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