Indianapolis, Indiana- Berea College's Men's Golf team traveled up to Indianapolis to compete in the Dick Park Invitational hosted by Franklin College. Senior Kevin Kim was able to win the Dick Park Invitational for the third straight year this past weekend by shooting a 70-72 (2-under) for 36 holes.
The Men's Golf Team continued to build on top of their hot start from the Blue Raider Fall Kick-off by finishing 8th out of 15 teams in a field full of strong teams. The field included the 25th ranked team in the NCAA Division III Transylvania and a couple top 50 teams, Franklin College, Hanover College, and Mount. St. Joseph.
Day 1 was led by Senior Kevin Kim firing the low round of the tournament, 2-under par, 70. Helped by Freshmen Peyton Browning's 81, the team positioned themselves to finish in middle of the pack in this tough field. The bigger story of day one was our golfers fighting the daylight to make sure they would be able to get the round in. Seniors Dallas Adkins and Kevin Kim were part of the final two groups who were able to finish their rounds before tournament officials had to stop play due to darkness. When asked about this, Dallas Adkins stated, "It was pretty crazy what was going on. Pretty much on the last hole, my group and Kevin's group played together so that we could all get it [the round] in before the tournament officials had to stop play. What was amazing was that even with us running around in the final holes trying to get this in, Kevin was still able to shoot two under. I knew it walking off of 18 with him that there was no way anyone was going to beat him this weekend."
Day 2 was led by Senior Kevin Kim again, closing out the rest of the field by shooting an even-par 72. However, there was another big surprise, Senior Ryan Blevins was able to fire his career-low round of 80 en route to help Berea College finish 8th out of 15 teams. When asked about Ryan Blevin's round, Coach Trent Milby stated, "Ryan [Blevins] shooting 80 on the final day is the big step I have been waiting for him to take this year. During practice Ryan looks fantastic, so to me, it really wasn't a surprise he was able to go out there and put up this good score. I expect this to be the round which gets Ryan going for the rest of the season." When asked about Kevin Kim's win, Coach Milby stated, "It's his tournament. I don't know what more to say. He can't be beat at The Fort. I don't think I've ever seen anyone win a tournament 3-straight years before, so being able to witness that was great."
The Men's Golf Team will be back in action at the Wabash College Golf Classic at Crawfordsville, Indiana on September 30th.