Kent State University
Mid-American Conference Championship
Men’s Golf Hosts MAC Championships This Week at Club Walden
4/25/2019 8:20:00 PM | Men's Golf
KENT, Ohio- The Kent State men's golf team will host the 2019 Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championships this week at Club Walden in Aurora, Ohio. Club Walden is a first-time tournament venue. The Golden Flashes seek to defend the MAC Men's Golf title.
The nine MAC teams will play 36 holes Friday and 18 holes both Saturday and Sunday to determine the league's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Regionals. Live scoring is available at golfstat.com.
As the top-ranked team in the tournament at No. 89, the perennial powerhouse Kent State is a tournament favorite as the Flashes have won ten of the past 11 championships. It won't be an easy feat as a talented field joins Kent State. The rest of the teams include Eastern Michigan (109), Ball State (138), Miami (139), Northern Illinois (140), Bowling Green (163), Toledo (169), Akron (196), and Ohio (197). Ball State edged the Golden Flashes each of the past two weeks at the Boilermaker Invitational and Kepler Intercollegiate, while Toledo led all five MAC teams that competed at last week's tournament in Columbus.
Bjarkie Petursson and Gisli Sveinbergsson return from last year's team that surged Kent State's come from behind victory for the title. Petursson finished as the runner-up medalist at 8-over and led the tournament with 16 birdies. Sveinbergsson placed 14th overall and was the 2017 tournament champion.
Three Flashes will be making their first appearance in a postseason run as Chris Doody, Will Kurtz, and Julien Paltrinieri will round out the Kent State lineup. Doody finished the regular season with a 73 average and has posted four rounds for par or better. Kurz has made six tournament appearances this season and won his first tournament while shooting a career-low round of 65. Paltrinieri has competed in four tournaments and had a top-10 finish as he placed 8th at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate.
Josh Gilkison also makes the trip this week as a potential substitute. A recently adopted rule change by the NCAA that allows substitutions during championship events. Coaches will be able to swap players in and out of their lineups between rounds if they wish.
The action begins with a split tee start Friday at 8:30 a.m. The Flashes' tee times are slated to begin at 9:12 a.m. off the first tee. BSU is paired with Kent State for the opening day.
Championship Schedule Of Events (All times are ET & may vary)
Friday, April 26: 7 AM -- Range Opens | 8:30 AM -- First Round Tee Times Begin / Spilt Tees (36 holes)
Saturday, April 27: 7 AM -- Range Opens | 8:30 AM -- Third Round Tee Times Begin / Spilt Tees
Sunday, April 28: 7 AM -- Range Opens | 8:30 AM -- Fourth Round Tee Times Begin / Spilt Tees
Players Mentioned
