Feb. 28, 2009

With a strong group of seniors and sophomores, the Dayton Flyers men's golf team opens the 2009 spring season on Monday, March 2 in a dual meet against Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Fla.

First year head coach Chris Hale showcases a lineup that has a unique mix of seniors and underclassmen.

Senior Rob Chappell, the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, leads the Flyer attack after he won the individual championship at the 2008 Atlantic 10 Men's Golf Championship, advanced to the Round of 64 at the 2008 U.S. Amateur and earned the Flyers' Most Valuable Player award for the third season in a row.

However, there are plenty of quality players nipping at Chappell's heels for the No. 1 spot.

Sophomore Chris Woeste, 2008 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, looks to build off a fall campaign where he recorded a 76.8 stroke average. Sophomore Zach Glassman averaged a 74.1 and built upon the momentum of playing in the 2008 U.S. Amateur Championship. Sophomore Jeff Hodapp finished third on the team in stroke average at 74.3 and is looking to emerge as a more consistent player on the links.

The senior class of Mitch Custenborder, Nick Trubee, Mark Juve and Matthew Friend should be in the mix and finish their careers with a flourish. Friend and Trubee each averaged a 77.0 in the fall and have played in enough big tournaments to provide consistently low scores in the spring. Custenborder and Juve are notoriously better players during the spring season and should post solid scores throughout the campaign.

Freshman Michael Oberschmidt earned Rookie of the Week honors in October and should be able to continue to develop into a strong overall player.

Hale believes his squad is poised to start off the spring season on the right path and best chance ever to win the A-10 and then travel to the NCAA Division I regionals.

One of the key additions between the fall and spring seasons was the addition of assistant coach Gip Hoagland.

Hoagland is a Class A PGA Professional and Head Professional and Director of Operations at Penn Terra Golf Course. Gip also serves as Tournament Chairman for the Dayton Chapter of the Southern Ohio PGA.

UD capped a fall campaign in which the Flyers won their first tournament championship in three years and saw four different golfers reach career bests in stroke average and individual rounds. Dayton, as a team, finished the fall season averaging 299.00 strokes per round.

The Flyers also placed in second at the 2008 Atlantic 10 Men's Golf Championship, had two golfers compete in the 2008 U.S. Amateur Championship.