College of DuPage’s Men’s Golf Team placed third in the NJCAA 2022 Men’s Golf Championship last week, with three of the athletes being named All-American. 

     “I’m really proud of our guys who played well all week long on a difficult course and difficult conditions,” said Jason Hyatt, head coach of the men’s golf team.  

    Taking place from June 7-10, six of the eight Chaps from this past spring’s men’s golf lineup competed at the Chautauqua Golf Club, in Chautauqua, N.Y. The final score for COD’s team tallied up to 1267, just five points ahead of Georgia Military, the first runner up. Passionate players were key in trying to place just in the top three of this year’s championship. 

    Among COD’s competitors who traveled with the team all the way to the east coast by van was Sam Faulhaber. Faulhaber, now an All-American, was among COD’s top golfers over the course of the championship.  

“He was disciplined and bounced back when it wasn’t going his way,” said Hyatt about Faulhaber’s performance during the week. 

    Faulhaber, coming from Sycamore, Ill, didn’t start off playing golf full time. “I played ice hockey for 13 years, and freshman year I decided to quit; I quit that to really focus on golf,” said Faulhaber. 

Faulhaber started taking a bigger interest in golfing about four years ago. “A lot of my cousins are elite golfers. So that’s where I get my competitiveness from,” he said. “I just want to be as locked in as possible. I was just very excited to get around to it.” Going into the championship, putting on that “ready to play,” mindset was key to success on the course over the week, Faulhaber said. “Trusting yourself, trusting your golf game, and just getting out there and doing it,” said Faulhaber.  

A good amount of the talent lies within the personal motivation and interest when competing in such a large competition, and Faulhaber commits to that mindset fully. “There’s always improvements to make in golf, and I also love how creative I can be,” he said. “Envisioning what you want to do with the golf ball, and then executing it, that’s what I love.”   

Scoring for all the Chaps who competed in the championship are as follows: 

Damian Guerrero 75-70-76-79-300

Sam Faulhaber 77-77-78-83-315

Jack Turner 82-77-82-78-319

Gabe Brock 87-79-82-85-333

Jake Dianovsky 87-80-90-89-346

    Total scores for all teams: 

1—Sandhills-1173

2—Georgia Military-1262

3—Chaparrals-1267

4—Niagara-1269

5—Minnesota State Tech-1317

6—Butler County-1340

7—Nassau-1341

8—County College of Morris-1375

9—Jefferson-1396

10—Jamestown-1477