NICHOLASVILLE, Ky.— The No. 9 Oglethorpe men's golf team finished the final round of the 72-hole NCAA Division III Men's Golf National Championship with a 299 on Friday. The Stormy Petrels finished in 12th place after advancing past the cut line to a reduced field of 18 teams.

"As we projected with the shift in the wind, today was going to be a shootout," said Head Coach Jim Owen, the Southern Athletic Association coach of the year. "We contributed 19 birdies to that shootout despite the course playing so much differently than it had in previous days, but we could not keep the bogeys and 'others' off the cards to ever make a move. Any time we put a birdie on the card, we would give it right back with a bogey. We might go birdie-birdie, but then we would give that right back with a double (bogey). We could not sustain any momentum."

Sophomore Colin Alexander led Oglethorpe on the final day with a solid even par 72. This was a notable 10-shot improvement from round three for Alexander.

Senior Tripp Murphy had the highest individual finish for the Petrels at T28 and a cumulative 5 over par. Murphy carded a final round 75 and recovered well on the back nine with a 2 under par 34. This included finishing with a birdie on a difficult 18th hole, rounding out his tremendous career on a high note and helping put him into the conversation for all-American.

Michael O'Sullivan was only two shots back from Murphy at a cumulative 7 over par for the tournament and a T38 finish.

Beck Lewis and Sam Karman both contributed 76's to the team score on Friday. Lewis finished T51 and Karman T56.

"We were disappointed we could not prove we were a top five team this week," said Owen. The Petrels were fifth after day one. "We were also disappointed we could not finish top 10. But, we are very proud to be the 12th-place team in the nation this year."

This event concluded the 2022-2023 golf season for the Stormy Petrels.

Tournament Notes

• Oglethorpe finished seventh in the field in par 5 scoring at 16 under par.
• The Petrels were one of only five teams with three or more eagles and posted 56 birdies which ranked 13th overall. They were also 13th in total pars.
• Oglethorpe's three eagles came one apiece from O'Sullivan, Lewis and Alexander.
• Murphy and O'Sullivan both posted 14 birdies for the tournament, ranking 23rd. Murphy was 27th with 44 pars.
• O'Sullivan shot 6 under par on the par 5's. This ranked 16th.
• Murphy and Lewis ranked in the top 30th for par 4 and par 5 scoring, respectively. Karman ranked 32nd on the par 4's.