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 15^th 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 11^th-place effort out of 27 teams at the Jekyll Island Invitational. Emory continued that momentum in its next tournament, registering a 10^th-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 15^th 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 13^th 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 17^th 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-8^th out of 90 players), Jekyll Island Invitational (39^th out of 134 players) and the Emory Spring Invitational (20^th 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