Zack Kent of North Terre Haute dodged a few raindrops and survived one bogey to extend his lead through Saturday’s third round of the Wabash Valley Classic men’s golf tournament at Rea Park.
A 31-year-old business teacher at South Vermillion High School, Kent fired a 2-under-par 70 — going 36 on the front nine and 34 (with birdies on Nos. 10 and 11) on the back nine — to give him a three-round total of 206. That includes 18-hole scores from last weekend at Geneva Hills and Forest Park.
Kent will take a five-stroke advantage over current runner-up Mike Ball of Noblesville into Sunday’s fourth/final round at Hulman Links. The final foursome of Kent, Ball (211), Devon Klutey (213) and Doug McDonald (214) will tee off at 12:10 p.m. Championship-flight action will be aired live on WFNB-AM 1130, WFNB-FM 99.5, WFNB-FM 106.9 with Mike King, Tom Jones and radio stations owner Joey O’Rourke calling the play-by-play and interviewing golfers.
This is the seventh year for the Classic and it appears a new winner in the championship flight is pretty much guaranteed, considering the closest any former winner is two-time WVC champion Phillip Myers at 219, 13 strokes behind Kent.
“We got lucky and got it in,” golfer, tournament organizer and Wabash Valley Golf Association president Eddie Kanizer said about the threat of rain that loomed over play Saturday after Friday’s devastating wind and showers postponed plenty of high school football games in the Wabash Valley.
“Honestly, I was pretty happy with how I played,” Kent told the Tribune-Star afterward. “I drove it really good. I would have liked to see some more putts fall, but overall I kinda hit my goal number. I played Rea Park enough through the summer that my goal going in [to the third round] was to shoot 69 or 70. … There are no complaints about how I played today.”
The next obvious question for Kent was how he planned to approach Sunday’s final round at the most challenging course in the Terre Haute area.
“That’s probably the course that least sets up well for me,” he acknowledged. “My goals are to try to keep it in play, do what I need to do … and try to put it in the middle of the green and make some pars. If I can go out there and make 14, 15 pars, I think I’d give myself a chance to win the tournament.”
Ball, 56, is originally from Clinton and that’s why he comes back to play Valley tournaments here and there. He admitted that catching Kent on Sunday won’t be easy, but he’s going to give it his best try.
“Zack’s playing real well,” mentioned Ball, who shot a 1-over 73 Saturday at Rea Park. “But it’s a new day and Hulman’s a tough course. … I’ve had some good scores there. I’ve been up and down there. It’s very humbling, but I enjoy that course a lot.”
Besides those in the championship flight of the Open Division, others in the lead for prize money are Kyle Wall and B.T. Luce (tied at 220 in the Open Division first flight), Alex Baker (235 in the Open Division second flight), Chad Gann (212 in the Senior Division championship flight), Scott Givens (222 in the Senior Division first flight) and Mark Schmidt (213 among Super Seniors). All Open Division competitors use the blue tees, the Senior Division contestants use the white tees and the Super Seniors use the green tees.
