Winning as an individual and winning as part of a team is not an apples-to-apples comparison. This is something Jim Ott, head men’s golf coach at Illinois Wesleyan since 2000, knows well.
As Ott also noted, sometimes the experience of falling short down the stretch teaches all the lessons needed to get it done the next time. Ott’s team lived both of those adages on Oct. 20 as the Titans won the Golfweek October Classic in their fifth and final fall start.
“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 different than winning individually. Winning as a team is a different level of pressure.
If you fail yourself, it’s just yourself. But the guys are really close and have a team-first culture, it makes a difference when they know they’re playing for their teammates and not necessarily 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 event, Ott graduated three starters. That means that the majority of his fall roster was made up of players who had worked their way into the lineup for the first time.
Illinois Wesleyan landed at No. 6 in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek Division III Coaches Poll published days before the start of the Golfweek October Classic. Playing at Raven Golf Club in Sandestin, Florida, a familiar venue, Illinois Wesleyan got off to a slow start with its highest round of the week on the first day.
Ott’s team shaved 17 strokes from an opening 295 to a second-round 278, and Ott knew with a solid third round, 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 final round, Illinois Wesleyan ended 54 holes at 8 over, which gave the team a three-shot victory over Whitman College. Oglethorpe was third another shot back.
Hampden-Sydney College’s Til Wagner won the individual title at 4 under, which left him one shot ahead of Oglethorpe’s Jackson Hiller. Wagner eagled the par-5 17th hole in the final round to secure his victory.
Illinois Wesleyan prevailed with strong performances from three players in particular. Ben Gelven tied for third while Pablo Castro and Ryan Andrews tied for 11th.
“What was most impressive about that last round was the total team effort,” Ott said. “No one went super low, no one went really high. . . . One guy had 71 and then we had four 72s and that makes a huge difference when you have all five guys in the game all day long.”
Ott describes this team as one that’s very loose. Players enjoy each other’s company and like to have fun – “sometimes almost too much fun,” Ott joked. That makes them enjoyable to be around and easy to travel with, too, he noted.
“They’re just very connected,” 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.
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 well,” Ott said. “Even the guys who just missed out, they want to see us get back to the top.
“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 originally appeared on Golfweek: Golfweek October Classic: Illinois Wesleyan banks a win to take into the offseason
