June 29, 2009

SARNIA, Ontario - Davenport junior Kevin Palmer continued his hot play from the NAIA Championships right into his hometown as he posted a two day total of 133 highlighted by an opening round 69 to claim the Sarnia Open. Fellow DU golfer Zac Bested posted a 5th place finish at 146 and future Panther Ethan O'Meara finished 3rd at 140.

Below is a recap from the opening round 64 from the Sarnia Observer who covered the event written by Dave Paul.

The reactions of the rival golfers said it all.

The officials tent was abuzz with "ooos" and "oohs" as the competitors in the 2009 Sarnia Golf and Curling Club's Men's Invitational studied the scoreboard in amazement, Friday evening, after the final group had finished.

They were all reacting in awe to the 8-under par, 64, that Kevin Palmer had shot to lead the two-day tournament by seven strokes after the first round.

On a perfect day for golf, the second year Business and Sports Management student at Davenport University in Grand Rapids, had shot an almost-perfect 18 holes.

Palmer was an incredible five under on the front nine, and shaved three more off par on the back nine holes.

He leads fellow SGCC members Ethan O'Meara and Brent Robinson, who both shot 71 to tie for the second-best round of the day.

Kelly Stout (Huron Oaks), Zac Bested (Lakewood) and Andrew Warder (Huron Oaks) were tied at 72, Eric Pattenaude of SGCC was alone at 73 and Jeff Colley (Rebel Creek), Bobby McKillop (Black River), Wes Stewart (Pointe West) and John Thrasher (SGCC) all shot 74 in the first round. Coming in at 75 were SGCC's Graham Hi l l , C o rey Raaymakers and Dana Pyke along with Kevin Shearon of Huron Oaks and Jude Johnson of Annandale, to round out the top-15 in the 144- man field at the RBC Dominion Securities-sponsored event.

But the day belonged to Palmer, who said his five-under front nine actually matched his score from yesterday's practice round.

"I'm feeling pretty confident in my game right now," said Palmer. "I've been working on my swing the last couple of weeks and everything seems to have fallen into place. I know where the ball's going to go.

"My putting has been really solid too," he I missed a four foot birdie putt on number 14, but I really can't complain too much after the way things went out there for me today."

Palmer described the course as being, "in perfect condition, like it always is."

And -- bad news for the rest of the field, which already faces an enormous challenge in their bid to catch Palmer -- he doesn't expect that he will be suffering any sort of a let-down Saturday, after Friday's sensational first round.

"I'm feeling really good right now," says Palmer. "I just have to keep my confidence level up and keep focused on the things I'm doing to succeed."

Play begins today at 7:30 a. m., for the morning draw.

The afternoon tee times will begin at 12:07 p. m. with the leaders going off at 1:45 p. m. and finishing somewhere around 6:30 p. m.