The Kent State men’s golf team had its best finish of the season on Tuesday, tying for sixth in the Fighting Irish Classic.

The Flashes shot twelve-over-par 864 on the Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Indiana.

Coach Jon Mills said the team has shown improvement, but still has work to do.

“As a whole we played more consistently this week as a team,” Mills said. “But again we got off to a good start, put ourselves in a good position and then struggled.”

The team was led again this week by freshman Cade Breitenstine, who finished in a four-way tie for ninth at two-under-par 211. Breitenstine played best in the first round, with a round score of three-under-par 68.

Sophomore Julien Paltrinieri was close behind, shooting one-under-par 212 and finishing tied for 11th.

“We saw great production out of Cade again. He played awesome,” Mills said. “And Julien played well also, which is great for us.”

The Flashes finishing in the top 50 were rounded out by junior Will Kurtz’s finish of eight-over-par 221, which tied him for 40th.

Sophomore Jared Wilson saw his first action as a flash after transferring to Kent from Wake Forest over the summer.

Wilson struggled after getting a minor forearm injury early, but played through and finished tied for 77th. He did have a good showing despite it in the second round, scoring a one-over-par 71.

Junior Josh Gilkison saw his first finish outside the top 15 this year, coming in tied for 52nd with a 10-over-par 223.

“Josh has been playing really well for us,” Mills said. “He didn’t play well this week, but he is the type of guy who will come back and work really hard and get ready for that next event.”

The Flashes’ 12-over-par was just one stroke short of tying for fifth place and Mills emphasized how close his team is to where he wants them.

“We are starting to get production,” he said. “And when we get one of those weeks where they all play solid for the whole week then look out.”

The team has an almost two week break before its next tournament, the Royal Oaks Invitational in Dallas on Oct. 21, and Mills plans to use that time to keep putting in work.

“Our biggest thing this fall is just playing a lot of golf,” Mills said. “We will keep getting the guys on the golf course and learning their game and tightening things up.”

Contact Owen MacMillian at [email protected].