A youthful and eager Emory golf team enjoyed a lesson-filled 2009-10 season that promises to pay dividends for the future. Competing in the always tough South Region, which boasted five of the nation's top six D-III programs, the Eagles closed out the year with the following accomplishments.
* A No. 15 national ranking in the final
Golf World/NIKE Golf Division III Poll.
* The school's eighth straight and 15th-ever bid to the NCAA D-III
Championships where it posted a 15th-place finish.
* Having two players, Ryan Dagerman and Shane Miller, earn
All-America status following their efforts at the NCAA Division III
Championships.
* Placing two players on the Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America
Scholar Team, senior John Ross and Miller.
After a slow start to the fall portion of the schedule, the Eagles
turned in a pair of strong performances in their final two outings
of 2009, finishing third out 16 teams at the Oglethorpe/Royal Lakes
Invitational and runner-up out of 17 squads at the O’Briant
Memorial. Emory shot a season-best 286 during the opening
round of the Oglethorpe/Royal Lakes Invitational, tying the
program’s fifth-lowest mark in school history, and concluded
that tournament with a 36-hole effort of 582, tying for the No. 4
position on the school’s all-time list.
Following the fall schedule, senior John Ross, who ranked
15th in career scoring average at Emory, graduated in
December while junior Charles Raindre withdrew from school
following a case of mono. While the loss of the two veterans
put a dent in the team’s depth, it opened the door for some
of the younger players to work their way onto the course and gain
valuable experience.
Things started to mesh for Emory in the third event of the spring
when the Eagles posted an 11th-place effort out of 27
teams at the Jekyll Island Invitational. Emory continued that
momentum in its next tournament, registering a
10th-place finish out of 19 teams at the Emory Spring
Invitational. Emory then turned its attention to the UAA
Championships where it came in second by two strokes to New York
University. Sophomore Ryan Dagerman became the
program’s first player since Mike Lebow (2005) to take home
medalist honors at the league championship after defeating
NYU’s Mike Liebfried on the third hole of a playoff.
At the NCAA Division III Championships, held at the Hershey Country
Club (PA), the Eagles rebounded from an opening-day 327 to shoot
three straight sub-300 rounds to post a 72-hole score of 1217,
fourth-best in school history, to finish 15th out of the
23 teams that made the cut from the original field of 37.
Individually, Ryan Dagerman concluded the year
with the team's best scoring average at 75.3 strokes per round.
A First Team All-University Athletic Association honoree for
the second straight year, Dagerman captured Second Team All-America
acclaim after tying for 13th place at the Division III
Championships. His final score of 294 tied him with Timothy
Hamm (2004) for the lowest mark in school history at the
NCAAs. Dagerman was Emory's top performer in six tournaments
including the Rhodes College Invitational (Sept. 20-21) where he
totaled a 36-hole score of even-par 144 (71-73), placing him third
out of 108 competitors.
Senior Shane Miller closed out his career with a
Third Team All-America berth after tying for 17th place
at the NCAA Championships. Miller was the lone Emory
performer to play in all 11 tournaments during the year, finishing
with an average of 78.2 strokes per 18 holes. Miller posted
three rounds of par or lower including a 67 on the first day of the
Oglethorpe/Royal Lakes Invitational that ranked as the best score
of the year by any Eagle and that tied for the third-lowest
mark in the history of the program, Miller was one of three
Eagles to earn Second Team All-UAA recognition.
Sophomore Tae Cho emerged as a key contributor and
came through with a number of solid outings. Cho totaled 15
rounds of competition and averaged 78.1 strokes. A Second
Team All-UAA member, he was named the conference’s Golfer of
the Week on two occasions and either tied for or led the team at
three events – The O’Briant Memorial (t-8th
out of 90 players), Jekyll Island Invitational (39th out
of 134 players) and the Emory Spring Invitational (20th
out of 97 players).
Freshman Thomas Mally was part of the stable of
newcomers who made their contributions felt. Mally ended up
playing 21 rounds, third highest on the team, and averaged 79.4
strokes. He landed Second Team All-UAA recognition and was
the Eagles’ No. 2 scorer in three tournaments.
Honors and Awards
All-American |
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Ryan Dagerman |
Dallas, TX |
Second Team |
Sophomore |
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Shane Miller |
Irwin, PA |
Third Team |
Senior |
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All-UAA | |||||||||||||||||||
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Georgia Cup All-State Team | |||||||||||||||||||
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Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar Team | |||||||||||||||||||
Shane Miller |
Irwin, PA |
Senior |
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John Ross |
N. Barrington, IL |
Senior |
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UAA Player of the Week |
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Ryan Dagerman |
Dallas, Texas |
Sept. 28, 2009 |
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Shane Miller |
Irwin, PA |
Oct. 26, 2009 |
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Tae Cho |
Seongnomsi, S. Korea |
Nov. 2, 2009 |
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Ryan Dagerman |
Dallas, TX |
Mar. 8, 2010 |
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Ryan Dagerman | Dallas, TX | Mar. 15, 2010 | |||||||||||||||||
Tae Cho |
Seongnomsi, S. Korea |
Mar. 22, 2010 |