Looking back at Bendsen's 2-under-par 69 and ahead to a windy final round at the Scarlet

Bendsen hits into the final hole of his second-round
69 at the Scarlet Course on Saturday

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The second-round 69 by sophomore Sebastian Bendsen on Saturday at The Ohio State University's Scarlet Course was impressive.

The Scarlet is not an easy course. This is a place where national championships are held – 10 of them to be exact on the men's side. At 7,455 yards it is already long from the "Buckeye Tees." Add in inconsistent greens from a bad winter and the winds gusting to 15-miles per hour, and the round looks even better. 

Only an Ohio State player who sees the course on a regular basis bettered Bendsen's 2-under-par day. And while the veterans on the Kent State golf team know the Scarlet, Friday's practice round was the first time the sophomore from Denmark had stepped on the course.

I talked with associate head coach Rob Wakeling just after Bendsen singed the cup, just missing another birdie at the final hole of Saturday's 36-hole opener of the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate, and he called the round "the best by a Kent State Golfer at Ohio State in a very long time."

"And you can put three exclamation points after that," Wakeling added.

Head coach Herb Page said the round was, "the story of the year so far for Kent State Golf."

Bendsen's breakout performance was also just what Kent State men's golf needed, and not just because it kept the Golden Flashes in the fight while their seniors suffered through some uncharacteristic struggles in the second round. It helped to solve some question marks at the bottom of the Kent State lineup. The Flashes feel confident in Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Kyle Kmiecik at the one-through-three, but the four and five spots have been inconsistent.

A check of the scorecard by Bendsen and Wakeling

Bendsen moved up from four to five in part because, while he didn't score particularly well at Texas A&M the previous week, he demonstrated a grinder's mentality. That showed again at Ohio State as he hit fairway after fairway, attacking pins when accessible and making sure to miss in the right spots on all other times. The round could have been even lower as he had looks for birdie on several holes that just missed.

Add the confidence this round should give Bendsen to two solid rounds of 75 in the No. 5 spot by Jake Troyer and Kent State could be solidifying its lineup heading into the final weeks of the season and the NCAA championships. Troyer was inserted back into the No. 5 spot this week. There aren't many teams in the country that wouldn't love to see two consistent rounds of 75 from that spot on a course like the Scarlet. 

I'm heading out to the course now to see if Kent State can make a move up the leaderboard. With a good round, catching Georgia Tech is not out of the realm of possibility. The No. 5 Yellowjackets are 11 shots ahead at the start of the day.

The wind is supposed to howl even harder than yesterday. Gusts in the 20's are expected, so the Scarlet will be an even bigger challenge today with high scores likely.

Wind starting to howl in Round 2 of Kepler

The wind starting to howl in
round 2 of the Kepler at OSU

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Your guess is as good as anyone’s with regard to the actual scores through round 1 of the Kepler Intercollegiate here at The Ohio State University’s Scarlet Course.

The scoring on Golfstat.com is incorrect. It credits Sebastian Bendsen with a 3-under-68 when in fact he shot a still very fine round of even-par 71.

Make that change now that round one is complete and Kent State finished the morning at 3-over par as a team as opposed to the even-par mark currently posted online. And that 3-over-par total would have Kent State in third place behind Georgia Tech (-2) and UAB (+1), assuming those scores are correct.

Bendsen has been a greens machine in round one. In fact, after I posted my morning blog, I caught up with the sophomore as he hit to the green at the 378-yard 16th hole. That approach hit the stick and settled just two feet away for an easy birdie that briefly put him at 1-under for his round. A bogey at his final hole (the 9th) dropped him back to even.

Golfstat had Jake Troyer shooting a 78 earlier today when in fact he shot 75. That score has already been corrected. 

The scores of 73 for Corey Conners, 71 for Taylor Pendrith and 72 for Kyle Kmiecik are correct.

KSU senior Corey Conners tees off early
in his second round at OSU's Scarlet Course

I talked with head coach Herb Page just as the second round was getting underway and he said the Scarlet Course should get significantly harder as the day goes on.

