Recap: Men's Golf posts third straight winning season, solid OAC finish in 2012-13

By Tim Glon

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's golf team posted its third consecutive winning season and its fourth straight finish of fourth or better in the Ohio Athletic Conference in 2012-13 under first-year head coach Chad Ehrnsberger.

The Polar Bears finished with an overall mark of 56-30-3. The 56 victories ties for the second-most wins in a season in program history.

Northern was fourth of seven teams at the 2013 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships with a 72-hole total of 1,235, just 22 strokes off of the lead and six shots out of third place.

As a team, ONU set a single-season scoring record with a 312.0 average.

Freshman Rick Deichert earned All-Conference honors by tying for fifth at the OAC Championships with a 15-over par 303.

Deichert shared the 36-hole lead with a 147 and finished just four shots off of the lead in his first OAC appearance.

He was fourth on the squad with a 79.3 average for 21.5 rounds, which is the 15th-lowest average in school history.

Junior Colin Burns earned All-OAC kudos for the second consecutive season, finishing eighth at the OAC Championships.

Burns led the Polar Bears in scoring for the second straight season, averaging 76.9 strokes per round. That average is the second-lowest single-season average in school history.

Junior Pat Helman was named Academic All-OAC.

He finished seventh on the squad with an 83.6 average for 10.5 rounds.

Junior Ryan Wirtz had another outstanding season, finishing second on the team with a 78.5 average, which marks the eighth-best average in school history.

Freshman Brandon Lambert also had a fine rookie season, finishing third on the team with a 78.8 average for 15.5 rounds.

His average is the 10th-best in the history of the ONU men's golf program.

The Polar Bears won two dual matches and two tri-matches and captured the 7-team Mount Union Fall Invitational in 2012-13.

Northern opened the season with a 305-343 home victory over Heidelberg at Colonial Golfers Club on Sept. 4.

ONU followed with a second place finish at the Jon Speiss Memorial tournament hosted by Defiance and was fourth at the OAC Fall Invitational.

Burns set the school's 36-hole record and posted two of the school's top 10 rounds with a 70-70—140 to win Medalist honors and lead ONU to the team title at Mt Union.

Northern's team score of 591 missed the school record by just one stroke.

Wirtz also carded a first round 70 as ONU shattered its 18-hole team record with a first round 286, bettering the previous record by eight strokes.

ONU finished the fall schedule with a sizzling 29-9-1 record and started off the spring with a pair of tri-match wins over St. Vincent (Pa.) and Marywood (Pa.) in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The Polar Bears then finished sixth at Mt St Joseph Invitational and won at Ohio State-Lima 300-325 to move to 39-14-1.

ONU finished its regular season with a fourth place finish at Trine (Ind.), a fifth place finish at the rain-shortened OAC Spring Invitational and a seventh place finish at the Wooster Invitational.

At the OAC Championships, ONU's second round 299 was just one stroke off of the best round by any team at the tournament.