On the road with Men's Golf and its chase for 6 straight MAC titles

CARMEL, Ind. – I'm at Prairie View Golf Club in suburban Indianapolis following Kent State's Men's Golf Team as it chases a sixth straight Mid-American Conference Championship... Keep checking back for updates this weekend.

UPDATE 7:30 p.m. ... After a shaky finish and what head coach Herb Page called a Jekyll-and-Hyde, the Golden Flashes still find themselves in first place after day one of the MAC Championship.

The coaches and players are just sitting down to dinner, and Page admitted they are thinking just a bit about what might have been.

The lead is currently five shots over Akron, but it was 12 at one point during the second round before an ugly run that included nine bogeys and two double bogeys over the final five holes.

"These things are hard to win," said Page. "The good news is we had a Jekyll-and-Hyde day out there, and still we have a five-shot lead. Our guys know how poorly they started out and how poorly the finished. We could have had a double-digit lead, but we gave it away with too many big numbers and too many three-putts. 

It's hard to get too negative because those middle nines were pretty fabulous. As a coach, a day like this gets very exciting, and then it also gets very frustrating. We have guys on this team who know how to win, though, and they just have to come back out here on Saturday and Sunday and stay away from those big numbers. We haven't played our best golf yet. Not even close."

The story of day one is now posted on kentstatesports.com. Click here for the link. 

UPDATE: 4:43 p.m. … Kent State is rolling in round two of the Mid-American Conference Championship and building a big lead.

Just a few hours ago, the Golden Flashes were struggling on the relatively easy front nine at Prairie View Golf Club and trailing Ball State by eight shots as neared the turn in round one.

Some five hours later, the Flashes have made the turn in round two and hold a 9-shot lead over second-place Akron. The Flashes sit at 12-under for the tournament and are 10-under in round two.

Through nine holes in round one, Kent State senior Taylor Pendrith was struggling at 3-over par and showing some frustration heading to the 10th tee. After a good drive, a 9-iron to three feet turned his fortunes around. That birdie jump started a 4-under-par 32 on the back nine.

Pendrith on the sixth tee during round two

Pendrith followed that with a birdie-birdie-birdie start to round two … and now at 4-under for his second round and 5-under for the tournament, the defending MAC individual champ is back on top of the leaderboard with a one-shot advantage on Akron’s Charlie Bull through 12 holes.

Fellow senior Corey Conners, who had some struggles earlier in his day, is just two off of the individual lead at 3-under, tied with Kent State teammate Kyle Kmiecik, who has been rock steady all day for the Flashes since a birdie at his first hole of the morning round.

There was a fun flurry early in round two that I watched with head coach Herb Page from a mound that sits between Prarie View’s No. 3 green and No. 4 tee. From that spot you can see a big chunk of the course … the green at No. 4, the No. 5 green in the distance and No. 6 fairway, along with several holes on the back nine.

We watched Pendrith hit the par-5 third in two, then two putt for his third consecutive birdie. Just seconds earlier, Kmieck got up and down from the greenside bunker at three for a birdie. As Pendrith made his putt, we watched Kmieck get another sand save, this time for par, from the green at the fourth hole. And in between, we could see freshman Sebastian Bendsen and sophomore Josh Whalen pump their fists as they made birdie putts at No. 5.

As Pendrith walked to the tee at four, Conners hit his second shot at three to 15 feet and made eagle. Kmieck followed with
another birdie at five.

“This is when golf starts getting fun,” said associate head coach Rob Wakeling, as I caught up with him at the fifth green, just as Pendrith hit his tee shot at the 340-yard hole green high.

Watching golf from a perch like that is great fun on a course like this with few trees. It’s a lot like watching golf at a British Open venue where you can see forever. Even with a small crowd like we have today here in Indiana, you can hear the few people out there cheer for a great shot, giving you even more of an indication of what is happening out there around you.

And as I write this, the run continues ... Pendrith with birdie at 13 to get to 5-under on his round just as Conners hits it on the par-5 13th for an eagle opportunity of about 40 feet.

Head coach Herb Page watches Kyle Kmiecik's
tee shot at the par-three fourth hole during round two

UPDATE, END OF ROUND 1, 2:15 p.m. ... Better play on the tougher back nine here at Prairie View Golf Club has allowed Kent State to close the gap a bit as play begins in round two.

The Flashes played the last three holes in 3-under par. That helped them complete the first round with a 2-under-par 286 that has them just two shots off the lead.

I just talked to Herb Page as he hurried through his lunch before heading back to the course.

"This is a resilient group," said Page. "They just kept hanging in there. Three under in the last three holes to keep us close, that is all you can ask for. We have not played our best golf yet. Now we need to go back out there and keep it going."

