WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
LEXINGTON, Ky. — As it has for many years now, the Kenyon College golf team cracked open the new season with play at the Transylvania Fall Invitational. When the two-day, three-round event concluded Sunday, the Owls owned the fifth-place spot in a field of 19 teams.
Kenyon, which graduated seven golfers from last year’s team that finished 15th at the NCAA Division III Championship, didn’t seem to skip a beat as the new season started. Golfers who didn’t make the starting lineup last year took center stage this weekend and didn’t back down.
Senior Logan Spiess and junior Griffin Ward were two such golfers for Kenyon. Spiess started out Saturday’s first round with a one-under 71 on the par-72 course at the University Club of Kentucky. In Friday’s second round he carded a 73 and then finished things up with a 74 in Sunday’s third and final round. Ward ended up matching Spiess as the two tied for individual 14th-place finishes with final scores of 218. Ward’s tallies included a 72 and 73 on Saturday, followed by another 73 Sunday.
Kenyon’s No. 1 golfer, sophomore Armand Ouellette, tied Spiess for the team’s low round with a 71 during the opening 18 holes. He then posted a 74 and 75 for a final total of 220 and a tie for 18th place among the 99 golfers who participated.
The Owls’ two other golfers finished in the upper half of the field, as well. Junior Garrett Thesing posted a 228 with rounds of 75, 79 and 74, while first-year Will Hulsey penciled in a 230 with scores of 78, 77 and 75. Thesing tied for 39th place and Hulsey tied for 48th place.
As a team, the Owls started out hot with a score of 290 that put them in second place after the first round. A 296 in the second round dropped them to third place and another 296 Sunday placed them fifth. The Owls (882) were just one stroke shy of fourth-place Center College (881) and four strokes shy of third-place Rhodes College (878).
Greensboro College took the team title with a score of 863, while host Transylvania University took the runner-up spot with an 877.
