JAMESTOWN – During the first full week in June, all of Chautauqua County is on displayed as members from across the country travel to the Chautauqua Golf Club to compete in the NJCAA D3 Men's & Women's Golf Championships starting on Tuesday, June 7th.
"This is a championship like none other," said Tournament Director and JCC Golf Coach George Sisson. "This is the only NJCAA sponsored championship going on at the time and all eyes will be on our student-athletes as they compete for championship gold."
The Chautauqua Golf Club will play host of the tournament for the 22nd time since 1999 went it became home of the event. The 2020 National Championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chautauqua will also play home for the inaugural D3 Women's Golf Championship that will be played at the same time as the men's tournament.
"We were ecstatic to host the women's tournament alongside the men's," said Sisson. "This will give the women's golfers in division three to compete with one another and see who the best is across the country."
There will be 21 institutions with 75 competitors on the men's side and four institutions with six competitors on the women's side.
Region 3 will be in full representation during the week with seven teams including our very own Jamestown Community College.
Leading the way for the Jayhawks is Region 3 All-Region Team member Traden Gray (Frewsburg, NY/Frewsburg HS). Gray finished sixth overall at the Region 3 Golf Championships three weeks ago with a two-round score of 163, one stroke off from finishing in the top-five.
"I expect Traden to go out and compete at a high level this week," Sisson said. "This is a four-day tournament, it's a marathon, not a sprint. He just has to take it hole-by-hole every day. If he does that, he should set himself up to succeed."
Gray will be joined by teammates Josh Brown (Randolph, NY/Randolph HS), Noah Adams (Mayville, NY/Chautauqua Lake Central), and Kyle Smallback (Randolph, NY/Randolph HS) who will all competing in the tournament with the automatic bid as JCC is the host institution.
"For the rest of the guys, this is the time to go out and have some fun," Sisson added. "They have worked hard over the last four months and have made vast improvement. I expect them to turn in their best scores of the season this week."
Returning to the championships is last year's champions in Sandhills CC followed by Georgia Military, Minnesota State Tech, Niagara County CC, and the College of DuPage.
Action begins on Tuesday, June 7th, and going all the way through Friday, June 10th.
