“Guilford is more than capable of competing with teams on the Division I level,” said former golf coach Jack Jensen. “We play against Division I schools for the majority of our schedule anyway.”

The year was 1988, and some of us weren’t even born yet. The men’s golf team had come in second place in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics National Golf Championships for the previous four years. The only accomplishment the team had yet to achieve was the national title. This is why the men’s golf team of 1989 is the number three team on the countdown: they brought that title to Guilford.

The team only had nine golfers on the roster, but that did not stop them from attaining their goals. The Quakers had a solid and deep lineup that included Lee Porter ’89, Mike Hutcheon ’89, Chris Haarlow ’91, and Mitch Clodfelter ’90.

This team was a force to be reckoned with all season: fall and spring.

The team’s only stumble occurred when they finished 15th at the John Ryan Memorial where the majority of the competing teams were prominent Division I schools. Besides that little hiccup, the Quakers were dominant.

Guilford played in 14 total tournaments in the 1988-89 season. Out of those tournaments, they had an astounding 12 top five team finishes. In addition, the team boasted five first place wins, bettering their opponents by an average of six strokes, which is significant for golf.

In the opening match of the year, the Aubrey Apple Invitational, four Guilford golfers claimed the top four places in the tournament. In the following three tournaments, the worst defeat they had was third place overall.

The team was extremely talented because any one of their four stars could have the game of his life every day on the golf course.

That year, it was Porter’s time to shine. In two special events separate from the regular season, Porter competed in and won the World University Games and the North & South Amateur tournaments.

Porter’s confidence and the previous tournament win at the Camp Lejeune Intercollegiate Invitational had the Quaker’s primed for a run at the NAIA District 26 Championships. In order to compete in the national championship, Guilford needed to place in the top ten.

Maybe it was a sign of things to come, because Guilford left District 26 as the champions after the tournament concluded. The Quakers put on a stunning performance. Clodfelter was the runner-up in the tournament, while Porter and Haarlow locked up third and fourth place.

After this win it was on to the NAIA National Championships.

Although Porter did not have a great tournament and finished in 34th place overall, his teammates picked him up. Hutcheon had a total score of 291 over the four days of competition and placed in third. Haarlow and Jed Venhuizen ’90 finished in the top 15 spots, while Clodfelter landed in the top 25 with scores all lower than 310.

Guilford’s four-day total score was 1187, which awarded the team their first NAIA National Championship over Huntingdon College. This was Guilford’s first ever championship in its proud golf history.

The 1989 golf team produced two All-Americans, won the District Championship by nine strokes, had 12 top-five finishes on the year, and won the National Championship.

Also, Jack Jensen joined an elite group. He became the second NAIA coach to win national titles in two sports — golf and basketball.