Owls tie for 11th in field of nationally-ranked teams

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — In another field loaded with nationally-ranked teams, the Kenyon College golf team fired a three-round total of 892 and finished in a tie for 11th place during the Jekyll Island Collegiate Invitational, which played out at the par-71 King and Prince Golf Course.

Kenyon, ranked at No. 18 in the latest Golf Coaches Association of America NCAA Division III poll, landed in a tie with No. 9-ranked Sewanee, No. 11-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and unranked Southwestern University.

No. 3-ranked Oglethorpe University won the Invitational with a final three-round score of 870. No 5-ranked Carnegie Mellon University was second with an 875 and No. 22-ranked Guilford College took third with a score of 876.

The second day of the three-day tournament turned out to be the best for the Owls, who totaled a score of 286, which tied for the third-best round in program history. That round, which unfolded Saturday, saw sophomore Will Hulsey card a 67. Disregarding relation to par, that 67 was tied for the third-best single-round score in program history. His 18 included three birdies on the front nine and two birdies, countered by one bogey, on the back nine.

During that same round, first-year Jonathan Oakes scored a 71 and classmate Jaiden Koonar fired a 73.

Kenyon began the tournament Friday with a round-one score of 302, which put the Owls in a tie for 16th place in the field of 30 teams. Saturday’s surge moved the team up to 13th place, before they climbed two more spots on the final day of the Invitational.

 Hulsey’s impressive second round was sandwiched by a 79 in round one and a 77 in round three. His final total of 223 strokes put him in an individual tie for 39th place in a field of 150 golfers.

While Hulsey scored the low round for Kenyon, first-year Jonathan Oakes turned in the team’s best overall final score, which was a 219. He put up a 73 in the first round, a 71 in the second round and a 75 in the third round. On the overall individual leaderboard, Oakes claimed a tie for 15th place.

Jaiden Koonar, the No. 3 golfer in Kenyon’s lineup, fired a three-round total of 225 to take an individual tie for 53rd place. Junior Armand Ouellette put up a 233 and tied for 102nd place, while senior Garrett Thesing carded a 240 and landed in a tie for 131st place.

The Owls now have some time off before returning to competition on April 12, the first day of the two-day Fred Kravetz Invitational, hosted by Rochester College.