An unlikely faculty is wildly overrepresented on the Presidents Cup

MONTREAL — You gained’t be shocked to listen to that there are two Georgia Bulldogs at this week’s Presidents Cup. Nor that there’s a golfer every from Texas, LSU, and Oklahoma State.

However how ’bout three from Kent State?

The general public college in Northeast Ohio isn’t any stranger to skilled sports activities. Julian Edelman performed quarterback there. Antonio Gates caught passes there. James Harrison (and, enjoyable reality, Nick Saban) tackled opponents for the Golden Flashes, too. However golf’s collegiate powerhouses have a tendency to pay attention round greener pastures — assume the hotter climate of the southeast or the temperate situations of the California coast — somewhat than the grim winters you’ll discover in larger Akron. (Cal-Berkeley additionally has three alums in Montreal: Max Homa and Collin Morikawa for the U.S. group and Ben An for the Internationals.)

The person liable for the Golden Flashes’ semi-stardom is on-site this week. Herb Web page, 73-year-old Canadian and retired Kent State coach, is contained in the ropes sporting the black and yellow of the Worldwide group as he helps his trio of former gamers: Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith.

Web page fielded a FaceTime from Hughes a pair weeks in the past. Hughes was together with his teammates at Royal Montreal for an Worldwide follow spherical simply earlier than the groups have been introduced.

“Mac [Hughes] was simply speaking to him first, after which Taylor and I popped into the display,” Conners mentioned. “First, he didn’t know what was happening — however he’s pleased with us. He’s meant a lot to, not simply me, however all these guys as effectively … He deserves quite a lot of credit score for getting us to the place we’re. This system and tradition he created for us at Kent State was nice for us on and off the golf course, changing into higher gamers and changing into higher individuals.”

Like Web page, all three grew up in Ontario. And like Web page, they headed to Kent State the place, extremely, all three have been on the roster on the similar time. Hughes arrived first, in 2009, whereas Pendrith and Conners got here a yr later, becoming a member of a roster that was roughly 50-50 Canadians and Ohioans.

They weren’t the primary nice golfers who’d performed for Web page — Ben Curtis was a Golden Flash just a few years earlier than profitable the 2003 Open Championship — however collectively they helped Kent State punch above its weight. They have been a part of a 2012 group that went toe-to-toe with the large weapons, peaking with a program-best fifth-place end on the 2012 NCAA Championships. Conners completed T4 that yr with Patrick Cantlay, who’s one in every of his American opponents this week.

Hughes, who estimates he’s performed a pair hundred follow rounds with Conners throughout their tenure on Tour, prolonged this week’s invite to their previous faculty coach.

“It was one of many issues I used to be very set on; as soon as I knew I used to be on the group and Corey and Taylor have been going to be there, as effectively, I assumed, he’s going to be right here, so he’s obtained my coach [credential] this week and he’s part of the group, and he’s loving it,” Hughes mentioned.

“He was a little bit of a father determine to me after I was at Kent State, and I felt like he was somebody I might actually lean on and belief … the golf is one factor, however I felt like he was there for something you wanted. He cared for you [as a person] earlier than you as a golfer.”

Pendrith added his personal testimony.

“After I first got here to Kent, I used to be probably not that good at golf,” he mentioned. “I used to be a diamond within the tough, as [Page] likes to say. And he taught me rather a lot. Him and Rob Wakeling, our assistant coach, they taught me a lot — how one can play the sport, how one can rating my golf ball, however how one can be individual and get my priorities straight and time administration and all that.”

Conners gained 5 instances in faculty and was a two-time Mid-American Convention (MAC) Participant of the 12 months. Hughes was a three-time winner and three-time first-team All-MAC. And Pendrith gained twice, together with the 2013 MAC Championship, when he was MAC Participant of the 12 months.

All three have now change into PGA Tour winners, too, after Pendrith joined the membership together with his victory on the CJ Cup Byron Nelson earlier this summer season. They have been inducted into their alma mater’s Corridor of Fame all collectively, appropriately, in 2021.

This isn’t the primary time they’ve represented Kent State on the worldwide stage. Conners and Hughes repped Canada on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, after which Conners and Pendrith made the Worldwide group on the 2022 Presidents Cup. However they went a mixed 0-8 at Quail Hole, leaving the week with the bitter style of missed putts.

This week began dreadfully for his or her group, because the U.S. swept Thursday 5-0, however the Canadian crew obtained a measure of redemption on Friday. Pendrith, paired with Worldwide stalwart Adam Scott, beat Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala 5 and 4. Simply minutes later, Conners and Hughes completed off Tony Finau and Wyndham Clark 6 and 5 in entrance of a raucous Thirteenth-hole crowd that showered them with applause and Molson. Every of the three earned his first group level within the course of.

“This is without doubt one of the highlights of my life proper right here,” Hughes mentioned post-round. “This is without doubt one of the funnest days I’ve ever had on the golf course.”

“All of us go manner again. We’re nice associates,” Conners mentioned. “I don’t assume any of us type of dreamed of being right here once we have been all at Kent State collectively or rising up on the Canadian Nationwide Staff. So it’s fairly cool that we’re all right here.”

Dylan Dethier welcomes your feedback at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

Dylan Dethier

Golf.com Editor

Dylan Dethier is a senior author for GOLF Journal/GOLF.com. The Williamstown, Mass. native joined GOLF in 2017 after two years scuffling on the mini-tours. Dethier is a graduate of Williams School, the place he majored in English, and he’s the writer of 18 in America, which particulars the yr he spent as an 18-year-old residing from his automobile and taking part in a spherical of golf in each state.