Hopfinger Leads Jayhawks During Round One at the Ron Moore Invitational

March 21, 2008

LAWRENCE, KAN. –

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Freshman Brad Hopfinger recorded his fifth under-par round of the year firing an opening-round 71 at the Ron Moore Invitational in Goodyear, Ariz. The team shot a first-round 291 and is currently in 14^th place in the 16-team field.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

“We didn’t shoot a bad round scoring wise, but we should have shot a lower round on a rather easy course in perfect conditions,” said head coach Kit Grove. “We just got off to slow starts and didn’t make enough birdies coming in.”

Hopfinger, who has led the Jayhawks in three of the team’s last four events, is tied for 23^rd place after round one.

Fellow freshman Nate Barbee carded a first round score of 72 and is tied for 32^nd place. The round marks the fifth time this year where Barbee has shot a round of par or better.

Juniors Walt Koelbel and Zach Pederson both shot rounds of 74 and are tied for 50^th place. Junior Brandon Hermreck shot a first round score of 75 and is tied for 61^st place.

San Diego currently leads the tournament after shooting a first-round team score of 277.

The second round will be played on Saturday and check back to kuathletics.com for a complete recap of the action.

Team Leaderboard

1. San Diego 277

2. Canadian Development 279

3. Kansas State 280

T4. Denver 284

T4. Iowa State 284

T4. Northern Iowa 284

14. Kansas 291

Player Leaderboard

T1. Troy Merritt, Boise State 66

T1. Mathieu Rivard, RCGA Dev. 66

T1. Darren Hupfer, RCGA Dev. 66

4. Nate Page, Southern Utah 67

T23. Brad Hopfinger, Kansas 71

T32. Nate Barbee, Kansas 72

T50. Walt Koelbel, Kansas 74

T50. Zach Pederson, Kansas 74

T61. Brandon Hermreck, Kansas 75