Alex Gutesha Leads Kansas Men's Golf on First Day of Mark Simpson Invitational

Sept. 12, 2011

Day One Results

ERIE, Colo. – Junior Alex Gutesha started and finished day one of the Mark Simpson Invitational in style, firing a first-round score of 69 and and then closing out his second round with a birdie and an eagle to finish the day at one-under par in a tie for 15th overall as the Kansas men’s golf team opened its 2011 fall season Monday at the Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, Colo.

“Alex got off to a really good start and was four-under through nine holes,” said Kansas men’s golf head coach Kit Grove. “He made a couple of bogeys and one more birdie and finished up the morning round with a 69, so that’s a good way to kick the season off for him.”

As a team, Kansas ended the day in ninth place out of 15 teams with a two-round score of 586. Colorado, who is hosting the tournament, led the way on day one with a team score of 560.

“We did a lot of things good today, but we made a lot of mistakes,” said Grove. “We had four or five double bogeys for the day and one triple bogey. That’s just unforced, and we need to get better at that. You can make a bogey back on the next hole, but if you make a double or a triple (bogey), you can’t get that back on the next hole. I know it’s quote `early in the year,’ but these guys play golf every day.”

After posting a three-under in his morning round, Gutesha struggled a little in the second round and was two-over for the tournament at one point. However, after starting the round on the fourth hole, he was able to pull it together on holes two and three – his final two holes of the day – to get back to under par after two rounds.

“He kind of hit a lull in the middle of the second round,” said Grove. “He made a couple bogeys and one double bogey, but he birdied the second hole and holed out with either a wedge or a nine iron from the fairway of (the 468-yard, par 4) No. 3 to end his day. That was kind of cool; it doesn’t happen very often.”

Freshman Dylan McClure and junior Paul Harris made their Jayhawk debuts Monday. Harris posted two rounds of 78, while McClure tied for the team-low round in the afternoon session with a 72 that matched junior Chris Gilbert’s second round score. For 36 holes, McClure shot a five-over par, which tied him for 48th in the tournament with one round to play.

“Dylan’s a grinder, which is good,” said Grove. “You need that in your No. 4 and No. 5 golfers. You need them to keep plugging away and keep fighting. There are always those first tournament jitters as a freshman, so for him to come back and shoot even par in the afternoon, I was quite pleased with that.”

Kansas will conclude the Mark Simpson Invitational with a shotgun start of the third round at 9 a.m. central.

Team Results
1. Colorado – 282-278–560
2. San Diego – 285-282–567
T3. New Mexico – 286-282–568
T3. Oklahoma – 283-285–568
5. Wyoming – 289-282–571
T6. Colorado State – 284-294–578
T6. New Mexico State – 290-288–578
8. Nevada – 289-294–583
9. KANSAS – 294-292–586
10. Air Force – 296-291–587

Individual Results
1. Beau Schoolcraft (Colorado) – 66-66–132
2. Alex Ching (San Diego) – 69-66– 135
3. Derek Fribbs (Colorado)- 71-65–136
T4. Justin Shin (New Mexico State) – 67-70–137
T4. Abraham Ancer (Oklahoma) – 66-71–137
T6. Clinton Boutelle (Wyoming) – 69-69–138
T6. John Catlin (New Mexico) – 71-67–138
8. Kevin Kring (Colorado) – 69-70—139
9. Gran Forrest (San Diego) – 71-69–140
10. Zahkai Brown (Colorado State) – 67-74–141

Kansas Results
T15. Alex Gutesha 69-74 — 143
T27. Chris Gilbert 73-72 — 145
T48. Doug Quinones 75-74 — 149
T48. Dylan McClure 77-72 — 149
T75. Paul Harris 78-78 — 156