WINDSOR, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons varsity golf team put together a memorable two days of action at the 2024 OUA Golf Championships (October 5-6) in Windsor, Ontario at the Ambassador Golf Club. A total of nine student-athletes represented the Gryphons (five men, four women) with the Gryphon women finishing 2nd and the U of G men finishing 4th in the overall team standings (after both U of G teams ultimately came out on the wrong end of OUA tiebreaking procedures when determining the final team standings). The 2nd-place finish by the Gryphon women marked the best result in program history by a University of Guelph women's golf team at an OUA Championship. "It was a fantastic weekend for both teams," said
Brian Bard, head coach of the Gryphons golf program. "Every one of our players battled so hard and handled the windy conditions and quick greens very well. It was great to see everyone play their best golf when it mattered the most. It is so exciting to have both teams returning to the national championships next spring." Both the Gryphons men's and women's golf teams have earned a spot at nationals in June of 2025, with the location/host of the 2025 Canadian University/College Championship yet to be announced.
FULL RESULTS - 2024 OUA Golf Championships
Women's Team Standings
1 – Toronto Varsity Blues (471)
2 – Guelph Gryphons (471) *** Guelph lose tiebreaker to U of T ***
3 – Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (481)
4 – Queen's Gaels (481) *** Queen's lose tiebreaker to WLU ***
Men's Team Standings
1 – Windsor Lancers (579)
2 – Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (588)
3 – Queen's Gaels (590)
4 – Guelph Gryphons (590) *** Guelph lose tiebreaker to Queen's ***
Women's Golf Recap – 2024 OUA Golf Championships:
The University of Guelph women's golf team, comprised of
Jacqueline Giles,
Ela Jones,
Ava Crane and
Kennedy Bergeron, made program history by finishing 2nd in the overall women's team standings, marking the best-ever finish by a Gryphons women's golf team at an OUA Golf Championship.
The Gryphon women posted a cumulative score of 471 over the two-day event, tying them with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues atop the team standings. In OUA women's golf, the scores of the top three golfers from each school are submitted towards the team's overall scoring totals. With the Gryphons and Varsity Blues deadlocked at 471, the OUA tiebreaking procedure went to the score of the fourth team member from each school, which is where the Varsity Blues were able to edge the Gryphons in order to claim the 2024 OUA women's golf title. Leading the way for the Gryphons was
Jacqueline Giles, who finished 2nd out of 52 golfers in the field. Giles, a 21-year-old from Georgetown, Ontario, finished just 1 stroke back of the women's individual champion (Anna Foley, University of Toronto Varsity Blues). It was nearly a second OUA individual title for Giles, who
back in her rookie season in 2021, became the first Gryphon woman to claim the Judy McCrae Trophy as the OUA women's individual scoring champion. Regardless, the 2nd-place finish by Giles is the latest impressive performance in a standout golfing career at U of G, with the molecular biology and genetics major earning OUA First Team All-Star status for the third time in four years at the OUA Golf Championships. Teammate
Ela Jones earned OUA Second Team All-Star status with her 6th-place finish on the weekend. Jones, who represented Team Canada at the FISU games earlier this year, fired an impressive round of 75 on Sunday despite gusting winds and extremely difficult scoring conditions for the final round. The silver-medal performance by the Gryphon women marked the first time in 13 years in which a Gryphons women's golf team had reached the podium at an OUA Championship, with 2011 marking the last time the Gryphon women did so, with the team claiming bronze that year.
Men's Golf Recap – 2024 OUA Golf Championships:
On the men's side, the same tiebreaking procedure was required to determine which school would be rounding out the podium at the 2024 OUA Golf Championships, with the Gryphons men's golf team tied with the Queen's Gaels at 590 total strokes. In OUA men's golf, the scores from the top four golfers are tallied towards the final team standings.
The OUA tiebreaking procedure then focuses on the fifth member of each team. However, an additional tiebreaker would be required, as the Gryphons and Gaels remained tied after the first tiebreaking procedure (with Guelph's fifth golfer, Liam Fisher, and Queen's fifth golfer, Kendrick Webster, both tied with identical scores of 155 over the two days). The ensuing tiebreaker (best score in the
final round only) would go to the Gaels, with Webster's final round 77 edging Fischer's final round 80 to give the Gaels the team bronze medal finish. Queen's golfer, Daniel Abraha, who was crowned the OUA individual champion, eagled his final hole of the day, another crucial moment in help the Gaels draw level with Guelph in the men's final team standings. Leading the way for the Gryphon men at the 2024 OUA Golf Championships was 18-year-old rookie,
William Drewery. The accounting major from Cambridge impressed at his first ever appearance at an OUA Golf Championship, earning OUA Second Team All-Star status after finishing T-7 with rounds of 72 and 73. Teammate
Curtis Coulson (Guelph, ON) finished 1 stroke back with rounds of 72 and 74 to finish T-12. With
Cohen Belore (T-18) and
William Dodd (72-79) rounding out the team's top four. The host Windsor Lancers took home the 2024 OUA men's golf title, with the Lancers finishing 9 strokes ahead of the 2nd-place Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.
For more information on the 2024 OUA Golf Championships, visit oua.ca.
Gryphon Women's Individual Results
Gryphon Men's Individual Results
