Miller’s 69 Highlights No. 31 Kent State’s Second Round Of The NCAA Championship
Round Two Team Standings (.PDF)
Round Two Player Standings (.PDF)
Round Two Team & Player Standings (.PDF)
Golden Flashes in 23rd place after shooting a 14-over 302
STILLWATER, Okla. — A three-under 69 by sophomore Kevin Miller (Dover, Ohio/Sugarcreek Garaway) highlighted No. 31 Kent State's second round of play at the 2011 NCAA Men's Golf Championship hosted by Oklahoma State at Karsten Creek Golf Club. Led by Miller, the Golden Flashes carded a team score of 302 and head into the final round of stroke play tomorrow in 23rd place with a 36-hole total of 606 (304-302).
"Kevin made a nice comeback today," said Director of Golf/Head Coach Herb Page of the First Team All-MAC sophomore who shot an first round 81 on Tuesday. "I've been telling the guys all week that a low score is out there if you are able to drive the ball in the fairway and keep your head focused for all 18 holes."
The lone non-counter for Kent State on Tuesday, Miller was the only player on the five-man team not to make at least one birdie. That quickly changed when the second year business management major rolled home his first birdie putt of the Championship on No. 2 then knocked in a 40-footer for birdie on No. 3 that dropped him to two-under after just three holes.
"I had my putter working pretty good today and after getting off to the nice start with birdies on Nos. 2 & 3 I was able to keep hitting fairways and grinding out pars," said Miller.
Miller finished up the back nine at one-under including birdies on Nos. 11, 16 and 18. In all he had a team best five second round birdies while making two bogeys. His performance shot him 72 places up the leader board into a tie for 62nd with a six-over 150 (81-69).
As a team Kent State made the turn at just two-over after playing the same nine holes in 12-over in the first round. Hole No. 10 would then reek havoc in the Golden Flashes plans to gain ground on the top eight teams. The team would make one quadruple bogey, two double-bogeys, one bogey and a par on the par 4, 477-yard layout, dropping seven stokes alone on the hole.
"We really struggled with No. 10 today," said Page. "We had started to move up a couple of positions on the leaders, but hit a couple of balls in the woods there and it really killed the momentum we had built up on the front nine."
Also counting scores today for the Golden Flashes were senior John Hahn (Las Vegas, Nev. / Hudson [Ohio]), freshmen Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ontario), and junior Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, Ontario / Highland Secondary). Hahn came in with a three-over 75 that included four birdies. He was even par through the first 16 holes but finished the last two at three-over. He is tied for 53rd with a 149 (74-75). Pendrith meanwhile was holding strong at one-over through 13 holes, but made three double bogeys in the next four holes before closing out with one of Kent State's three team birdies on No. 18 for a six-over 78 and a two round total of 154 (76-78).
Hughes also birdied No. 18 as he played his last eight holes at even par for an eight-over 80 that left him with a 156 (76-80) composite. Freshman Corey Conners (Listowel, Ontario) was the fifth man for Kent State today posting an 81 that gives him a 159 (78-81) for the Championship.
No. 4 Georgia Tech held on to its first round lead with a 290 and a 573 total. The Golden Flashes are 16 shots out of the top eight teams which will advanced to a single elimination match-play bracket on Friday.
Starting in the morning wave tomorrow, Kent State will be paired with San Diego and Tennessee with tee times starting at 8:40 a.m. (CST) off hole No. 10.
Kent State Rd1 - Rd2 = Total
T53 John Hahn 74 - 75 = 149
T62 Kevin Miller 81 - 69 = 150
T93 Taylor Pendrith 76 - 78 = 154
T130 Corey Conners 78 - 81 = 156
T117 Mackenzie Hughes 76 - 80 = 159
Rk* team Rd1 - Rd2 Total
1 4 Georgia Tech 283 - 290 573
2 2 UCLA 286 - 288 574
3 9 Illinois 291 - 287 578
4 12 Georgia 291 - 288 579
5 3 Alabama 288 - 292 580
6 1 Oklahoma State 292 - 293 585
7 6 Augusta State 294 - 294 588
T8 8 Texas A&M 289 - 301 590
T8 27 Ohio State 291 - 299 590
10 14 USC 303 - 289 592
11 16 Arkansas 296 - 298 594
T12 15 Duke 303 - 293 596
T12 26 Arizona State 303 - 293 596
T12 13 Iowa 304 - 292 596
T12 7 San Diego State 295 - 301 596
T16 5 Florida 300 - 299 599
T16 18 California 300 - 299 599
T16 43 Michigan 307 - 292 599
T19 11 Texas 299 - 301 600
T19 10 LSU 306 - 294 600
21 44 Northwestern 306 - 296 602
22 21 San Diego 300 - 304 604
23 31 Kent State 304 - 302 606
T24 29 Tennessee 308 - 299 607
T24 35 Kennesaw State 295 - 312 607
26 Arizona 302 - 310 612
27 25 Oklahoma 313 - 304 617
28 24 North Carolina State 310 - 308 618
29 36 Pepperdine 309 - 310 619
30 Colorado State 307 - 322 629
*Rankings by www.golfstat.com
