Men’s Golf Wraps Up Season at RMAC Championships

Scott Kretzmann
ASC Sports
Information Director

LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz.— Junior Andrew Kennedy (Casper, Wyo.) posted the best round of his spring season and is on pace to turn in his best 54-hole score of the entire season after he posted rounds of 79 and 81 on the first day of the 2012 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men’s Golf Championships, which got underway Monday here at the Wigwam Golf Resort.
Kennedy, who has a 36-hole total of 160, is leading the Grizzlies, who posted team scores of 326 and 332, good for a first day total of 668 on the 7,228-yard, par-72 Robert Trent Jones, Sr. designed Gold Course.
Meanwhile, Grizzly senior Josh Hensley (Alamosa, Colo.) also posted his best round of the spring season (78) to lead the Grizzlies in the morning round and is just three shots further back overall at 163 after posting an 85 in much warmer afternoon temperatures.
Kennedy, whose previous 54-hole best was a 241, is tied for 33rd while Hensley is tied for 39th.
Grizzly freshman Scott Patrick (Canon City, Colo.), who had led the Grizzlies in all previous 10 rounds of the spring season, posted back-to-back 82’s and is 42nd at 164.
Senior Jonathan Atencio (Alamosa, Colo.) is tied for 47th at 171 after rounds of 87 and 84 while sophomore Ben Kelloff (Monte Vista, Colo.) is 50th at 173 (87-86).
Colorado Mines holds a commanding 23-shot lead in the team standings as the Orediggers have the top two and three of the top five individuals, who helped lead the squad to the only sub-300 scores of the day (294 and 295).
The Orediggers, who have not won an RMAC title since at least 1973 (available RMAC records), are at 589 (+13). Six other teams are within 10 shots of each other, a group led by up-start Nebraska-Kearney, which posted back-to-back 306’s.
The Orediggers’ Cory Bacon posted an opening-round 69 and holds a single-shot lead over his teammate Jim Knous. Bacon, who came back with a 75 is at even par overall.
Knous had the afternoon’s best score (71) and is a 145 (+1) heading into Tuesday’s third and final round, which will begin with a 7:30 a.m. (AZT) shotgun start.