"I was not very comfortable going into the third day," he said. "We had a chance to pull away a little on the second day, and when we didn’t, I was a little nervous."

But when it came down to the end, the only tough spot for Ragone was what to tell his first-place golfer as he played the final two holes.

By that time, the Fighting Scots had already clinched their third MWC title in the past six years, taking an 11-stroke lead on the first day and never relinquishing it at the 54-hole event. As coaches do, Ragone worried when Monmouth wasn’t able to take advantage of "ideal scoring conditions" on the second day, but the Scots’ lead remained at 11 strokes.

When Ragone checked his team’s score midway through the final round, he learned that his four scoring players were all around par, and that was still the case through 15 holes, meaning the championship, which they wound up winning by 19 strokes, was in the bag.

That’s when Ragone went looking for senior Doug Middendorf (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame), who opened the tournament with a first-round 74 and, to that point, was the wire-to-wire leader for individual honors.

"When I found him, he was on No. 17, and his drive was just off the fairway," recalled Ragone. "I asked him, ‘What information do you want?’ The first thing he asked was ‘How’s the team doing?’ I told him we were going to win. So then I asked him how he was doing, and he was at two-over. I knew what (his closest competitor) had shot, so I told him ‘78 wins this thing.’"

Middendorf went on to par No. 17 and, to avoid the considerable water trouble on the par-5 finishing hole, played a series of iron shots, capping off his final round 75 with a meaningless bogey to win by four strokes. He became Monmouth’s first MWC medalist since 1981.

"Doug didn’t play well at the South Division tournament," said Ragone of his rounds of 83 and 84 the week prior. "But he was very focused, determined and relaxed this weekend. He also played very smart." Asked what had changed to lift Middendorf from a poor week to the MWC championship, the veteran coach smiled and said, "This is a direct quote from Doug: ‘I am pin-seeking. My irons are on fire.’"

His teammates weren’t bad, either, as three of them also earned All-MWC honors by placing in the top 10. The list included senior Justin Martin (Monmouth, Ill./Warren), junior Aaron Thiel (Williamsfield, Ill./Williamsfield) and senior Nick Harwick (Canton, Ill./Canton). Martin shot in the 70s each day and placed fifth with a 235, Thiel had back-to-back rounds of 77 to place seventh at 236 and Harwick fired a final round 76 to card a 240. Senior Lee Radford (Orion, Ill./Orion) and sophomore Jake Kilberg (Rock Falls, Ill./Rock Falls) rounded out the six-man squad.

Ragone said Harwick, in particular, was an interesting story. Through 36 holes, the senior was not ranked in the top 10 individuals for All-MWC honors. But he definitely found the silver lining in a cloud that surfaced early in the final round.

"He broke his driver on his first tee shot," said Ragone. "The driver head went 50 yards and the drive went 250. So Nick was forced to use his 2-iron the rest of the day, but I think that’s his best club. He tends to spray his driver."

Harwick’s 76 allowed to rally him from four strokes down and finish in the top 10.

For the first time since 1978, Monmouth’s season has not come to a close with the conference tournament. The Scots’ victory gave them the MWC’s new automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championships, which will be held May 15-18 just north of Indianapolis, Ind.

"We’re very excited," said Ragone, who explained that the team has set three levels of goals. The short-term goal is to play well each day, hopefully breaking 310. The next level is to make the cut of the 72-hole event, which comes after the first two days and will include the top 23 teams in the 35-team field. Finally, Ragone said the long-term goal is win the national championship.