Golden Flashes head to B.O.T. on Friday

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A pair of 73s from junior Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, Ontario / Highland Secondary) and senior John Hahn (Las Vegas, Nev. / Hudson [Ohio]) highlighted the final round of play for the Kent State men's golf team at the prestigious Jack Nickalus Invitational on Tuesday.  The Golden Flashes now have a quick turnaround as the team travels to Tennessee for the Bank of Tennessee at the Ridges beginning on Friday.  

Competing amongst a 10-team field that featured five of the country's top 10 ranked teams, Kent State shot a 298 team score in the final round.  The nation's elite had their work cut out for them all week as the field posted an average individual score of 74.63 per round at the challenging Scioto Country Club in Columbus.  As a team, the Golden Flashes finished 10th with a 54-hole total of 907 (313-296-298).  Today's 298 stood as the eighth lowest team score of the third round besting both Baylor (300) and Ohio State (305).  

"This is a short week for us so it doesn't allow for much time to work on the things we need to work on in practice," said Director of Golf/Head Coach Herb Page.  "The best we can do is to refocus mentally.  We are not prepared to play against this type of competition yet.  I know we can perform better and hopefully we will see an improvement in Tennessee this weekend."  

Hughes collected his 14th career top 25 performance as he tied for 13th with a nine-over, 219 (75-71-73) on the par 70, 7,140-yard layout.  In today's final round he was two-over thru the first eight holes of the day before playing the final 10 holes at one-over par making nine pars against just one bogey which came on the par-four 16th.  Hahn's 73 moved him up seven spots on the field as he finished the tournament tied for 43rd with a 231 (79-79-73).  Much like Hughes, Hahn, who started on hole No. 10, was three-over thru his first eight holes  He also finished strong playing the final 10 holes at even par.   

Freshman Corey Conners (Listowel, Ontario) and sophomore Kevin Miller (Dover, Ohio / Sugarcreek Garaway) accounted for the rest of Kent State's final round total as each posted a round of 76.  Conners made one of his six birdies for the tournament today as he closed out the event with a 233 (85-72-76) that tied him for 47th.  Miller meanwhile made two birdies and played his final 10 holes in even par today to finish with a 236 (83-77-76).  

With a 77 senior J.P. Paiement (Des Ruisseaux, Quebec/Polyvalente St. Joseph) did not factor in the Golden Flashes scoring today, but he did finish second on the squad with a 229 (76-76-77) that placed him tied for 39th.  It marks his highest finish since a t-35 at the Administaff ASU Invitational last April.  

No. 2 Oklahoma State fired a final round 284 to take the team title by six strokes over No. 9 Illinois.  The Illini's Luke Guthrie won individual medalist honors by three shots over U.S. Amateur Champion Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State.  Guthrie shot a final round of 65 to tie the for lowest competitive course round overall in the 94-year history of the Scioto Country Club.

Kent State will be in action on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at The Ridges Golf and C.C. in Jonesborough, Tenn.

        Kent State    Rd1-Rd2-Rd3=total (to par)
T13         Mackenzie Hughes     75 - 71 - 73 = 219 (+9)
T39         J.P. Paiement     76 - 76 - 77 = 229 (+19)
T43        John Hahn     79 - 79 - 73 = 231 (+21)
T47         Corey Conners     85 - 72 - 76 = 233 (+23)
T50         Kevin Miller     83 - 77 - 76 = 236 (+26)

    Rk*    team    Rd1-Rd2-Rd3=total (to par)
1      2    Oklahoma State     295 - 285 - 284 = 864 (+24)
2      9     Illinois    290 - 291 -289 = 870 (+30)
3    8    Texas    303 - 283 -285 = 871 (+31)
4     10    Arkansas    286 - 292 - 294 = 872 (+32)
5           USC    287 - 299 -292 = 878 (+38)
6    4    LSU    303 - 294 - 289 = 886 (+46)
7    28    Purdue    303 - 293 -295 = 891 (+51)
8     15      Ohio State    294 - 295 - 305 = 894 (+54)
9    33    Baylor    300 - 300 -300 = 900 (+60)
10           Kent State    313 - 296 -298 = 907 (+67)
*Rankings by www.golfstat.com