Golfweek October Classic: Illinois Wesleyan banks a win to take into the offseason

Winning as an particular person and successful as half of a crew is not an apples-to-apples comparability. This is something Jim Ott, head males’s golf coach at Illinois Wesleyan since 2000, knows nicely.

As Ott also famous, sometimes the expertise of falling short down the stretch teaches all the classes needed to get it achieved the next time. Ott’s crew lived both of those adages on Oct. 20 as the Titans won the Golfweek October Classic in their fifth and closing fall begin.

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“You just can’t do it overnight, it takes time,” Ott said. “You almost have to be there – we always say, you have to throw up on yourself a couple times to figure it out and understand what it takes to win.

“It’s totally different than successful individually. Winning as a crew is a totally different stage of stress. If you fail yourself, it’s just yourself. But the guys are actually close and have a team-first tradition, it makes a distinction when they know they’re taking part in for their teammates and not essentially for themselves.”

Last spring, Illinois Wesleyan was runner-up at the NCAA Division III National Championship. The Titans lost in a playoff. But after that occasion, Ott graduated three starters. That means that the majority of his fall roster was made up of gamers who had labored their manner into the lineup for the first time.

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Illinois Wesleyan landed at No. 6 in the newest Bushnell/Golfweek Division III Coaches Poll revealed days before the begin of the Golfweek October Classic. Playing at Raven Golf Club in Sandestin, Florida, a acquainted venue, Illinois Wesleyan got off to a gradual begin with its highest spherical of the week on the first day.

Ott’s crew shaved 17 strokes from an opening 295 to a second-round 278, and Ott knew with a stable third spherical, the Titans could be in the hunt.

“Fortunately we got out early and established a little bit of a lead for ourselves,” he said.

After a 3-over 287 in the closing spherical, Illinois Wesleyan ended 54 holes at 8 over, which gave the crew a three-shot victory over Whitman College. Oglethorpe was third another shot back.

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More: Bushnell/Golfweek males’s faculty golf coaches polls for Oct. 15, 2026

Hampden-Sydney College’s Til Wagner won the particular person title at 4 under, which left him one shot forward of Oglethorpe’s Jackson Hiller. Wagner eagled the par-5 17th gap in the closing spherical to secure his victory.

Illinois Wesleyan prevailed with sturdy performances from three gamers in specific. Ben Gelven tied for third while Pablo Castro and Ryan Andrews tied for 11th.

“What was most spectacular about that last spherical was the whole crew effort,” Ott said. “No one went tremendous low, no one went actually high. . . . One man had 71 and then we had 4 72s and that makes a large distinction when you have all 5 guys in the recreation all day long.”

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Ott describes this team as one that’s very loose. Players enjoy each other’s company and like to have fun – “sometimes virtually too much enjoyable,” Ott joked. That makes them enjoyable to be around and easy to travel with, too, he noted.

“They’re just very related,” Ott said.

When one player makes a birdie, he raises his putter in the air to let the player coming up behind him know. Everyone celebrates everyone’s victories.

At Destin, the whole team stayed together in the same house, and off-course time was largely spent in front of the TV watching sports with dinner ordered in.

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The Golfweek win allows Illinois Wesleyan to end the fall season with a huge boost of confidence. The team goal, as always, remains a national title. Illinois Wesleyan finished runner-up the past two years after having won the title in 2019 and 2021.

“Getting second the last two years, our alumni group is hungry as nicely,” Ott said. “Even the guys who just missed out, they need to see us get back to the prime.

“We have a real good indoor center, that’s what we tell them all the time – you just have to put the work in, it’s going to just take time now.”

This article initially appeared on Golfweek: Golfweek October Classic: Illinois Wesleyan banks a win to take into the offseason