Mother nature reared its ugly head Friday for the first round of the Bank of Tennessee Tournament, suspending play for Kent State men’s golf team in the middle of the round.

The Flashes were playing in inclement weather for nearly the entire first round of the tournament. The tournament was officially suspended at 1:50 p.m. after about an hour delay.  Before the tournament was postponed until tomorrow, Kent State shot 1-under-par through 8-9 holes to be tied for fifth place.

“It’s just been miserable,” Kent State coach Herb Page. “We played in downpours, rain and rain sideways. We are pretty happy with how they kind of hung in there. We played really steady.”

Freshman Chase Johnson is leading the way for the Flashes at 2-under-par and is tied for fourth place through eight holes of golf. The freshman has been playing well throughout the season and has been nothing short of consistent.

Johnson said the rain did not affect him, despite the puddles and heavy rainfall.

“Personally I honestly love playing in the rain,” Johnson said. “It didn’t affect me hardly at all.”

Junior Taylor Zoller sits tied for 52nd place at 2-over-par. Zoller said the Flashes were prepared for rain after a meeting with the team. He said all of the players have played in the rain before, so was nothing new to them. 

“I would say we handled it maturely,” Zoller said. ”I like our chances — we have a very talented team and its just matter of putting it all together.”

In addition to Johnson and Zoller, senior Sebastian Bendsen and sophomore Josh Whalen through nine holes are tied for 20^th place at even par through eight holes and nine holes, respectively.

Freshman Ian Holt is tied for 39th place at 1-over-par through nine holes. Junior Chase parker is tied for 52nd place at 2-over-par through five holes.

The Flashes will resume play in the first round and continue into the second round at 8:45a.m. Saturday.

Contact Ray Strickland at [email protected].