Sutton’s solid play leads KU at Lone Star Invite

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Senior Daniel Sutton took charge for the Kansas men’s golf team on the first day of the 2018 Lone Star Invitational. The senior’s 1-under showcase makes him the only Jayhawk in the top-20 at the end of a difficult 36 holes of golf. Kansas will head into Tuesday’s final round tied for ninth-place.

“We were sloppy (Monday),” admitted head coach Jamie Bermel. “We had too many mistakes with course management and execution. It seemed like we couldn’t really get any momentum going.”

Despite a finishing day one in the lower-half of the table as a team, Sutton is now 18 holes away from his fourth top-10 finish during his time at Kansas. The senior is tied for ninth place, and will look to ride his momentum into Tuesday’s final round. Sutton burst out of the gates early, birdieing three consecutive holes starting on his fourth hole of the day. His eight birdies over the course of the two rounds were the most on the team, and tied for fifth-most out of the field. His first-round 71 and second-round 72 have brought his season-total of rounds even or under-par to 14, now the second most on the team.

“Luckily Dan played played really solid all day,” said Bermel. “We needed him.”

Following Sutton was fellow senior Daniel Hudson, who ended at 3-over, tied for 33rd place. Hudson’s day came by way of a 2-over 74 on his first 18, and a 1-over 73 on his final 18. The senior ended his day on a solid note, not shooting over-par on any of his final 11 holes.

Three Jayhawks will head into Tuesday at 5-over, which is tied for 44th-place. Sophomore Andy Spencer’s round was highlighted by a string of 10-consecutive pars, which was the longest stretch of pars on the day for the team. His 5-over came by way of a 1-over 73 and a 4-over 76.

Making his third collegiate-golf showing, freshman Harry Hillier had an even-par 72 in the first round, but surrendered three bogeys and a double-bogey over a five-hole stretch in the second round. The rough patch dug a big hole, but the freshman rattled off four birdies on the back nine to help revive his scorecard.

As an individual appearance, Jake Scarrow’s 5-over was highlighted by a first-round, 2-under 70, the lowest Jayhawk score on the day. His 2-under 70 featured only two holes over-par, as well as four birdies. The impressive tally put Scarrow in a top-10 position heading into the second round. Though the course played more challenging the second time around for Scarrow— ending with a 7-over 79— he did record the only Jayhawk eagle on the day by holing out of the 510-yard par-5 in just three shots.

Like Scarrow, junior Charlie Hillier also had a strong first round, ending with an even-par 72. The second round was a different story for the junior, as he ended with a 9-over 81, tying the highest score of his career at Kansas. At the end of Monday’s first and second rounds, Hillier sits at a share of 62nd place on the leaderboard.

“We’re really going to need everyone playing solid Tuesday,” said Bermel. “It’s going to take a team effort if we have any chance of passing some teams on the leaderboard.”

Tuesday’s final round begins at 8:30 a.m. CT, with live scoring available at Golfstat.com.

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