Bulldogs aiming to close, if not overtake, Sandhill’s 2024 winning margin

Published 9:00 am Friday, May 23, 2025

One year ago, there weren’t really any competitions going on when the NJCAA Division III men’s golf national championship was being contested at Chautauqua Golf Club in New York.

Sandhills of North Carolina won as a team for the fourth year in a row without a four-player composite score of more than 291 for any of the four rounds. In the end, the winning team score was 12 shots under par.

Georgia Military College, a perennial participant at the national level, had its best round of 291 with the highest being 302. That put the Bulldogs 48 shots behind Sandhills.

Not that there was any threat to the runner-up slot, for 37 shots separated GMC and third place DuPage of Illinois. Forty-three shots separated third and fourth place, 38 between fourth and fifth.

(The battle for the individual low medalist was much more interesting as two Sandhills players turned in four-round totals of 5-under and 4-under.)

That’s was last year. Fast forward to March 17-18 when Sandhills hosted the Stitch Golf Spring Invitational at Long Leaf Golf Club in the Pinehurst area. GMC, behind the rounds of 71 and 69 from Ross Tetrault, defeated the Sandhills Flyers by nine strokes (600 to 609).

So the Flyers are beatable when it comes to two rounds in their home state. The national championship, which runs June 3-6 and returns to Chautauqua, is still a four-round affair. And in golf, the course makes all the difference, no two courses constructed exactly alike.

But the confidence is there for the Bulldogs not to mention the experience of playing in Western New York near Lake Erie between Buffalo and Cleveland, Ohio. Tetrault and Brady Wentz made All-American as freshmen for the Bulldogs. Wentz was fifth in the individual standings last year at 6-over. They want to bring home the program’s fourth national title overall and first since 2019.

GMC’s men’s golf coach is Kirk Kayden, a former NCAA head coach at Austin Peay and Mercer.

“We have experience knowing the golf course, so we feel good about that,” he said. “It’s important to know the golf course, do your homework in practice rounds. We have three guys ready for that.”

The coach also pointed out that while the 2024 winning margin was expansive, in 2023 it was in the range of 70 shots between the same schools.

“I think (winning at Sandhills) gave the guys some confidence to know they can beat a team with a bunch of players who are going on to four-year schools,” said Kayden, who has some players moving on to that level also. “The guys won the conference championship. (Nationals) is a great trip, a great tournament, a lot of golf in a one-week period.”

Nationals is going to be a different experience from the rest of the college golf season. Kayden brought up the number of rules officials and scorekeepers present, a pre-tournament banquet, signs with players’ names on them and introductions at the first tee.

“The golf course sets up well for us,” he said. “We have players who all have the capability of shooting low scores. We have a freshman (Tripp Dye) who won a conference championship.”

Bulldog players have two different seasons, fall and spring. Most on this year’s team will say the fall was rough, but things improved with work over the spring when it began in February.

Tetrault, from Albany, actually won at Long Leaf two years in a row.

“It’s pretty forgiving off the tee,” he said about the North Carolina course. “Luckily, I hit my driver relatively straight. I lived in North Carolina seven years growing up. Maybe there’s some energy (for me) there, but I tend to play well on that course.”

Tetrault said the grass and greens at Chautauqua are different, so putting for him can cause confusion.

“It was honestly not my best golf,” he said about his ninth-place showing. “That place is super-nice, though. Nice people out in the country. A lot of fishing out there, too.”

Wentz, who will continue his college golf career at Carson-Newman, is from Woodstock and had a good fall season, and it carried over to the spring. At Long Leaf, he calls his play average by his standards but the place is much easier to handle in the spring.

“I’m liking (Chautauqua) for this year,” he said. “It was hitting draws last year, but I’m hitting cuts now. Knowing what to do where on the course … I’m feeling good.

“We have a different team this year. Forty shots doesn’t mean anything with this team. We’ve all gotten better.”

Landon Lyon is a sophomore also from Albany, and he loved the New York experience as a freshman.

“I didn’t play too good last year,” he said about the exception. “My final round was pretty good with the wind and rain. I was two shots off the low round of the tournament in the fourth round.

“This season’s been a lot better, a lot lower scores.”
He had a two-round total of 155 at Long Leaf.

“That was huge for the team, to beat (Sandhills) on their home course,” said Lyon. “They are very different courses. New York is more open and grass and trees everywhere. The rough is thicker; in North Carolina outside the fairways it’s sandy. The ground and dirt is just different.”

Levi Gregg is a newcomer for GMC, a freshman from Evans. He was second to Tetrault at Long Leaf with a plus-1 145 playing as an individual. He and one of his teammates got a look at the mecca of golf, The Masters at Augusta National, in April.

As for the advice he is receiving about Chautauqua, Gregg said he needs to keep the ball in play off the tee.

“It’s easy going from there,” he said. “A couple of wedges, a couple of irons. I’m working on the 160, 170 (yard) numbers and trying to score well. Make some putts.”

Dye is from Jefferson and another playing much better in the spring than the fall.

“You didn’t have much competition qualifying (in high school). You went to every tournament knowing you were going to play, knowing you were going to play not against as strong a field,” he said. “In college, you have a bunch of great guys, good players who may not have gotten the looks. It’s been a lot harder to qualify here. It’s a tribute to our coach getting great players.”

Dye said the Long Leaf tournament was a great experience, his two-day score being 151.

“I think we can get it done in New York,” he said. “From what I’ve heard, if you hit the fairways (at Chautauqua), it’s very scoreable. You are never out of the round. If you make a bad score you can always come back and put a good score out there for the team that counts.”

There is also the adjustment to four straight days of competitive golf, something the Bulldogs do not go through at any other point of the year. It’s technically five days in a row with a practice round to start.

“I go in with the mentality that it’s a marathon,” said Tetrault. “You can’t win it on the first day, so try not to beat yourself up. It’s a lot more golf than I’m used to.”

“You can’t get too up if you play good,” said Wentz. “If you play bad, you can’t get too down. There’s still a bunch of golf left no matter what.”

Lyon, who will transfer to ABAC in Tifton and play at the NAIA level, looks to the three, four and five spots on the team as important in the nationals.

“In every round, it seemed like we had one or two guys who would shoot under or even par,” he said. “The rest of the team would be too far off compared to (Sandhills). They would have five guys shoot 75. We need better overall scores. I need to do my job and try to keep it below 75.

“(Playing four rounds) is really cool. You have to stay mentally prepared. You can’t give up.”

Gregg has never played a four-day tourney, but he knows there’s confidence after the win at Long Leaf.

“We have the skill set, so why not us?” he asked.

Dye did have a four-round tourney in high school where he placed in the top 10.

“It’s definitely a grind,” he said. “You can’t look back. You have to keep chopping wood.”

“If they play smart, within themselves, keep their mindset in a good place, golf’s a sport where it can be very frustrating at times, and it’s how you handle the adversity,” said Kayden.

“I know it’s going to be a surreal feeling, and I would love for us to bring that home,” said Gregg.

“It doesn’t matter what level, you win a national championship, that’s something you will remember the rest of your life,” said Kayden. “Pretty cool opportunity for the guys.”

Mason Cup

GMC sophomores Hannah Craig and Ross Tetrault were awarded this year’s Mason Cup. The Mason Cup is named for Harold Mason, a longtime GMC supporter, donor and golf enthusiast. The Mason Cup is given to individuals on the men’s and women’s golf teams who best represents the game of golf and Georgia Military College’s “Character Above All.”