Kent State University
MAC Championship
Flashes Eyeing 23rd MAC Title
4/27/2016 8:59:00 AM | Men's Golf
Kent State looks to capture its 23rd program title at the 2016 Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championships Thursday through Saturday at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio. The four-round competition pits the Golden Flashes against eight conference opponents on a par 71, 6,712-yard course.
Forty-five golfers are slated to play two rounds on Thursday, beginning at 8:30 a.m. The Flashes are scheduled to tee off at 9:34 a.m. Live scoring can be followed on Golfstat.com.
Following Saturday's final round, awards will be presented to All-MAC first and second team selections, the all-tournament team, player of the year, freshman of the year, coach of the year and the Earl Yestingsmeier Sportsmanship Award.
Last Season & Tournament History…
Kent State's 22 MAC titles are the most of any conference program since the tournament began in 1947. Individual medalist honors have gone to Golden Flash golfers 23 times. Since 1984, the Flashes have won 17 conference crowns under Head Coach Herb Page, including six of the last seven years.
Last year, Miami won the team title with an 8-over 1,160 at The Mayfield Sand Ridge Club in Chardon. Kent State settled for fifth place, ending its six-year run as MAC champions. Ian Holt (Stow, Ohio) finished tied for second shooting an even par 288 over four rounds as a freshman. Teammate Chase Johnson (Barberton, Ohio) also competed as a freshman and finished tied for 23rd.
…This Year's Lineup
Following last year's tournament, Holt and Johnson were each named to the All-MAC Second Team, while Josh Whalen (Napanee, Ontario) claimed All-MAC First Team honors. All three return this year. Whalen, the veteran in this year's group will be competing in his third MAC Championship. He finished 17th as a freshman in 2014. A pair of freshmen from Iceland in Gisli Sveinbergsson and Bjarki Petursson round out Kent State's five.
According to the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, Johnson, Sveinbergsson, Holt and Whalen are each in the Top 8 among MAC Golfers. Petursson is coming off his best performance since the Louisiana Classics Feb. 29 – March 1. Holt was named MAC Golfer of the Week last Thursday after finishing 4-under at the Boilermaker Invitational. He became the Flashes' third MAC Golfer of the Week this season, joining Johnson and Sveinbergsson.
"We had one of our best weekends of the year at Purdue and it's a good time to be on the upswing," Page said following the team's 8-under final round performance at the Boilermaker Invitational. "It should be a real confidence booster for us."
The Competition
The nine-team field features No. 112 Akron, No. 152 Ball State, No. 120 Bowling Green (tournament host), No. 127 Eastern Michigan, No. 47 Kent State, No. 126 Miami, No. 169 Northern Illinois, No. 177 Ohio and No. 170 Toledo.
"A 6,700-yard course isn't what we ordered up," Page said of his of long hitters. "The shortness of the course will bring the field together.
Perfecting Par Fives
Kent State has led the field on par five holes in three of its last six tournaments. In two rounds at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate, the Flashes were 8-under. One week earlier, Kent State went 22-under on par fives at the Aggie Invitational. The next best score on par fives was 14-under. The Flashes also had the top team score on par fives at the General Hackler Championship, going 19-under.
Johnson On the Brink of Top Honors
Chase Johnson has finished within a stroke of a tournament title in two of the last three competitions and has had four Top 5 finishes this season. Johnson's 114 birdies on the season ranks 29th in the nation.
Up Next
The NCAA Regional competitors will be announced Thursday, May 5 on GolfChannel. Regional sites will host competitions May 16-18. The best of the best will compete at the NCAA Championships May 27 – June 1.
Players Mentioned