“The pins haven’t been the toughest we’ve seen out here over the years, but now that the wind is starting to howl, the Scarlet is going to have some teeth this afternoon,” Page said.

These 36-hole days can be grueling in a shotgun start like this. The Flashes teed off on holes 7-through-10 this morning. When they got to those holes this afternoon, they turned in their score cards and teed right off again. The 36 holes is continuous play. Who said these guys aren’t athletes? The first round took 5 1/2 hours to complete. There is nothing easy about carrying your own bag for 11 hours and still trying to be precise with all of your shots.

Walking the Scarlet with the Golden Flashes

Brutus greets visitors to
The Ohio State Golf
Club's clubhouse

COLUMBUS, Ohio – I’m back on the road with the Kent State men’s golf team this week and it is my first trip ever to The Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlet Course. 

There is quite a bit of history around these 295 acres. You know that the minute you drive in and see the sign announcing that you are arriving at the college golf home of Jack Nicklaus. The original design of the Scarlet was by legendary architect Dr. Alister MacKenzie, who of course also designed Augusta National Golf Club and Cypress Point. The course also has as a Nicklaus stamp to it thanks to a major renovation by the Golden Bear in 2005. 

Unfortunately, we are not seeing the Scarlet Course at its best this weekend. The brutal winter has pretty severely damaged some of the greens. I talked with coach Page last night, and he said he wasn’t sure how it would impact the play at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate, although it would likely limit some of the pin positions.

Sebastian Bendsen (top) and
Jake Troyer tee off at No. 10
in the first round at OSU

The Flashes have tinkered with the lineup a bit this week, inserting sophomore Jake Troyer into the No. 5 spot and moving sophomore Sebastian Bendsen up to the No. 4 spot. Bendsen has been playing well early in round one, hitting a bunch of greens. 

I was standing at the difficult par-3 17th hole just a little while ago and watched 18 players come through with only one hitting the green. While just about everyone to play the hole has bailed out right, Bendsen took on the dangerous left pin position, flying the ball just over the flag to 12 feet and just missing the putt. Golfstat has him at 4-under through his first 12 holes, and I’m not sure if that is correct. His scores had been entered wrong earlier in the day.

Kyle Kmiecik and Taylor Pendrith are both at 1-over. I watched both make impressive birdies early in the round – Kmiecik drilling a 15-footer on the par-5 12th hole after starting while Pendrith stuck his approach at 10 to 3 feet out of the right-fairway bunker and made the putt. 

The Flashes started on holes 7-through-10 in a shotgun start.

The weather is beautiful this weekend – mid-70’s today with a high of 79 expected tomorrow. The Flashes are taking advantage of the conditions. According to Golfstat, the Flashes are one of only two teams at even or better after the 1st-round turn, with Kent State at even and Georgia Tech at 3-under. But we’ll have to see if those scores are accurate considering the errors with Bendsen’s scores. 

I’m heading back out to the front nine now to catch up with the Flashes and will have updates later both here and more frequently on Twitter at @KSUAthletics

You can also follow the live leaderboard at Golfstat here.

Taylor Pendrith putts for birdie at the par-5 12th hole at the OSU Scarlet Course

On the road in Texas with Kent State's Men's Golf Team

Associate head coach Rob Wakeling reviews
strategy to attack the Traditions Club during
Friday night's team meeting

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – I’m on my first road trip of the season with the Kent State men’s golf team here at Texas A&M where the Golden Flashes hope to improve on last year’s second-place finish at the Aggie Invitational.

Associate head coach Rob Wakeling just met with the team here at the Hilton College Station Hotel to go over what each player learned about the beautiful Traditions Club during today’s practice round.

Which par-5’s do you plan to attack? If you are going to lay up, what distance? On which holes do you risk driver and when do you just pull out an iron? What greens have some tricky slopes? It’s more of a give and take between coach and players than you get in the team meetings leading up to a basketball or football game. Of course, in basketball and football there’s also no need to go over local rules. Millett Hall in Oxford might be a somewhat unusual, dinner-theater-style setting, but you don’t need to worry about hardwood under repair and how to put the ball back into play. 

