Kent State University
Davidson College Invitational
Men's golf opens spring with trip to Davidson
3/2/2014 11:25:00 AM | Men's Golf
Kent State's Top-25-ranked men's golf team is in North Carolina to tee off the spring season at the Davidson College Invitational at River Run Country Club.
The Golden Flashes, who open 2014 as the No. 23 team in the nation according to Golfweek and No. 24 according to Golfstat, face a field that includes a top-50 program in Tennessee and a top-100 in tournament host Davidson.
"We don't know very much about the field, but Davidson is a good team and Tennessee is also here along with some good east-coast teams that we don't see very often," said Kent State head coach Herb Page. "It is more about us this week and the chance to shake off a bit of the rust before getting into the heart of our schedule."
The Flashes spent the weekend in North Carolina, warming up with a visit to Trump National Golf Club near Charlotte before arriving at the 7,022-yard River Run Golf and Country Club in Davidson, N.C. for a practice round on Sunday.
"I think everyone on our team is very excited," said Page. "It has been a long and cold winter. We have a bunch of really good attitudes right now. We've worked very hard at our facility during the winter, but everyone is really excited to get going with competition.
"We are hearing that we may get rain in the first day on Monday when it is supposed to be around 70 degrees. Then its supposed to dip down to a high of 52 for the final round on Tuesday. But that's still a lot better than the weather we've had back home."
The threat of cold temperatures and rain has forced Davidson to shorten the event from 54 holes to just 36. Round one is set for a 9 a.m. shotgun start on Monday followed by a Tuesday final round starting at 10 a.m. with teams teeing off at holes No. 1 and 10.
In addition to Davidson and Tennessee, the event's 14-team field includes Drexel, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Holy Cross, LaSalle, Longwood, Marshall, Presbyterian, Radford, St. Bonaventure and Wofford.
Kent State will tee off on holes 1-through-5 in a threesomes with Tennessee and Davidson.
The Flashes five-man lineup will include seniors Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Kyle Kmiecik along with sophomores Kody Fry and Sebastian Czyz Bendsen.
After Tuesday's final round in Davidson, the Flashes return home for just a few days before a quick turnaround with a trip to the TPC of Myrtle Beach and the General Hackler Championship March 10-11.
