Under the direction of 32nd-year head coach Pat Owen, the Navy men’s golf team will open its 2021 fall campaign this weekend when it travels to Farmingdale, N.Y. to compete in The Doc Gimmler. Hosted by St. John’s, the two-day, 54-hole event is slated to begin on Saturday on the Red Course (par-70, 7,092 yards) at Bethpage State Park. Tee times for Saturday’s first round have not yet been announced.
The Field
Navy is among a 15-team field that includes the host, St. John’s, along with Colgate, Columbia, Connecticut, Hartford, Hofstra, Holy Cross, Iona, Lafayette, Lehigh, Towson, Villanova, Xavier and Yale.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last year’s Doc Gimmler was pushed from its traditional fall date to the spring. The host Redstorm (276-280-271=827) led wire to wire, claiming the team title with a 13-under par 827, 18 strokes better than second-place Hartford 291-276-278=845). St. John’s players finished 1-2-3 with Jack Simon earning medalist honors with a 6-under par 204. Simon will defend that title in his senior season.
The Midshipmen did not compete in spring edition of The Doc Gimmler due to travel constraints in response to the pandemic.
The Course
Bethpage State Park features five 18-hole regulation golf courses, including the world-renowned Black Course which was the site of the United State Open in 2002 and ’09, The Barclays in 2012 and ’16 and will play host to the Ryder Cup in 2024, the PGA Championship in 2019 and The Barclays in 2021 and 2027. The Red Course at the Bethpage State Park opened in 1933 in Farmingdale, N.Y. and has served as the home of the Long Island Open Championship qualifier’s round since 2012.
Follow The Action
Fans can follow the Mids throughout the weekend via Golfstat.
Navy’s Lineup
1. Chad Deegan (Sr / Newport Beach, Calif.), 2. Nicholas Klock (Sr / Morago, Calif.), 3. Keegan Shreves (Jr / Potomac, Md.), 4. Benjamin Valdez (Fr / Stevenson Ranch, Calif.), 5. Andrew Wilkinson (Fr / Ashland, Va.).
More on the Mids
Navy returns three All-Patriot League standouts to its lineup this fall, including team captain Chad Deegan who owned Navy’s second-lowest average of the 2020-21 campaign. Deegan, who has been in the Mids’ regular lineup since arriving in Annapolis as a freshman, finished last season with a 73.86 stroke average among the four events in which were played using stroke play. Deegan garnered Second-Team All-Patriot League recognition his sophomore season.
Keegan Shreves earned First-Team All-Patriot League honors a season ago after tying for third place, while Nicholas Klock grabbed second-team accolades after a ninth-place finish. Shreves closed out last season with a 77.29 stroke average that featured a pair of top-10 finishes in the four tournaments in which he played, while Klock posted a 74.00 stroke average, placing among the top 10 in both events in which he competed.
Newcomers Benjamin Valdez and Andrew Wilkinson will make their collegiate debut for the Mids this weekend. Valdez was a three-time First-Team All-Foothill League performer who was named the 2019 Foothill League Player of the Year, while Wilkinson was an All-State (Va.) standout who won individual medalist honors at the 2021 Virginia High School League Class 4 State Championship.
Meanwhile, gone from last year’s team are two-time First-Team All-Patriot League and 2018 Patriot League Player of the Year Charlie Musto (73.71 average in 2020-21) and four-year letter winner Ward Wilkinson (74.29), who graduated in May.
What’s Ahead
Navy returns home next Sunday when it will play host to St. John’s in dual action.
### Go Navy ###