Wakeling & Pendrith watch
Fry, Conners and Whalen hit
some balls late on Friday

This meeting wasn’t as long or involved as they usually are because, as senior Corey Conners put it, “there isn’t a whole lot to go over. At this course, it’s all pretty much right in front of you.”

Jack Nicklaus didn’t create a tricked-up track here in Aggieland. Traditions is straight forward, and yet extremely difficult. All of the players said the course is playing fast. Greens and fairways are both very firm. According to Conners, a good team number to shoot for tomorrow would be right around even par. Get it to 2-under and that will probably lead the tournament heading into Sunday’s final round.

An 8:30 a.m. departure
from Kent State on Thursday

Conners, Taylor Pendrith, Kyle Kmiecik, Kody Fry, Sebastian Bendsen and Josh Whalen also practiced briefly on Thursday afternoon at the beautiful Texas A&M golf facility that is only about a driver and a 3-wood from the Traditions clubhouse. We drove two hours straight to the practice facility after landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston just after 2 p.m.

Waiting for rental cars at
airport in Houston

The Bush name is very big here, by the way. College Station happens to house the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. It’s an impressive building that I had hoped to visit today, although I never found the time.

The team arrives at Texas A&M
practice facility on Thursday

I met Bush 41 in 1994 when he was honored as the Ambassador of Golf prior to the World Series of Golf at Firestone Country Club. I was in my first year as a sportswriter at the Record-Courier at the time, and I had the chance to interview the former president along with three or four other local writers after he played in the Wednesday pro-am on Firestone’s North Course. He couldn’t have been more gracious. That was a thrill. It was also the first of three Presidents of the United States I was fortunate to meet during nearly 20 years as a sportswriter before coming to work at Kent State.

The Flashes prep for
Thursday's practice 

The time to go to the presidential library would have been early this afternoon following the practice round, but we’ve become pretty hooked on Texas barbecue in our first two days here, and that was our No. 1 priority. After both practices on Thursday and Friday we ended up at Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q for some of the best BBQ brisket, porkloin and ribs you’ll ever find … along with sweet tea and traditional banana pudding, of course.

We’ll be on the course at 8:40 a.m. tomorrow for the first tee time. Rain should hit around the turn of tomorrow afternoon’s second round. Hopefully we’ll get in a final round on Sunday when thunderstorms are supposed to roll in.

The Flashes finished second at last year's Aggie Invitational, shooting even par while Alabama lapped an outstanding field with an impressive 18-under-par total. The Crimson Tide is not back this year to defend, but there are still eight top-50 teams in this week's 12-team field, including No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 3 California. Kent State enters the tournament at No. 30 in the Golfstat rankings. For the tournament preview at KentStateSports.com, click here.

Here's a link to the tee times for rounds 1 and 2 tomorrow at the Aggie Invitational.

You can follow the Aggie Invitational with live scoring provided by Golfstat.com by clicking here.

Dinner on Thursday night at Rudy's Bar-B-Q . We returned on Friday night,
and I'm guessing we'll be back on Saturday after round one at of the Aggie Invitational

Excited about new Kent State Golf Show

Ty Linder and I just finished recording the first edition of a new Kent State Golf Show with associate men’s golf head coach Rob Wakeling here at the M.A.C. Center.

It was a fun half hour that we plan to turn into a regular one-hour show airing every two weeks on the Golden Flashes iHeart Radio channel.

The show was recorded live to tape and as we’ll get the word out as soon as it is ready to air.

In this week’s show, we talked about the recent spring trip to Florida that was followed by head coach Herb Page taking seniors Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith, Kyle Kmiecik and sophomores Kody Fry and Sebastian Bendsen to Prairie Dunes in Kansas for two weekend rounds on the site of this year’s NCAA Tournament.

According to Wakeling, the conditions were perfect for the Flashes first round at Prairie Dunes, but the wind whipped to 40 miles per hour in the second round, which made for a perfect weekend of practice, seeing the course under two completely different conditions. 

