ATLANTA, Ga. — Oglethorpe men’s golf senior Sam Karman recorded a stellar fall season, providing an even greater outlook for the upcoming spring schedule.
“The driving force, our heart and soul, the engine grinding every day, the guy we rally around,” are just some of the ways head coach Jim Owen describes his indispensable senior. A four-year starter with a spectacular career as a Stormy Petrel, Karman has already made a great start to his final campaign. He is currently ranked the 42nd best player in the nation and 23rd in the south region. Through 14 competitive rounds he holds a 71.2 scoring average and has an overall win/loss record of 379-85-21.
“Sam is eyeing a player of the year type year in the SAA and an all-American honor along with his third scholar all-American in May,” Owen added.
Karman and his teammate Jackson Hiller have been a formidable 1-2 punch all fall for the Petrels, leading Oglethorpe to rank seventh in the national standings and fifth in the GCAA coaches poll. Hiller at 5 under and Karman at 4 under claimed winner and runner-up, respectively, at the West Pines Collegiate in October. This was Karman’s best finish of the season so far, followed by a 15th place finish at Graystone and 20th at the Golfweek Invitational in Destin. He also finished 30th at the NCAA Preview in New York. All five of Karman’s tournament events have produced top 30 or better finishes this fall.
Karman recorded eight even par or better rounds in his 14 starts, with his lowest round a 4 under 67 in the final round of West Pines.
A team captain, Karman will lead the No. 5 Stormy Petrels into their first two tournaments this March in Savannah. The spring season will begin at Savannah Harbor’s invitational, then Oglethorpe will host the 30-team Jekyll Island Collegiate at the end of the month. Oglethorpe won the 24th edition of the Jekyll Island Collegiate last year on the King and Prince Course of St. Simons Island, the location moved due to renovations at Jekyll.
The Petrels fired rounds of 301-282-299 to total 882 and win by five strokes over Carnegie Mellon. This was their first win at Jekyll in over 15 years.