Oglethorpe coach relives magical run to national title

THE JIM OWEN FILE

Age: 50

Resides: Alpharetta

Family: Wife Anjie (married 19 years), son Jayce (17 years old), daughter Michaela (12).

Occupation: Director of men’s and women’s golf and senior associate athletics director at Oglethorpe University.

Claim to fame: He’s coached at Oglethorpe University since graduating from Berry in 1981, first guiding the basketball team. The best the Stormy Petrels did was make the NCAA Division III tournament twice, falling short of the Sweet 16 both times.

Fifteen years ago, he became the school’s golf coach and began birthing a powerhouse. Coming into this season, the Stormy Petrels had won their conference eight of the past 11 years, and been ranked in the top five for eight consecutive years, but this season would top them all.

With three all-conference players returning, what Owen called “the best freshman class in school history” and the Ice Man, Olafur Loftsson, dropping in from Scandinavia, they had championship chances that they dared speak of openly. And when they overtook Methodist University and the University of La Verne in the final rounds in May at the PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla., that national championship became reality.

Still admittedly “on cloud nine,” he spoke with the AJC’s Darryl Maxie.

ABOUT THE ICE MAN

“The first day of school, we met our transfer. You know how nobody’s as good as their resume? Well, this guy had a plus-2 handicap, he was a member of the World Cup Amateur team in Iceland for like four years as a junior player and this kid wants to come to Oglethorpe. We didn’t know much more about him than his resume. … But after one week, we were like, ‘Oh my goodness, this kid is special.’ Not only is this kid a tremendous teammate, but he added to the chemistry and, within a week, we knew he was almost a perfect fit. You add in a kid who could win the national championship individually and all of a sudden your expectations change dramatically.”

ABOUT THE ANTICIPATION

“Everybody dreams of winning a national championship. You know, ‘Man, it would be great if we could do that.’ But we were talking about it frankly. It seemed like we talked more matter of factly about it, like, ‘This is what it’s going to take to get it done.’ … We would talk about [winning the national championship] in the van, while at dinner, sitting around in the restaurant. We talked out loud about this team’s capabilities. You don’t necessarily do that, it’s just not something teams typically do. But we did.”

ABOUT THE LINEUP

“I knew I had to get the lineup right. I needed the right five at the right time to win the [Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference] and earn the automatic bid to the tournament at Port St. Lucie. I definitely felt the heat of getting the right five in the lineup. I felt it at night, in bed, when I’d be looking up at the ceiling. Or sitting at a [traffic] light, I’d be daydreaming. … We had three all-conference performers [David Dilibero, Matt Rebitch and Scott Pugh] and two of them [Dilibero and Rebitch] didn’t make the final lineup, even though they were all-conference the previous year. Colin Chapman from Franklin, N.C., and Matt Bernstein from Northview [in Duluth] were the freshmen, the Ice Man, Pugh and Hap Kaufold, the No. 5 player whose score counted all four days. He was kind of the elder statesman of the group. It took him two-thirds of the year to get into the lineup, but once he did he didn’t come out.”

ABOUT SPORTSMANSHIP

“We took photos on one side of the 18th green to commemorate the championship and, unbeknownst to us, the guys from Methodist were on another side of the 18th, also taking pictures. And when we started jogging to the carts, those guys [from Methodist] broke out in applause for us. It was unbelievable sportsmanship. It caught us off guard that they’d be clapping for us and our guys spontaneously returned the clap, as if to say what a worthy, worthy adversary they had been. Only in golf do you see that — four days of brutal conditions where you battle each other. You don’t see that in other sports. I know if we’d lost like that, we’d be devastated, so I know they had to be devastated. And yet they still found it within themselves to exhibit that kind of sportsmanship.”

ABOUT THE AFTERGLOW

“We’ve won 50 tournaments, conference championships, and the minute I’d get behind the wheel of the van after winning one, I’d be thinking of how we’re going to win next week. … I’ve been very guilty of not savoring the moment. But I assure you that 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now, I will still be savoring this. It’s the most magical week I’ve ever had. … After this, we will always be national champions.”