Golf Mocs fall to 18th in NCAAs

The thoughts, images and memories flashed through Jonathan Hodge’s mind Thursday night.

The memory of playing as a freshman a for a mid-major university with no national golf recognition crossed his mind. The memory of tears trickling down his cheeks one year ago after the NCAA East Regional on the Mocs’ home course also was there.

And the thought that he helped raise the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga into the national championship made him smile while driving away from the Inverness Club in the team van.

“I feel a lot of stuff,” the senior said. “I’ve been reflecting for a while, and a lot of things are in my head. I’m numb.”

His ride as a college golfer has come to an end, as well as the Mocs’ incredible season during which they were ranked No. 1 in the nation.

UTC will likely finish in 18th place at the NCAA championship pending the final holes of Stanford which is two shots behind UTC and will resume its last round today.

“The whole season was a great success,” senior Ben Rickett said. “We had highs, we had lows. And in the end, it’s something that can be taken with us for the rest of our lives.

“Not many people can say they’ve done what we’ve done.”

The Mocs were ranked No. 1 in the country last fall after winning the Carpet Capital Collegiate. They won a third straight Southern Conference championship, and they were in third place after the first round of the NCAA championship this week.

“I’m proud of how we finished, and the guys gave it everything they had up here,” coach Mark Guhne said via cell phone. “I think we did a great of a job competing against the other schools here.”

Of the 30 teams participating in the championship, only UTC and the University of San Diego play in non-BCS conferences.

The Mocs finished 19 shots from reaching the Elite Eight and competing in match play to carry the biggest trophy in collegiate golf to Chattanooga from Toledo, Ohio.

“We got excited when we were in third and that was pretty cool,” Guhne said. “We had a great first round.”

Sitting in third after one round, UTC became the Cinderella story with senior Hodge appearing live for a Web chat on GolfWeek.com.

But the fairy tale lasted only one day. A heavy storm on Wednesday pushed the Mocs’ tee times to late in the afternoon, and darkness descended before they could complete their round.

Forced to finish at 6:45 on Thursday morning, UTC played its final holes at 3 over. The Mocs dropped to 16th place and into the afternoon wave of tee times.

They could only watch as teams rose up the leaderboard. Sitting helpless until the end of the second round and killing time at a local mall early in the afternoon, every hour it seemed UTC would need to shoot one more stroke under par to play today.

“We had few enough shots between us and the top eight that we felt good about it for a bit,” Hodge said. “But we didn’t get to play in the morning.”

By the time Derek Rende struck the first tee ball at 3 p.m., the Mocs knew they had only slightly better odds of making match play then they did for one of them to hit the Powerball.

“We played good in the first round, OK in the second and that got us,” Guhne said. “The guys represented Chattanooga well, very well.

“I’m exhausted.”