Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith are Kent State alums in this week’s Presidents Cup.
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MONTREAL – You won’t be shocked to hear that there are two Georgia Bulldogs in this week’s Presidents Cup. Not even a golfer from Texas, LSU and Oklahoma State.
But how about three from Kent State?
The public university in Northeast Ohio is no stranger to professional sports. Julian Edelman played quarterback there. Antonio Gates caught passes there. James Harrison (and, fun fact, Nick Saban) faced opponents for the Golden Flashes as well. But collegiate golf’s powerhouses tend to center around greener pastures — think the warmer weather of the Southeast or the mild conditions of coastal California — rather than the dreary winters you’ll find in greater Akron. (Cal-Berkeley also has three alums in Montreal: Max Homa and Collin Morikawa for the US team and Ben An for the Internationals.)
The man responsible for the Golden Flashes half-star is in the country this week. Herb Page, the 73-year-old Canadian and retired Kent State coach, is on the ropes playing in the black and white of the international team as he supports his trio of former players: Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith.
Page submitted a FaceTime from Hughes a few weeks ago. Hughes was with his Royal Montreal teammates for a round of international practice shortly before the squads were announced.
“Mac (Hughes) was just talking to him first, and then me and Taylor came up on the screen,” Conners said. “At first, he didn’t know what was going on – but he’s proud of us. He’s thought a lot of me, not just me, but all those guys… He deserves a lot of credit for getting us to where we are. The program and culture he created for us at Kent State was great for us on and off the golf course, making us better players and making us better people.”
Like Page, all three grew up in Ontario. And like Page, they headed to Kent State where, incredibly, all three were on the roster at the same time. Hughes came first, in 2009, while Pendrith and Conners came a year later, joining a roster that was roughly 50-50 Canadians and Ohioans.
They weren’t the first majors to play for Page — Ben Curtis was a Golden Flash a few years before he won the 2003 Open Championship — but together they helped Kent State punch above its weight. They were part of a 2012 squad that went toe-to-toe with the big guns, culminating in a program-best fifth-place finish at the 2012 NCAA Championships. Conners finished T4 that year with Patrick Cantlay, of who is one of his American opponents this week.
Hughes, who estimates he has played several hundred practice rounds with the Conners during their time on Tour, extended the invitation this week to their old college coach.
“It was one of the things I was very determined about; as soon as I knew I was on the team and Corey and Taylor were going to be there as well, I thought he’s going to be here, so he has my coach (credentials) this week and he’s part of the team, and he’s I love him, Hughes said.
“He was a little bit of a father figure to me when I was at Kent State, and I felt like he was someone I could really lean on and trust … golf is one thing, but I felt like he was there for whatever you was needed. . He took care of you (as a person) before you as a golfer.”
Pendrith added his testimony.
“When I first came to Kent, I wasn’t that good at golf,” he said. “I was a diamond in the rough, as (Page) likes to say. And he taught me a lot. He and Rob Wakeling, our assistant coach, taught me so much – how to play the game, how to hit my golf ball, but how to be a good person and get my priorities straight and time management and all of these.”
Conners won five times in college and was a two-time Mid-American Conference (MAC) Player of the Year. Hughes was a three-time letterwinner and three-time first-team All-MAC. And Pendrith won twice, including the 2013 MAC Championship, when he was the MAC Player of the Year.
All three have now also become PGA Tour winners, as Pendrith joined the club with his CJ Cup Byron Nelson win earlier this summer. They were inducted into their alma mater’s Hall of Fame together, fittingly, in 2021.
This is not the first time they have represented Kent State on the international stage. Conners and Hughes led Canada to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and then Conners and Pendrith made the international team in the 2022 Presidents Cup. But they went a combined 0-8 at Quail Hollow, leaving the week with a sour taste in shooting. lost.
This week got off to a horrendous start for their team, as the USA won 5-0 on Thursday, but the Canadian crew got a measure of redemption on Friday. Pendrith, paired with international Adam Scott, beat Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala 5 and 4. Just minutes later, Conners and Hughes finished off Tony Finau and Wyndham Clark 6 and 5 ahead of a impetuous The 13-hole crowd showered Molson and him with applause. Each of the three earned their first point in the process.
“This is one of the highlights of my life here,” Hughes said after the round. “This is one of the most fun days I’ve ever had on the golf course.”
“We all go way back. We’re great friends,” Conners said. “I don’t think any of us dreamed of being here when we were all together at Kent State or growing up on the Canadian National Team. So it’s great that we’re all here.”
Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
