 2021, so Tuesday's finish will keep Hillsdale's hopes of an at-large bid alive. The Chargers entered the weekend ranked ninth and finished ahead of eighth-ranked Ashland this week, but behind 10th ranked Ohio Dominican while 11th-ranked UIndy finished runner-up in the GLVC Championship meet. The top 10 in the regional rankings, minus any spots for automatic qualifiers outside the top 10, will make the NCAA Regional, and Hillsdale will anxiously await the announcement of the field on Friday at 5 p.m. to find out if they will get to extend their season into May.
Photo Courtesy of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference
