The Kenyon College golf team starts competition this week in the 2022 NCAA Division III Championship. Kenyon is one of 43 teams in the field, which will battle things out on two courses at Mission Inn Resort and Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
Kenyon earned its spot in the championship field by winning the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship, held last weekend at Westbrook Country Club. The NCAC victory was the first in program history.
In the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Division III Coaches Poll, released April 22, the Kenyon team held down the No. 20 spot.
Kenyon’s lineup for the national championship will remain the same as the one that competed in the conference championship. It includes seniors Nick Lust, Eric Lifson, Andrew Kotler and Ethan Manalo. Joining those four is first-year Armand Ouellette, who was named the NCAC Newcomer of the Year as well as the conference’s winner of the Dick Gordin Award for Player of the Year.
Over the course of the 2021-22 season, Ouellette leads the team with 72.55 scoring average. Lust, who shot a Kenyon- and club-record 64 last weekend, earned medalist honors at the conference championship and currently owns a 73.95 average. Lifson checks into championship play with a 74.20 average, while Manalo and Kotler carry respective averages of 75.60 and 76.10.
Kenyon’s tee times began Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Kenyon will switch over to the El Campeón course, with its tee times starting at 7:30 a.m.
After those first two rounds of play, the field will be cut to the top 18 teams, which will advance for two more rounds of play to determine the 2022 champion.
The NCAA championship appearance is Kenyon’s fourth overall but first since 1989, when the team tied for 19th place. In 2018, both Ryan Mutiora and Lawrence Courtney represented Kenyon at the NCAA championship, but both competed as individual qualifiers.
