By all accounts, the Hillsdale College men's golf team had its best fall campaign in 2025 since the program was restarted in 2014.

As the team now turns its focus to the spring 2026 season and championship competition, the Chargers are hungry to turn that fast start into a season for the history books.

Hillsdale was stellar in five fall competitions, placing in the top three as a team three times, including winning the Malone-Glenmoor Invitational by five strokes to start the season, and finishing runner-up to the top-ranked team in the nation, Grand Valley State, at the UIndy Invitational.

Thanks to those finishes, Hillsdale heads into the back half of the season ranked 33rd in the nation in the Scoreboard rankings, and with its highest regional ranking entering the spring in nearly a decade at fourth as a team in the Midwest Region.

A historic run of finishes by junior Robert Thompson in the fall played a huge role in Hillsdale's lofty ranking. Thompson finished no lower than seventh in all five events he played in the fall, including individual victories in the Malone-Glenmoor Invite and the Midwest Collegiate and a third runner-up finish in the Doc Spragg Invitational. With the victories, Thompson became just the fourth player in program history since its restart in 2014 to win individual medalist honors, and the first since Joel Pietila in 2017 to win two medals in the same season.

Entering the spring, Thompson is 22-under par for the season, and ranked 10th in the nation and fourth in the Midwest Region at the NCAA DII level as an individual. If he can maintain the form he showed in the fall, the junior should be a contender for G-MAC and Midwest Region medals and to become the first Hillsdale golfer to play in the NCAA DII National Championship in May.

Not only is Thompson hoping to play in that event, hosted at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada on May 18, but the Chargers are hoping to have his teammates join him representing Hillsdale on that stage. 

Oliver Marshall also had a solid fall for Hillsdale in his first action back from an injury that caused him to miss the 2024-25 season, recording three top 15 finishes in five events. Marshall, who had a stellar freshman campaign in 2023-24, should only continue to get stronger as he gets further and further removed from his injury and could have a big spring.

To fill out the lineup, first-year coach Luke Kelly will have tough calls to make, as four different players have shown form worthy of one of the three remaining spots at different times in the fall. Freshman Parker Stalcup had the single best finish, taking eighth overall at the UIndy Invite, but fellow freshman John Cassiday and sophomore Jackson Piacsek each played consistently well with top 20 finishes as well. And never count out junior Ryan O'Rourke, who had an uncharacteristic fall but was a key part of the lineup the previous two seasons and has the potential to be near the top of the leaderboard with Thompson and Marshall when he's on his game.

It all bodes well for Kelly, who took over the program this past summer and has the team off to a terrific start. The Chargers will build towards championship season in April with three invitationals full of regional foes beginning in late March. It all leads into the G-MAC Championships on April 20-22 at the BelTerra Golf Resort in Florence, Indiana, where the Chargers will look to reach the match play final for the first time with a top two medal play finish.

A solid spring season should get Hillsdale into the NCAA Central/Midwest Super Regional on May 7-9, hosted in the state of Michigan by Ferris State at the Katke Golf Course in Big Rapids. Having a huge event at a relatively nearby course should hopefully play in the Chargers' favor as Hillsdale looks to grab one of four qualifying slots for the NCAA DII National Championship in Nevada later in the season. You can find Hillsdale's full spring schedule here.