It's official: Bethany College's men's golf team is the 2008-2009 KCAC Conference Champions.

After a clean sweep of the regular season events the Swede golfers claimed the KCAC Championship yesterday at Buffalo Dunes GC in Garden City, Kansas to take their 12th conference title in the last 15 years.  Bethany claimed a 2 shot win over conference rivals Southwestern College who had won the last 3 conference titles.

After being greeted with cloudy skies and cold temperatures, something that had plagued the semester, the Swedes set out to win the tournament and claim an automatic birth to the NAIA Nationals in Silvis, Illinois. 

The course was in great condition and the greens were excellent. The venue was the site of an earlier win for the Swedes when they claimed Oklahoma Panhandle State University's tournament with a record 19 under par. This conference win marked the 7th win of the season for the Swede golfers.

 
Leading the Swedes was Senior Kevin Walters who posted scores of 70,72, 77 for a 3 shot win over Southwestern's Kenneth Wright.  It was Walters' first win of the year and his second overall in his 2 year tenure at Bethany. Following closely behind was Ian Ford with a 4th place finish. The junior from Sioux Lookout, Canada fired rounds of 75, 77, 72.  Jono Painter fired rounds of 73, 77, 77 to finish T-6th with Jack Hiscock firing rounds off 77,77,75 to place T-10th and Leslie Bonvillain finishing 18th with rounds of 83, 75, 79.

 
Playing as individuals were Brock Bullard, Dennis Chrenek, Thomas Fernandes and Chris Reinhart. Brock Bullard led the individuals with a 5th place finish after firing rounds of 79, 71, 76. Dennis Chrenek posted rounds of 83, 73, 76 to finish T-13th with Thomas Fernandes posting rounds of 79, 82, 75 to finish T-16th. Chris Reinhart posted rounds of 78,80,81 to finish T-19th. 

 
Conference awards were also up for grabs with Kevin Walters, Ian Ford, Jack Hiscock, Jono Painter and Brock Bullard all claiming All-Conference honors.

 
The win was a great way to send off the five seniors who will be leaving the program and years of great service to the golf program and the campus at Bethany.

 
The Swede golfers now head to Silvis, Illinois for the NAIA Nationals on May 19th-22nd. The tournament will be held at the TPC Deere Run which is a PGA tour site for the John Deere Classic.