Gilbert Tied For Lead After Two Rounds of Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate
Oct. 22, 2012
Day One Results 
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Chris Gilbert fired back-to-back rounds of 3-under 68 to match Blake Biddle of UNLV for the tournament lead, while Kansas men’s golf shot a combined 570 (+2) to sit in fifth place after two rounds of the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate at New Mexico State Golf Course Monday.
Playing the event for the fourth time in his career, Gilbert eagled the 507-yard fourth hole in the opening round to fuel a day where the senior posted a tournament-best 5-under on the par-5s. Freshman Jackson Foth joined Gilbert in the top 10 after rounds of 71 and 70 tied him for ninth with a 36-hole aggregate of 141 (-1).
Gilbert, who has led the Jayhawks in each of the last three events, tied for the most birdies and eagles among all golfers with nine and one, respectively. Gilbert and Biddle (136) enter Tuesday’s final round three shots ahead of a trio tied for third place at 139.
“He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Kansas head coach Jamie Bermel said about the senior. “Typically, if he’s made bogey the last couple of weeks, it’s because he had the wrong club, not because he made a bad swing. Today, he made a couple bogeys, but one was into the wind, and he didn’t have enough club. In the first round he made a bogey on No. 17 because he had too much club downwind. He’s playing really well and putting it well. He was 6-under, and he had a lot more opportunities. If he’d had a few more putts fall, he could have got it to 10-under. He hit it that well today.”
As a team, the Jayhawks used a 1-under 283 to tie for third place after 18 holes. Kansas posted a 287 (+4) in the second round to finish the day five shots out of the lead in fifth place. Sophomore Stan Gautier fired a 1-under 70 to tie for 10th after the morning round. Gautier ended the day tied for 23rd after a second-round 74 (+3). Senior Alex Gutesha’s 74 and 75 rounded out the team score each round.
“We just couldn’t get a good fourth score,” said Bermel. “The same four guys counted in each round. Dylan (McClure) shot two 78s, which is kind of surprising because he’s been pretty steady all year. This is a course that I thought he would play well on. I’m hoping we can get him in order for tomorrow because when you’re only five back, anything can happen. For us to do something special tomorrow, we need to post four scores under par.”
Foth broke par for the first time in his collegiate career with his second-round 70, while Gautier shot 26 pars in the first two rounds where he was not at his best.
“Jackson just simplifies things out there,” said Bermel. “He doesn’t do anything real fancy, but typically it’s in the fairway and he gets it on the green. He hits it pretty hard, so he can take advantage of the par-5s as well. He seemed to birdie quite a few of those. Stan had a good first round. He played well all day. He wasn’t feeling well and was kind of under the weather, but he hung in there for two rounds. I’m happy for him.”
Kansas will conclude the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate and its fall season with a shotgun start for the final round Tuesday at 9:15 a.m. CT.
