Kent State University
General Hackler Championship
Flashes men set to defend at General Hackler Championship
3/6/2014 2:45:00 PM | Men's Golf
Kent State will travel to South Carolina and the TPC of Myrtle Beach next week with the goal of defending as champions of the General Hackler Championship.
The Golden Flashes and Arkansas shared last year's team title at 8-over-par 873 while Kent State's Taylor Pendrith finished in a first-place tie for medalist honors with Tennessee's Oliver Goss at 1-under-par 215. Fellow Kent State star Corey Conners was just one shot off of that medalist pace at even par for the tournament.
As two of the top-ranked amateurs in the world heading into the spring of their senior seasons, Conners and Pendrith will lead the defense of last year's title against a 12-team field that will feature five teams NCAA Regional qualifiers from last season. From that list, Kent State and tournament host Coastal Carolina advanced to participate in last year's National Championship.
The rest field includes regional qualifiers Duke, North Carolina and UNC Wilimington, along with East Carolina, East Tennessee State, Iowa State, Lamar, Louisville, Middle Tennessee State and Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois.
"This tournament is a feel-good story for us because we are going down their to defend," said Kent State head coach Herb Page. "As a northern school, you don't usually win your first tournament of March the way we did last year, but the TPC of Myrtle Beach is the site of a big win for us and a great individual win for Taylor Pendrith.
"I think what we were able to do at the General Hackler Championship last year coming out of a winter of work at our practice facility validates what we do to get ourselves ready for the start of spring."
The 6,950-yard TPC of Myrtle Beach was designed by Tom Fazio and longtime PGA Tour star Lanny Wadkins. Since opening in 1999, the resort has hosted several professional events, including the Senior PGA Tour Championship in 2000 won by Tom Watson.
"We've seen the course and obviously we've had some success there, so that will help us," said Page. "Obviously playing a TPC course is something special. You know it will be difficult and in great condition. And when you look at the field, we are going to face some stout competition."
The Golden Flashes finished second only to Tennessee last week in a 16-team field at the Davidson College Invitational in North Carolina.
The General Hackler Championship will start at 9 a.m. on Monday (March 10) with a 36-hole shotgun start into 36 holes of continuous play. The final round will be played on Tuesday in another 9 a.m. shotgun start.
Live scoring of the General Hackler Championship will be available at Golfstat.com.
