St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Men's Golf To Open Season With The Doc Gimmler
9/12/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 12, 2013
QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's men's golf team will open the 2013 fall season this weekend with the annual Doc Gimmler, formerly known as The McLaughlin, at Bethpage State Park Golf Course.
About The Team
Heading into the event, St. John's has won a record four times, last claiming the title in 2005.
Ryan McCormick will lead the way for the Red Storm this year after finishing the 2012-13 season with a 73.42 stroke average and earning a sixth place finish at the 2013 BIG EAST Championship. In The McLaughlin last year, McCormick tied for 11th in the field of 83, carding a three-round total 212 (+2) after a 69 in the opening round.
Juniors Dylan Crowley and Mitch Hadfield will join McCormick in hopes of bringing home the 2014 BIG EAST Championship.
Crowley ended the 2012-13 season with a 75.34 stroke average, carding a career-best 69 twice throughout the spring season including in the third round of the BIG EAST Championship where he finished tied for 11th overall. Hadfield finished the year with a 76.82 stroke average after only competing in two team events and four individual events, and carded a career-low 71 in the third round at The McLaughlin last year.
Head coach Frank Darby will also have three transfers and one freshman joining the seven-man roster this year. Junior Obe Ayton joins the Red Storm after a two-year playing career at LIU-Brooklyn where he earned Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year honors in 2012 and was an All-NEC First Team member in 2013.
Junior Ben Ludlam makes his way on the squad after two years at Indian Hills Community College where he helped lead the Warriors to the 2012 NJCAA National Championship.
Sophomore John Russo rounds out the group of transfers as he makes his way to St. John's from South Mountain Community College while Sean Byrne serves as the lone freshman for the Red Storm squad.
About The Field
The 2013 Doc Gimmler will consist of a field of 15 teams: Columbia, Florida Southern, Harvard, IUPUI, Johnson & Wales, Marquette, Princeton, Seton Hall, St. Thomas Aquinas, Temple, U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, Yale and host St. John's.
Defending champion Auburn will not be competing in this year's event after taking the title in 2012 behind a team total of 830 (-10).
Out of the 2013 field, Johnson & Wales finished best in 2012 when they took third place with a final total of 858 (+18), just edging out St. John's by three strokes.
About Doc Gimmler
This year, St. John's has renamed the event from The McLaughlin to The Doc Gimmler to honor former Red Storm golf coach Jack "Doc" Gimmler. Gimmler came to St. John's in 1945 and helped lead the baseball team to the school's first College World Series in 1949.
After graduating, Gimmler went on to become the head athletic trainer for St. John's before taking over as the head golf coach and associate director of athletics.
As the coach of the Red Storm, Gimmler led his team to the inaugural BIG EAST league title in 1979, won nine titles over the first 11 years of the league, and finished either first or second in the BIG EAST in all but one season between 1979 and 1990. The long time coach also led St. John's to 10 Metropolitan championships and five NCAA Tournament appearances in his tenure.
Gimmler passed away in 1996 but will forever be remembered for his impact on collegiate golf, collegiate athletics, and St. John's over his more than four decades of service.
About Bethpage State Park Golf Course
The Doc Gimmler will take place on the Red Course at Bethpage State Park Golf Course, a 7,014 yard, par-70 course that opened in 1933 in Farmingdale, N.Y.
Bethpage (Black Course) has also been home to the 2002 & 2009 U.S. Open as well as the 2012 Barclay's.
For all the latest news on the St. John's men's golf team, log on to RedStormSports.com and follow the team (@StJohnsMGolf) on Twitter. You can join the conversation with the hashtag, #SJUMG. If you would like to be added to the St. John's Men's Golf mailing list, send an email to stjcommunications@stjohns.edu with the subject line "Men's Golf Mailing List."
Players Mentioned
