Owls start spring slate in record-setting fashion

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Resuming its 2023-24 schedule Monday and Tuesday in the Savannah Invitational, the Kenyon College golf team carded some pretty impressive numbers, including one program record, while finishing in a tie for eighth place in the field of 19 teams, many of which were nationally ranked.

Over the course of the two-day, three-round tournament, Kenyon golfers combined to post a team score of 872, which set the program record for a 54-hole tournament. The previous record of 875 was set by the 2016-17 team in the BSN Fall Invitational.

All seven teams to finish ahead of the Owls were nationally ranked, including No. 1 Methodist University, which won the tournament with a score of 841, and No. 2 Emory University, which placed second with a score of 844.

Kenyon, ranked No. 25 in the latest Golf Coaches Association of America poll, tied for eighth place with University of Lynchburg, a team that came into the tournament with a No. 5 rank. Additionally, the Owls finished ahead of teams like No. 15 Wittenberg University, No. 16 Averett University, No. 18 Christopher Newport University, No. 21 Guilford College, No. 22 RPI and No. 24 Greensboro College.

First-year Jonathan Oakes set the pace for the Owls. He finished with rounds of 72, 66 and 73 for a final score of 211, which tied him, in the Kenyon record book, for the second-best individual score for a 54-hole tournament. His 66 in the second round also tied him for the second-best 18-hole mark in program history. Oakes' final score was good enough to gain him an individual tie for ninth place on a leaderboard that contained 95 golfers.

Sophomore Will Hulsey tallied a 218 for Kenyon and tied for 28th place. He scored rounds of 71, 76 and 71. The Kenyon youth movement continued with first-year Jaiden Koonar, who finished one stroke behind Hulsey and shared a 33rd-place finish with two other golfers. Koonar's 219 consisted of rounds of 75, 72 and 72.

Junior Armand Ouellette and senior Garrett Thesing completed the Owls' scoring. Ouellette fired rounds of 77, 70 and 77 for 224 and a share of 61st place, while Thesing put up a 239 with rounds of 77, 82 and 80.

The Owls will try to ride the momentum into their next tournament, which is the Hampden-Sydney Tiger Invitational, to be held in Pinehurst, North Carolina on Sunday and Monday.

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Players Mentioned

Armand Ouellette: Sophomore

Garrett Thesing: Junior

Will Hulsey: First-Year

Jonathan Oakes: First-Year

Jaiden Koonar: First-Year

Players Mentioned

Armand Ouellette
: Sophomore

Garrett Thesing
: Junior

Will Hulsey
: First-Year

Jonathan Oakes
: First-Year

Jaiden Koonar
: First-Year