It’s interesting to see how Kent State’s men’s golf team dropped a bit in the rankings after finishing 2nd out of 14 teams at the Davidson College Invitational March 3-4 and 2nd out of 12 teams at the General Hackler Championship March 10-11, but then moved up a spot in the rankings last week after finishing 13th out of 15 teams at the Valspar Invitational at Floridian. The reason was the strength of the field. The Floridian hosted some of the best teams in the nation. The Flashes will face another elite field this weekend at the Aggie Invitational.

The radio show also included a discussion of what is next for Conners and Pendrith – two of the highest rated amateurs in the world according to the R&A and Scratch Golfers rankings – after their college careers come to an end in late May. Wakeling expects both to continue to play amateur golf during the summer before turning professional. 

It’s a fun show. We had fun recording it, and after finishing the half hour “pilot” it was pretty clear that the show should be an hour long. We’ll use it to talk about what is happening in the Kent State men’s and women’s golf programs as well as talk about professional golf, equipment, courses and golf getaways. 

Herb Page will be joining us on air as well during the show’s run, so if you have any questions for Wakeling or Page, please tweet me at @CarducciKSU.

In addition to my duties as the director of new media here at Kent State, I also serve as the sports information director for the men's golf team. I'll be making my first road trip with the team next weekend when the Flashes play in the Robert Keppler Intercollegiate at Ohio State's Scarlet Course.

One of the disappointing things to me about college golf in recent years is the fact that it is now hard for fans to see their teams play in person. Kent State golf fans used to be able to see the Golden Flashes play in the FirstEnergy Intercollegiate when it alternated between Windmill Lakes and Firestone Country Club. They had a chance to see Ben Curtis before he was British Open champion. But with that event now dead, a trip to Columbus is the best chance to see players like Conners and Pendrith in Kent State blue and gold before they start their professional careers. 

Random thoughts following first day of spring practice

The spring season for Kent State football kicked off at 8:30 a.m. with a spirited first practice.

As is usually the case early in the start of spring or fall practice, the defense was a little bit ahead during most drills. At one point, offensive coordinator Brian Rock shouted to his quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends that “this is a bloodletting. They are kicking your (tails) all over the field.”

Head coach Paul Haynes is asking his players to become more of a family this spring, dubbing April, “Get to Know Your Teammates Month.”

One potential new teammate – Darren Goodson – was spotted on the practice field for part of the session, watching the tight ends work and chatting with assistant coach Dave McMichael.

Darren Goodson watches at spring practice

Goodson, who started at power forward for the men’s basketball team for the last two season, has decided to stay in Kent for another year to play tight end on the football team. The Golden Flashes hope @JeffJustJeff was on the right track when he retweeted “Antonio Gates Part II” to a photo of Goodson watching practice on Tuesday.

Goodson was a freshman at Withrow High School in Cincinnati when current Kent State assistant coach Doc Gamble was the head football coach at the school, so there is a connection there. Goodson did play some football in high school, so the transition won’t be a completely new one. 

Kent State's coaches do not expect to see Goodson in pads this spring. His class schedule will make it difficult for him to do much more than take mental reps while attending some meetings and film sessions. As of now, he is expected to be full go for the fall.

Treadwell teaching technique
during a handoff drill

Another new face on Tuesday was that of Don Treadwell. The former Miami University head coach and offensive coordinator at Michigan State has been hired to coach the Golden Flashes running backs. 

Colin Reardon looked accurate on his first day of spring, as did redshirt freshman Nathan Strock. While Reardon is the incumbent as the starter at quarterback, Kent State’s coaches want competition at the position, and they like the potential of upsides of both Reardon and Strock.

The Flashes have lost some playmakers on the defensive line over the last few seasons, but they still look the part up front with 6-foot-4, 258-pound junior Clay Miller emerging as an edge rusher. He looks bigger and stronger. Inside, 312-pound junior Chris Fairchild played next to Nate Terhune at defensive tackle, something we didn’t see much of last season. Richard Gray may also be ready to return after missing last season. 

Look for Jordan Italiano also to play more as a true safety this season after spending most of his time at the star position last season.

Here are a few more shots from today's practice. Just click to "Embiggen" (one of my favorite words from back when the Simpsons were funny):