No. 22 Kent State Looks to Claim Fifth Straight MAC Championship
5/2/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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MAC Championship Record Book (.PDF)
No. 22 Kent State heads to Longaberger Golf Club in Nashport, Ohio for the 67th Mid-American Conference Championships this weekend May 3-5. The Golden Flashes have their sights set on capturing a fifth straight and 21st conference title.
The 72-hole event gets started with 36-holes of play on Friday, followed by 18 each on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday's opening round, Kent State will be paired with Eastern Michigan off the No. 1 tee from 9:10 a.m. to 9:42 a.m.
Each team will play five and the top four scores from each day will count towards the team total.
Longaberger G.C. will play as a par-72, 6,075-yard course for the field. Live stats will be available through golfstat.com.
Scouting the Golden Flashes
The Golden Flashes have won one tournament title in 11 events this season. The team is coming off finishing in a tie for sixth-place at the Boilermaker Invitational April 20-21. The Flashes played against the nation's 23rd-toughest schedule and participated in four of the top 12 tournaments this season.
Ranked No. 22 by Golfweek, Kent State enters with the MAC's lowest stroke average (294.48). The Flashes have 15 wins this year when competing head-to-head with Top 25 teams.
Four members of the 2012 MAC Championship squad will be in the Kent State lineup this weekend. The Flashes placed four in the top 10 on their way to a 40-stroke victory a year ago.
Leading the way for Kent State is junior Corey Conners (Listowel, Ontario), who garnered MAC Golfer of the Year and Medalist honors in 2012. The 2012 PING All-American shot 209 at the at last year's championship, which was shortened to three rounds due to lightning and rain. Conners is second in the MAC in stroke average (71.91) and has six top-10 finishes on the season, including his second career victory at the season-opening Gopher invitational. He is No. 27 in Golfweek's rankings and owns 29 wins over Top 25 golfers.
Junior Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ontario) enters with a stroke average of 73.23, which is seventh in the MAC. Pendrith finished tied for eighth after shooting 220 at the 2012 MAC Championships. He has four top-5 finishes this season, including his first career victory at the General Hackler Championship.
Two-time All-MAC First Team selection senior Kevin Miller (Dover, Ohio) will be playing in his fourth MAC Championships this weekend. Miller finished two strokes behind Conners for runner-up honors last year and placed ninth in 2011. He enters with a 75.57 stroke average and captured his first tournament victory at the Inverness Intercollegiate in September.
Junior Kyle Kmiecik (Avon, Ohio) is third on the team with a 75.44 stroke average this season. Kmiecik has been the team's low scorer in two of the last four tournaments.
Sophomore Nick Scott (Union, Ohio) will making his MAC Championships debut to round out the Flashes' lineup. Scott has a stroke average of 76.05 over 20 rounds this season.
Scouting the Tournament Field
Nine teams will be competing for the MAC Championship this weekend. Joining Kent State and host school Ohio are Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Miami, Northern Illinois, and Toledo. Ball State (56), Akron (122), Toledo (137), and Eastern Michigan (150) are in the top 150 of Golfweek's team rankings.
Toledo's team stroke average of 296.68 ranks second in the conference. The Rockets are led by the MAC leader in stroke average, Chris Selfridge (71.80). Selfridge placed third at the 2012 MAC Championships and has top-10 finishes in his last seven tournaments.
Ball State is third in the MAC in team stroke average (297.60). No. 99 Tyler Merkel, a 2012 All-MAC First Team selection, is fifth in the conference with a stroke average of 73.00.
No. 94 Stuart Grehan (Eastern Michigan) ranks third in the MAC with a 72.00 stroke average. Akron's Charlie Bull, who tied for fourth at last year's championship, ranks sixth in the conference this season (73.15).
MAC Championships History at Longaberger G.C.
This is the third time the MAC Men's Golf Championships will be played at Longaberger. Kent State claimed a 22-stroke victory in 2010 and lost to Eastern Michigan by a stroke in 2008. The Flashes had the top three finishers in 2010, led by co-medalists Brett Cairns and John Hahn.
Next Up
The winner of the 2013 MAC Championships will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Regionals. This year's six sites will be held in Baton Rouge, La., Tallahassee, Fla., Columbus, Ohio, Fayetteville, Ark, Tempe, Ariz., and Pullman, Wash. The top five teams at each regional site will advance to the NCAA Championships May 28-June 2 in Atlanta, Ga.
