Men’s team

With only one tournament left in the fall season, the Kent State men’s golf team is focused on being more consistent.

Kent State coach Herb Page described the season with a chuckle as “the penthouse of the outhouse.”

“It’s been really, really good and a couple times it hasn’t been so good,” Page said. “We’ve had two great finishes, two second place finishes and again, our schedule was probably the toughest we’ve ever had.”

Arguably Kent State’s best performance came at last week’s Bank of Tennessee at the Ridges tournament.

The Flashes finished second behind a strong outing by junior Mackenzie Hughes who won the tournament with a 13-under par score.

Page said Hughes’ golfing has pleased him the most this fall.

“He has had just a superb fall season,” he said. “Of the fall, he’s the shining star. He’s been there every single week, the most consistent and has really put up some great, great rounds for us.”

Kent State wraps up the fall season in Alpharetta, Ga., participating in the United States Collegiate Championship.

Page said the Flashes are focused on finishing strong at the last tournament.

“We had a very, very good practice (Wednesday),” he said. “We practiced some fundamentals, some process things that hopefully will pay off.”

No. 34 Kent State will square off against some of the best teams in the country, including No. 1 UCLA, No. 6 Texas and host team No. 13 Georgia Tech.

Page said the tournament has been called “The Masters of Collegiate Golf.”

“I need my A-team to show up,” Page said. “I need my Gopher, Tenn. team to show up. I need that to team to show up and let’s see how we do.”

Women’s team

Consistency has been the key for the Kent State women’s team this fall.

The Flashes have finished fifth place or better in all three of their tournaments this season, including a second place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational and a third place finish at the Mercedes Benz Championship.

Kent State women’s coach Mike Morrow said he is pleased with the way his team performed to this point of the season.

“I think we’ve been a very good team, obviously very consistent,” Morrow said. “We beat a number of quality teams. We would have liked to have had a victory, but we’ve been very competitive, also.”

The most consistent player for the Flashes this season has been senior Martina Gavier. She finished in the top four of all the matches this season. Gavier’s season-best performance came at the Mercedes Benz Championship where she finished second overall, carding a score of 8-under par.

Morrow said he expects to good scores at the tournament.

“At this golf course, the scores tend to be a little bit lower,” Morrow said. “If the weather stays good with a golf course you can score on a little bit and maybe not get quite as much separation from the field as you would on a very hard golf course.”

Freshman Erin Hawe made an impact this season, competing in two events as an individual. Her best performance came at the Mercedes Benz Championship where she finished a career-high seventh place.

“Everyone contributed and obviously Erin in the (Mercedes Benz Championship) took a big step forward,” Morrow said. “Martina has been the main contributor and Mercedes (Germino) has given us a lot of good rounds also.”

Contact Brad Tansey at [email protected].