Playing with one of youngest lineups in the history of the program, the Emory golf team enjoyed a number of outstanding accomplishments during the 2015-16 season.

For the greater part of the season, the Eagles took part in 11 competitions with a contingent that featured four freshmen and one sophomore.  And while having that many youthful faces may have led some to believe that Emory would be rebuilding, nothing could have been farther from the truth as the Eagles went from being unranked at the start of ’15-16 to the No. 12 position in the final regular season Bushnell Golfweek Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Emory played its way into the NCAA Division III Championships for the first time since 2013, and also brought home the University Athletic Association Championships, with the league implementing a match-play format for the first time.

The Eagles gave notice early on of the talent they possessed, recording a fourth-place finish out of 17 teams at the season-opening Rhodes College Fall Classic. Freshman Connor Yakubov, a native of Columbus, Ohio, highlighted the team’s effort by finishing runner-up in the 93-player field with a one-over par 145.  With Yakubov spearheading the Emory contingent with his fifth-place finish out of 96 entries, the squad closed out the fall portion of its four-tournament schedule with a sixth-place performance out of 18 teams at the O’Briant-Jensen Memorial, and in the process continued to set the stage for a solid spring season.

Emory held down the No. 5 slot out of 30 teams at the Jekyll Island Collegiate, firing a school record 54-hole score of 866.  The Eagles followed that with a runner-up finish at the Wynlakes Intercollegiate, which saw freshman Stefano Butti tie for medalist honors in the 63-player field.  The Eagles hosted their annual Spring Invitational at Smoke Rise Golf and Country Club in Stone Mountain and placed fourth out of 14 teams.  Yakubov came through with a third-place individual finish in the 80-player field, and followed that with the No. 2 spot on the leader board at the Navy Spring Invitational in the team’s final regular-season competition.

At the NCAA Championships, Emory tied for 15^th place out of 41 teams after the opening two rounds and just missed out on the opportunity of playing the final 36 holes after coming up short in a playoff.

Yakubov ended the year averaging a team-leading 74.62 strokes over 21 rounds, good for third place on the program’s seasonal ladder. He was tabbed as both the league’s Player and Rookie of the Year.  A Division III PING All-Southeast Region honoree, he shot par or better on five occasions and was Emory’s top performer in five tournaments.  He carded the team’s best round of the season with his three-under par 68 at the Navy Spring Invitational tying for the sixth-best mark in school history.

Butti made his impact felt as well, capturing First Team All-UAA acclaim after averaging 75.31 strokes over 19 rounds of play.  He was tabbed as the Most Valuable Player of the UAA Championships after winning both of his match-play outings, and also garnered PING All-Southeast Region kudos.  Emory's top performer in three tournaments, his team-best 215 at the Jekyll Island Collegiate tied for the No. 4 position on the school's all-time list for a 54-hole tournament.

Freshman Anthony Muscato was a significant contributor, averaging 75.27 strokes over 15 rounds, good for 19^th place on the program’s scoring ladder.  A First Team All-UAA honoree who shot par or better on two occasions, his best outing of the year was a three-under par 69 during the second round of the Jekyll Island Collegiate (Mar. 19), which tied for the squad's second-best round of the season.  Muscato was Emory’s top performer during its two rounds at the NCAA Championships, and competed in a playoff to continue on as an individual over the final two days of competition.


Honors and Awards