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2019 Centennial Conference Coach of the Year Nate Davis has his team primed and ready for another run at the conference crown this season thanks to a strong offseason and a trio of senior leaders with championship experience. The team opened its 2021 campaign at the McDaniel Invitational last weekend and it has four more weeks to perfect its game until the CC Championship scheduled for April 24. Davis breaks down the team’s offseason workouts, his favorite moments on the course in his three years at the helm, and what the team needs to do to retain the conference crown in the video above.
Program Highlights
Competitive play against stiff competition is par for the course for men’s golf. The Bullets have compiled a strong record in the always-tough Centennial Conference and against other top teams in Division III.
The 2018-19 season was a memorable one for Gettysburg as the team finished 24th overall out of the 42-team field in its first national appearance in 17 years. The Bullets just missed the 18-team cut following 36 holes of competition. It was a record-breaking year for the team, which set a new program standard with a scoring average of 303.4, won nine team titles, and captured its first Centennial crown in 17 years.
Danny Harcourt ’19 became the first two-time All-American in the history of the men’s golf program when he was tabbed Division III PING All-America Third Team by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) in 2019. He produced a dominating senior campaign as he broke his own season scoring record with a mark of 72.96 and won a total of five individual tournaments, including the Centennial Conference Championship. Harcourt finished his career in the Orange and Blue by setting program records for rounds (83), events (52), top-five finishes (35), top-10 finishes (39), and strokes per round (74.3). His 13 individual titles tie Hall of Athletic Honor inductee Jim Koury ’83 for the program’s career record.
Men’s golf has won the Centennial Conference team title four times and has also been runner up three times. Bullet golfers have also captured the conference individual championship seven times since the conference was formed in 1993-94 and have gone to the NCAA Division III tournament twice.
The team practices and plays home matches at The Bridges Golf Course in nearby Abbottstown, Pa.
NCAA Division III Tournament Team Appearances: 1994, 2019
Middle Atlantic Conference Champions: 1971, 1977, 1981, 1992 (co)
Centennial Conference Champions: 1994, 1995, 2002, 2019
Centennial Conference Runner-Up: 2001, 2004, 2011
All-Americans: Guillermo Nakada ’95 (1994-Third Team), Danny Harcourt ’19 (2018-Honorable Mention; 2019-Third Team)
Centennial Conference Individual Champions (6): Rick Gesseck (1995), Jeff Forbes (1996, 1997), Mike McLaughlin (2000, 2002), Peter Ruymann (2011), Danny Harcourt (2019)
Four-time All-Centennial Conference First Team Selection: Mike McLaughlin ’02 (1999-02)
All-Centennial Conference First Team Selections: 29
Centennial Conference Coach of the Year: Nate Davis (2019)
This story was originally posted on the Gettysburg College Website.