Jayhawks sit in 10th place through two rounds at Big 12 Championship
KU began its 2019 postseason play by carding a 292 (+12) through the championship’s first 18 holes. The Jayhawks improved seven shots as the day went on, posting a team score of 285 (+5) in the second round.
Kansas redshirt freshman Jeff Doty did his part to keep the Jayhawks within striking distance. Doty opened his first postseason of his collegiate career by carding 3-under through his first nine holes. He used his strong start to tie his season-best 69 score for round one. Doty was able to follow up his solid first round by carding an even-par 70 in the second. Entering Sunday, Doty is tied for eighth place overall in the 50-player field with his 139 (-1), which would be his highest finish in his collegiate career.
Jayhawk sophomore Harry Hillier entered the Big 12 Championship for the second time in his career with Kansas. After finishing the first round with a 72 (+2) score, he closed the second round with a 68 (-2), the lowest by any Kansas player through two rounds. Harry Hillier accomplished this in large part thanks to his play in the front nine where he was able to birdie four of the first seven holes. He enters Sunday with a 140 (E) total score, which has him tied for 15th place overall and one shot behind Doty.
Like Doty, sophomore Ben Sigel entered this weekend looking for his first taste of the postseason in his collegiate career. Consistency was his game on Saturday after carding 74 (+4) in both of his rounds. His 148 (+8) total score has him going into the final round tied for 41st overall.
Senior Charlie Hillier finished fourth on the Jayhawks leaderboard after posting a 152 (+11) score, while junior Andy Spencer shot 155 (+15) through two rounds. Charlie Hillier goes into his final round tied for 45th overall and Spencer sits in 50th place.
No. 1 Oklahoma State (546) leads the field after two rounds and enters Sunday with an eight-stroke lead over second place TCU (554). No. 6 Texas and No. 7 Oklahoma are tied at 558 (-2) to round out the top-three teams.
Teams will play their final 18 holes of the Big 12 Championship on Sunday, with teams teeing off at 8 a.m. (Central).
Live scores can be found here.
NOTABLES
- Redshirt freshman Jeff Doty’s round one score of 69 (-1) tied his lowest collegiate round of his career.
- Doty combined to have six birdies on the day.
- Sophomore Harry Hillier finished with a team-high nine birdies in the team’s first two rounds.
- Sophomore Ben Sigel finished with three birdies on Saturday.
- Senior Charlie Hillier combined to have a total of four birdies in two rounds.
- Junior Andy Spencer had one birdie in his two rounds.
QUOTES
Head Coach Jamie Bermel
Q: What did you think of the overall team performance today?
A: “I thought we were pretty average today. We kept making bad bogeys. The wind was tricky, and we didn’t do a very good job of committing to shots. Everyone in this conference is good and when you play average to below average it adds up to a 10th-place finish after 36 holes.”
Q: What needs to happen tomorrow to climb up the leaderboard?
A: “We need to get better play from everyone. I thought Jeff Doty was solid all day and Harry Hillier put together two solid rounds. We’re playing for pride on Sunday and I hope the guys will respond.”
| Results - Round 2 of 3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | Team (golfstatrank) | Score |
| 1 | Oklahoma State (1) | -14 (546) |
| 2 | TCU (33) | -6 (554) |
| T3 | Texas (6) | -2 (558) |
| T3 | Oklahoma (7) | -2 (558) |
| 5 | Texas Tech (10) | +6 (566) |
| 6 | Baylor (25) | +7 (567) |
| 7 | Iowa State (31) | +9 (569) |
| 8 | Kansas State | +13 (573) |
| 9 | West Virginia (48) | +15 (575) |
| 10 | KANSAS (29) | +17 (577) |
| Individual Leaderboard (Top 4) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Name | Team | Score |
| T1 | Viktor Hovland (3) | OKSU | -8 (132) |
| T1 | Hayden Springer (96) | TCU | -8 (132) |
| 3 | David Ravetto | TCU | -5 (135) |
| 4 | Pierceson Coody (39) | TX | -4 (136) |
| Kansas Leaderboard | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | Name | Score |
| T8 | Jeff Doty | -1 (139) |
| T15 | Harry Hillier | E (140) |
| T41 | Ben Sigel | +8 (148) |
| T45 | Charlie Hillier | +11 (151) |
| 50 | Andy Spencer | +15 (155) |
