Chris Gilbert Tied for 11th After Two Rounds at Desert Shootout
March 23, 2012
Desert Shootout Second Round 
GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Chris Gilbert fired a 2-under 70 to lead Kansas men’s golf to a team total of 289 (+1) in the second round of the Desert Shootout Friday. KU dropped to eighth place after 36 holes, while Gilbert moved up the leaderboard into a tie for 11th.
“Chris made five birdies and an eagle today, so he had a lot of offense,” said Kansas head coach Kit Grove. “He made a couple of unforced errors on the par 3s that led to a couple of bogeys, and he actually made a really good bogey on the par-5 18th hole. He hit a poor drive, but he got up-and-down from 60 yards out to make a really good six to finish the day. He did some really good things with the birdies and eagles, but he made a few too many bogeys to keep it from being a really good round in the 67 or 68 range. Seventy is still a solid round.”
After finding himself in a tie for seventh place after a first-round 68 (-4), freshman Dylan McClure shot a 78 in the second round to drop back into a tie for 45th with a two-round total of 146 (+2). McClure’s struggles in the round came on the greens, which plagued the entire Kansas team throughout the day.
“Dylan just got out of position a couple of times and, to be honest, putted very poorly,” said Grove. “Obviously, 1-over (as a team) is not a terrible score, but it’s probably not as good of a score as we should have put up today. That just came from putting. Our speed wasn’t very good. The greens were a little softer and a little slower today. We need to be a little better at figuring that out after a few holes.”
Competing as an individual and not toward the team score as KU’s sixth golfer, freshman David Auer shot his second-straight round of 72 (E) Friday to have Kansas’ second-best 36-hole score with a 144 to tie for 28th place with KU junior Alex Gutesha and eight other golfers.
“He’s playing as an individual, which comes with a different set of pressures,” said Grove. “With two even-par rounds for him, hopefully that will continue and build his confidence, especially as a freshman getting a couple rounds under his belt in tournament conditions. If he shoots another good round tomorrow, he’s making a bid to get into our top five.”
Kansas’ 36-hole aggregate of 574 (-2) currently stands five strokes behind Air Force for fifth place and only three shots behind Boise State for sixth.
“BYU played really well again today (274, -14). They’re kind of running away and hiding with a 14-stroke lead,” said Grove. “With where we’re at in the standings, if we can just be a little sharper tomorrow, maybe we can sneak into the top five. Hopefully we can get more of a team effort where everyone executes the same stuff we preach all the time: play well on the par 5s and survive the par 3s.”
The final round of the Desert Shootout will begin Saturday with a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m. (CT).
