Gilbert Ties School Record at Cowboy Classic

April 10, 2012

Final Results

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Chris Gilbert concluded the Cowboy Classic with his second round of 66 (-4) for the event to tie a Kansas men’s golf record with a three-round total of 202 (-8) Tuesday.

Gilbert tied for fifth place, while KU shot a 275 on the final day to tie for sixth with a three-round score of 836 (-4). Gilbert’s 202 matched Gary Woodland (2005) and Ryan Vermeer (1999) for the best three-round tournament since records started being kept in 1986. Gilbert’s last 18 holes mirrored his opening round with four birdies and no bogeys.

“I hit the ball well,” said Gilbert. “I stayed patient and finally got the putts to drop. It’s good to have two bogey-free rounds. It means whenever I was in trouble, I recovered well. The last three holes today I had some good saves for par after I got out of position.”

The fifth-place showing marked Gilbert’s fifth career top-10 finish and his second straight after taking eighth at the Irish Creek Collegiate in Charlotte, N.C.

“It feels good to be back in the top 10,” said Gilbert. “That’s what I want to get back to. I feel like I’m closer to being in contention for tournaments. That’s what the goal is. This is a step in the right direction. The ball striking has been good the last couple of weeks. The main concern is just being more patient on the greens. I’ve had a lot of good looks, especially in North Carolina.”

As a team, Kansas posted the second-best score of the day with a 275 (-5). The Jayhawks climbed three spots in the final round to tie WichitaState and Arizona for sixth place in the 23-team field.

“Any time you beat 21 of the other 22 teams in the field on a given day, that’s something you have to be pretty proud of,” said Kansas head coach Kit Grove. “We finally had that day where our throw-out score was still a respectable score. That’s what we have to do. I think it was a very positive day and a very positive week. We were right there with some pretty decent teams. WichitaState is top 30. We were very competitive every day.”

Grove was most pleased with the all-around team effort for the tournament. Freshman Dylan McClure had the second-best showing for the Jayhawks with a 207 (-3) to tie for 14th place at the Cowboy Classic.

“From top to bottom, everybody chipped in and contributed,” said Grove. “Chris is just playing really consistent right now. He only had one three-putt this week, so he’s giving himself a lot of looks. David Auer shot a good round yesterday with an even-par in the afternoon. Dylan was really steady today. He had three birdies and two bogeys. It was pretty stress-free golf for him. From a ball-striking standpoint, we’re there. Tee to green, we’re not making nearly the amount of mistakes we used to make. We’ll be great if we can just sharpen up the scoring with converting on par 5s and making putts.”

Kansas will have a quick turnaround, as they travel to compete in The Western Intercollegiate Saturday and Sunday, April 14-15, in Santa Cruz, Calif.