The Kent State men’s golf team heads down to the Golf Club of Georgia for the U.S. Collegiate tournament. Coach Herb Page expects the field to be a tough challenge for the Flashes.

“There’s 17 teams and if you go to the rankings we are the last ranked team. This is an elite field in college golf,” Page said.  “This is a true test. This will tell us where we are at nationally.”

The Flashes will battle nine top 20-ranked teams as well as others that vary throughout the remainder of the rankings and try to bounce back from a fifteenth place finish last year.  

“They just have to keep playing like they’re playing except for one nine holes. We’ve improved a lot,” Page said. “But the whole thing is, whether it be for first place or seventh place or even 10th place, you have to finish your rounds. I understand you make mistakes. Golf is a game of mistakes and how you react to them, but we just have to keep playing.”

Right now, Page looks at sophomore Chase Johnson to lead the Flashes. Johnson finished top five in the individual standings in the past two tournaments.  

“He can’t really do any better,” Page said. “He’s almost won back to back. This is the elite of the elite and I know he can finish in the top ten here. The big thing is he has confidence going. All the experience he got last year is starting to pay off.”

Johnson, who finished fifty-ninth in the U.S. Collegiate last year, will try to maintain the momentum from the past two tournaments and carry it into this one.

“This whole year, even when I finished fourteenth and twentieth, I’ve been first or second in the field for birdies and I’ve been able to minimize my mistakes,” Johnson said. “I’m just going to go out with the same mindset and try to score as much as I can and play smart. I remember the course from last year so I just have to try to eliminate the big numbers and I’ll be alright.”

The Flashes start their first round of the tournament on Friday.

Chris Yamnitsky is a sports reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].