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PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida – Bethune-Cookman swept the Men’s Division I and Women’s Team competitions at the 30th PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship, contested at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida, but not without the Wildcat men requiring an extra hole of work.
Although not mathematically impossible, a playoff in college golf is at least mathematically improbable. After three days and 216 holes, Bethune-Cookman and Tennessee State University were implausibly tied, having each taken 907 shots.
Fittingly, both programs reported to the first hole of the Wanamaker Course, where everything started on Friday morning.
Two groups and 25 minutes later, Bethune-Cookman emerged as Men’s Division I champions, having required only 20 shots to Tennessee State’s 21 on the 487-yard, par-5 opening hole.
Playoffs in collegiate team golf are “pretty rare,” according to Bethune-Cookman Head Golf Coach Loritz “Scooter” Clark. “Truthfully, at the end, I was just hoping for a playoff. I wanted an opportunity to see if we could continue it and pull it out. We were able to do just that. What was fun was, on the first green, during the playoff, seeing a different level of focus and determination from all our kids. They earned this. Tennessee State played very well and pushed us.”
Tennessee State’s bid was led by freshman Drew Owens, who was the Division I Men’s medalist at 221.
At 897, Bethune-Cookman’s women again asserted their dominance in the Women’s Team Division, claiming their record fifth consecutive title in the PGA Minority Collegiate Championship. The victory was also the Wildcats’ 13th in the 19-year history of the Women’s Division. A freshman, Shamiso Hatchard, set the tone for Bethune-Cookman’s 30-stroke victory over runner-up Chicago State University (927).
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