Monday Results
Tuesday Tee-Times
LEXINGTON, Ky. – From temperatures in the 60’s with minimal winds, the field took advantage of ideal course conditions to light it up on the first day of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Championship on Monday.
Under par rounds were the norm in the first 36 holes on the Big Blue Course, a layout of over 6,800 yards, as 11 conference teams put forth their best effort on the links.
Fans, fellow competitors and rules officials, were voicing admiration for the body of work that first-day leader Trevecca Nazarene was able to accomplish. The Trojans were in the red for six of their 10 rounds and are holding a 14-stroke edge in the race for a team title and AQ into the NCAA Midwest Regional.
TNU also has senior Ryan Rozic atop of the individual leaderboard with back-to-back rounds of under par (70-69--139) and is 5-under par going into the final round. The Trojans were also supported by two-time conference championship medalist Blain Turner, who won the 2019 event following a playoff.
Give a lot of credit to Devin Speight, Matthew Jeffe and Jonah Manning, for their contributions that really made Monday a complete team effort. There was no doubt the back nine was grounding some teams’ momentum during the second round and the Trojans were as steady as it gets to not fall off pace.
Individually, there are seven players currently at under par through the first 36 holes. Findlay’s Luke Kelly led all players with a 68 (-4) in the second round while the teammate tandem of Tiffin’s Cameron McCloskey and Britton Hensel are inside the top five.
There is considerable variance in the top 10 individuals with Hillsdale’s George Roberts and Ryan Zetwick also in the mix along with Lake Erie’s Antonio Bodziony tied for fifth, who posted a 69 (-3) in his second-round total. Storm teammate Jarrod Teeter was the only player to have a pair of eagles in both rounds combined.
Speight also had a 69 in the second round and Manning was under par with a 71 on his second 18 holes. Jeffe, tied for 14th, fired a 71 (-1) in the first round as the Trojans current sit at -10 following rounds of 284 and 282.
There was added excitement on the par 3, 17th hole as Tiffin’s Noah Barth had an ace. He used a 6-iron from 2017 yards for the tournament’s lone hole-in-one so far.
The toughest hole at Big Blue on Day 1 was the par 4 15th and 18th holes with only one birdie recorded at each. It was bombs away for most of the tournament on the par 5’s with over 20 players at under par on those holes. Par 4 scoring was paced by Findlay’s Kelly at -4 in those layouts.
Coming into the conference championship, Findlay, Hillsdale and Trevecca Nazarene, were all ranked in the NCAA Midwest Region team rankings.
The final round is set to tee off at 8 a.m. ET with the 1-6 teams teeing off the first tee. The tee times are still split with other programs starting on No. 10. At the conclusion of the event, the top (8) finishers including ties, will be recognized with all-conference team hardware. The team champion and individual medalist will also be honored along with the first selection of the inaugural Elite 23 Award.