Kyle Kmiecik (33-38–71) just signed the scorecard on his 1-under-par first round. He led the way for the Flashes all morning long, staying in red numbers while his teammates settled in.

Taylor Pendrith (39-32–71) is currently signing his scorecard after a back-nine comeback put him at 1-under-par after 18 holes. His back-nine 32 included three birdies and an eagle. After a drive of 340-plus yards on the par-5 13th, he hit nine iron to 35 feet and drained the putt.

Corey Conners (38-34–72) is on his way into the clubhouse after a comeback of his own on the back nine. His bogey-free finish after the turn included birdies at 11 and 17.

Led by Charlie Bull's 3-under-par 69, Akron finished with the first-round lead at 4-under. Ryan Harris and Zach Gollwitzer both shot 1-under for the Zips.

UPDATE, 1:41 p.m. ... Back-to-back birdies by Pendrith at the 16th and 17th holes have moved the senior into red numbers at 1-under heading to the final hole.

Those birds have also helped the Flashes close the gap late in round one. Akron has moved into the lead at 4-under as a team, but the Flashes are now just three back at 1-under.

Freshman Josh Whalen has posted a very nice round of even-par 72, playing the final eight holes of his round in 1-under (seven pars and a birdie two at No. 15).

Sophomore Sebastian Bendsen shot a 76. Kmieck is just finishing up with Pendrith and Conners to follow.



UPDATE, 12:45 p.m. ... Just heading back to the course to find Kent State making a bit of a move on the back nine.

After turning in 3-over and showing some signs of frustration heading to the 10th tee just a short while ago, senior and defending individual champion Taylor Pendrith has started to battle back, notching a birdie three at the 10th and the getting an eagle at the par-5 13th hole. He is now back to even.

Fellow senior Corey Conners is also getting his round back in order with a birdie at the par-3 11th to get back to 1-over on the day.

At 1-under, Kent State now trails Ball State and Eastern Michigan by just two shots heading into the final holes of the morning. 

The teams will take a short break for lunch before heading right back out to the course for the second round.

Taylor Pendrith putts for eagle during the first round of the MAC Championships at Prairie View

Kent State senior Kyle Kmiecik tees off at the first

UPDATE, 11:30 a.m. ... The Golden Flashes are not getting too down here on day one of the MAC Championships despite a frustrating start here at Prairie View Golf Club near Indianapolis.

Senior Kyle Kmiecik is playing very well, making the first-round turn at 3-under par. Now through 12 holes he remains at 3-under. The other four Kent State players in the lineup are all over par this morning – Josh Whalen 1-over through 12, Sebastian Bendsen 2-over through 12, Corey Conners 2-over at turn and Taylor Pendrith 2-over at turn.

Four combined double bogeys on the easier front nine have hurt the cause as Kent State chases tries to become the first team ever to win six outright MAC men’s golf championships. 

I’m writing this at noon, and at the moment the Flashes sit at 2-over as a team and in a tie for fifth place, six shots behind the early leader Ball State. Akron is at 3-under and one shot behind the Cardinals’ lead. Eastern Michigan is also under par at 1-under.

The course should be playing a bit easier today with several tees forward of their positions in yesterday’s practice round and some accessible pin positions.  

I spent most of the morning walking wtih Pendrith, who is the MAC’s reigning individual champion,  but caught up with Kyle Kmiecik’s father, Tom, for a bit at the ninth hole. He said Kyle has been playing conservative golf, not taking any big risks, but putting the ball in good positions and then sinking some big putts. 

With former Major League 2B Bernie Allen

He opened with a birdie at the first, added birdies at five and seven, then recovered immediately from his first bogey of the day at 11 by getting his fourth birdie of the day at the par-3 12th.

UPDATE, 10:30 a.m. ... It has been cold and overcast all morning with temperatures in the high 40’s. We are supposed to get up to around 56 by the mid afternoon, and it looks like we will avoid the rain that has been forecast all week. 

I had a nice surprise standing on the first tee, chatting with an older gentleman for a bit and then finding out he was Bernie Allen, the former Major League second baseman who played for the Twins, Senators, Yankees and Expos during a career that lasted from 1962-73. He was also the roommate of former Kent State great Rich Rollins for six years with the Twins. 

Allen is an Indiana native who played football and baseball at Purdue. He is enjoying his retirement and working here at Prairie View. He is a fantastic guy who shared some great stories of his time with baseball greats like Billy Martin, who he replaced at second base with the Twins, and Ted Williams, who was his manager with the Senators. Williams always used to get angry with him for playing too much golf during the baseball season.

“Ted told me golf would ruin my swing. I told him it wouldn’t because I bat left handed and play golf right handed. And I only do that so that I wouldn’t ruin my golf swing.”

It’s worth coming out this weekend just to visit with him.

I’ll check back in with more updates as the day goes on.