Brennan and Kennon Inside Top 10 at Southwestern Invitational

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – Behind strong performances from junior Michael Brennan and sophomore Scotty Kennon, the Wake Forest men’s golf team finished strong and are poised to climb the leaderboard over the final rounds.

The Demon Deacons, who sit in eighth at 4-over-par, are within four strokes of the top five and improved throughout the round, finishing with a flurry of birdies over the final five holes. All four of the counting scores had multiple birdies from No. 14-18 with sophomore Marshall Meisel carding three birdies in that stretch.

Brennan and Kennon, who are tied for 10th, traded holding the low score for the team throughout the first round, staying below par for much of their rounds. 

Kennon had a key stretch on the front nine, going eagle-birdie-birdie on hole No. 5-7. He hit the turn at 1-under-par and was as low as 3-under-par for the round. Kennon nearly finished at 3-under-par but a birdie putt on No. 18 just missed.

The Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. native and Brennan are both tied for 10th on the individual leaderboard. Brennan paced the Deacs for much of the round after finding a birdie on the opening hole of the tournament. Like Kennon, he had hit the turn at 1-under-par and also nearly finished at 3-under-par with two birdie opportunities on the final two holes.

Last season, Brennan finished tied for second in the event at 6-under-par.

The two top Demon Deacons are just three strokes out of the top three on the individual leaderboard.

In the second round, Wake Forest will be paired with Arizona State, Oregon and Washington again with the group set to tee off No. 1 starting at 1:20 p.m. ET.

From Coach Haas:

“After a very poor first hole I thought the guys hung in there unbelievably. Could’ve been a long day but attitudes were great and we look forward to the next couple days. Guys are excited to start the season and it showed today. Make a few adjustments the wind will be up tomorrow so a good round will move us up the leaderboard. Go Deacs!” head coach Jerry Haas

Day One Scores:

Team