Four Players Under Par Has No. 18 Kent State A Shot Back At NCAA Regional
5/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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Golden Flashes in a three-way tie for second after -8, 276; Final round starts Saturday at 8:40 am
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The penultimate round of a golf tournament is commonly known as moving day, but at the 2012 NCAA Central Regional is was separation day for No. 18 Kent State and the rest of the leaders. After all four counters for the Golden Flashes shot under-par at the University of Michigan Golf Course on Friday as the team finds itself amongst a three-team cluster that is are all within one shot of the lead.
With only five shots separating eight teams at the start of the day, Kent State's -8, 276 stood as the third best team score of the afternoon and provides the Golden Flashes with a seven-shot advantage over the cut line heading into Saturday's final round. The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each of the six regional sites advance to the finals.
"We played probably as good as we were going to play out there today. We figured we'd be near the top and its still pretty tight up there with the top four teams, but we gained a little bit of separation over No. 5 and 6 which is so important," said Kent State Director of Golf/Head Coach Herb Page, whose team is in a three-way tie for second with Oregon (-6) and TCU (-6) and one back of USC (-7).
With back-to-back top 20 finishes already to his credit Kevin Miller (Dover, Ohio) is not stranger to success during NCAA Regional play. With an -3, 68 today, the junior tied the eighth lowest round by a Kent State player in a NCAA Regional. Miller started off slow with a bogey on No. 2, but a string of birdies on Nos. 6, 8 & 9 dropped him to -2 at the turn. He then added another birdie on No. 13 before finishing steady with five straight pars.
Senior Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, Ontario) and sophomore Corey Conners (Listowel, Ontario) backed up Miller's performance each shooting a -2, 69. Sophomore Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ontario) added a -1, 70 to give the Kent State team the second lowest single round NCAA Regional score in program history. Only a 273 at Victoria Country Club in Texas during the 2000 is lower.
"We had all five guys in the game right out of the gate and they just all kept working their way around," said Page. "We even had it down to -10 at one point. There weren't many birdies down the stretch, but we played steady golf and put up a solid number."
Hughes (T-9),Conners (T-12), Miller (T-16) and Pendrith (T-19) are all in the top 20 of the individual standings. Sophomore Kyle Kmiecik (Avon, Ohio) rounded out the line-up on Friday adding a +2, 73.
The hole of the day for Kent State had to be No. 6 as all five players in the line-up made birdie. This coming a day after the five players combined to shoot +4 on the same hole.
"It was a little different from yesterday where we had a couple of accidents," said Page on the par 4, 309-yard 6th. "The pin was a little more accessible on the lower level of the green today and I'm sure tomorrow it will be back up and in a tougher position.
The top four are followed by Virginia (E) in fifth and Notre Dame (+1) in sixth. Final round action starts at 8:40 am tomorrow for Kent State which will be paired with Oregon and USC.
"We just have to worry about ourselves tomorrow and get off to a good start," concluded Page. "If you get off to a good start that separation gets a little bigger and puts pressure on the people chasing the final spot. The key is to not let up. There are too many good teams out here to let up because no lead is safe. You have to keep playing and grinding right to the end."
