The Kent State men’s golf team finished eighth out of 15 teams this week at The Windon Memorial in Northfield, Illinois.

“There were some good things, and then there are some things we still have to work on,” coach Jon Mills said. “Being at a pretty good field, it was disappointing that we couldn’t compete a little bit better, but we did have good showings.”

Tying for ninth, redshirt senior Chris Vandette secured his first top-ten finish of the 2023 season. 

“He played pretty well in the individual event. He’s been working hard, and it’s starting to pay off,” Mills said. “He’s starting to see some results based on his work ethic.” 

Vandette, the 2021-2022 MAC golfer of the year, shot a three-round score of (68-67-71) to finish seven under par. He had 15 birdies and tied for a tournament-best six under on par 4s. 

Junior Jordan Gilkison and sophomore Ben MacLean put themselves in the top 30. Gilkison tied for 24th at four under, and MacLean was one stroke behind, tying for 29th. 

“Jordan battled all week – he’s such a solid player, and if you’d ask him, he probably felt like he didn’t play very well this week,” Mills said. “With that being said, it’s good to see him finish pretty solid, even though it might have been an off week.

“This was Ben’s first time playing this year. He was playing really well, top ten going into the final day, and then struggled a little bit on the final day. For a sophomore, he definitely had a good showing and definitely some momentum to take going forward.”  

Going forward, Mills wants his team to continue to put themselves in a position to place high in tournaments.

“We are going to do a little bit of qualifying before we leave,” he said. “It’s going to be a very good field, so we have to be ready and have our game sharp so we can compete. Our goal is to have a very solid finish here and put ourselves in a position for when the rankings come out in the middle of October, and we are in a good spot.” 

The Flashes return Sunday and Monday to compete in the Fighting Irish Classic, hosted by Notre Dame University. 

Women’s tournment

Kent State women’s golf finished ninth out of 10 teams. 

Junior Jennifer Gu was the top performer for the Flashes, shooting a combined score of 225 over three rounds, which tied for 22nd place. 

Three total Flashes finished in the top 40, with the others being sophomore Leon Takagi (226) and freshman Veronika Kedronova (230). 

The team will return to action Oct. 6-8 at the Evie Odom Invitational in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

Emily Lowen is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].