“I was a little down,” Gilkison said about the tournament that included two rounds over par. “I just kept practicing.”
That practice paid off.
Gilkison fired a final round 4-under 68 Saturday for a 54-hole total of 205, 11 under par and two shots clear of Michigan’s Hunter Thomson to win the Buckeye Classic.
It was Gilkison’s second collegiate victory, the first coming last year in the Flyer Classic at NCR Country Club. As a senior at Springboro, Gilkison won the 2020 Division I state championship on the Scarlet Course at Ohio State.
His three most impressive victories have come in the Buckeye State.
“I’m a big fan of Ohio golf,” he said Sunday night after watching the final round of the Masters.
After his disappointment in Carolina, Gilkison, 22, said he put golf in perspective. Just a game, he told himself.
“I tried to treat it like nothing really mattered,” he said. “Regardless of my score, my life was not going to change.”
Kent State (855) finished fourth in the 13-team Buckeye Classic behind Big 10 powers Ohio State (846) and Michigan (847) and Mid-American Conference rival Miami (849).
The University of Dayton (878) tied for seventh.
Miami was led by Morgan Blythe’s third-place finish, followed by Michael Weber (fourth), Brett Podobinski (tied 10th), Cameron Pero (tied 19th), and Sam Mortel (tied 57th).
The Golden Flashes and RedHawks will be favored to win the MAC in two weeks at the Pinnacle Golf Club in Columbus. The conference tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.
“The team has the ability and belief in ourselves,” said Gilkison, a business analytics major.
Kent State wraps up its regular season Friday and Saturday in the Robert Kepler Invitational at OSU Golf Club.
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