Troy the golf team won the Dan Kendig Memorial Wednesday at Echo Hills. From left are coach Mark Evilsizor, Mitchell Sargent, Casey Beckner, Walter Mergler, Jeffrey Smith, Van Davis and Issac Burns
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Troy’s Mitchell Sargent watches his birdie putt fall in the hole on the fifth hole at Echo Hills Wednesday at the Dan Kendig Memorial.
Rob Kiser|Miami Valley Today
Troy’s Casey Beckner launches his drive off the sixth tee Wednesday.
Rob Kiser|Miami Valley Today
Troy’s Isaac Burns chips on to the fifth green Wednesday.
Rob Kiser|Miami Valley Today
PIQUA — The Troy boys golf team is trending down.
Which is a good thing on the golf links.
The Trojans continue to lower their scores with each outing and took it to another level Wednesday at Dan Kendig Memorial at Echo Hills.
Troy shot 302 for a 12 shot victory over Bethel.
“Usually, I try to have a score in mind of the team to shoot,” Troy coach Mark Evilsizor said. “302 is definitely not a score I had in mind. Obviously, that is pretty special. That is the lowest score we have shot in my 12 years as a coach.”
Mitchell Sargent led the way for the Trojans with a four-under par 68.
“I knew I had a score like that in me,” Sargent said “I had struggled a little the first two tournaments, but I think it was just a matter of doing it.”
Sargent had a spectacular finish to get to four-under.
He had started on the fourth hole, so he finished on the third hole and finished 2, 2 on the par-4 second and par-3 third hole.
“Amazing round by Mitchell, to finish eagle, birdie,” Evilsizor said. “Mitchell had six birdies and an eagle and that is the lowest individual score anyone has shot in my 12 years.”
Sargent holed a shot from 77 yards on the second hole for eagle.
“It wasn’t real far out, but I wasn’t expecting that,” Sargent said.
Only a tournamnet record 63 by Arcanum’s Graham Brubaker kept Sargent from being medalist.
“I can’t be mad about that,” Sargent said with a smile. “Yeah, I was hoping to be medalist, but Graham Brubaker) is a great player who had an amazing round. I am happy for him and congratulate him.”
Other Troy scores were Casey Beckner 74, Jeffrey Smith 78, Isaac Burns 82, Van Davis 85 and Walter Mergler 91.
“Casey (Beckner) is on fire,” Evilsizor said. “He had six birdies as well and was two-over par. A big one is Jeffrey Smith. I know he struggled a little in the first tournament, but he came back with 80 Tuesday and 78 at Echo Hills. He is playing great. Isaac (Burns) had a quad (four over par on a hole), or he could have been in the sub-80 mix. He showed a lot of maturity to come back from that. He just had one bad hole. Even Walter Mergler had an eagle on his final hole.
“This is the first time we have won the Covington tournament and we play in it ever year. So, that is kind of nice. I said before the seniors were going to be a key for us and I think we are showing better balance through the lineup.”
Troy was coming off a ninth-place finish at Pipestone Tuesday in the Miamisburg Invitational.
Troy shot 324 and the Trojans scores included Sargent 77, Smith 80, Beckner 81, Davis 86, Burns 89 and Matthew Hempker 103.
“Today was our third tournament in three days,” Evilsizor said. “So, I wasn’t sure how we were going to respond and they sure answered that question for me.”
Troy will host the Troy Invitational Monday at Troy Country Club — and Evilsizor hopes the trend will continue.
Sports Editor Rob Kiser can be reached at [email protected]
