Kansas sits in seventh place after two rounds at Irish Creek Intercollegiate
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — No. 31 Kansas men’s golf finished the first two rounds of the Irish Creek Intercollegiate on Saturday, and after 36 holes the Jayhawks currently sit in seventh place in the 16-team field. After KU shot even par in the first round (284), the Jayhawks finished 1-over par in their second (285) at The Club at Irish Creek at Kannapolis, North Carolina to put them at 1-over through the two rounds.
Kansas was led by senior Charlie Hillier and sophomore Ben Sigel through the first two rounds as both are tied for 19th in the 96-golfer field. Hillier was consistent in both rounds on the day, shooting a 70 (-1) in the first round and a 72 (+1) in the second. Meanwhile, Sigel shot a 73 (+2) in the first round and responded a 69 (-2) in the second. His 69-score tied with sophomore Harry Hillier for lowest Jayhawk round thus far. Both Charlie Hillier and Sigel enter the third round two shots behind the top 10. North Carolina Greensboro’s Bryce Hendrix leads the field at 131 (-11), five shots ahead of his closest competitor.
Three Jayhawks sit tied for second overall on the team at 144 (+2). Harry Hillier shot a 69 (-2) in the first round but had a 75 (+4) in the second round. Redshirt freshman Jeff Doty and freshman Shaun Campbell, who is competing as an individual, finished with identical rounds Saturday. Doty and Campbell put in a 74 (+3) in the first round and followed it up with 70s (-1) on the second. The KU trio is tied for 37th.
Junior Andy Spencer rounds out the Jayhawks competing with a 146 (+4) score. He shot a 72 (+1) in round one and followed it with a 74 (+3) in round two. Spencer is tied for 58th.
North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) currently leads the Irish Creek Intercollegiate at 11-under (557). In second place, No. 28 Florida State is not far behind the leader, coming in at 10-under (558). East Carolina rounds out the top-three at 7-under (561).
The third round is set to commence Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. (Central), and the live scorecard of the event can be found here.
NOTEABLES
- Senior Charlie Hillier finished with eight birdies in the first two rounds.
- Sophomore Ben Sigel tallied eight birdies total.
- Sigel’s 69 in the second round is his lowest round of the spring season.
- Sophomore Harry Hillier shot an eagle on hole 6 in the first round.
- Harry Hillier finished with six birdies for the two rounds.
- Redshirt freshman Jeff Doty carded seven birdies in his two rounds.
- Junior Andy Spencer had five birdies.
- Freshman Shaun Campbell knocked in six birdies.
QUOTES
Head coach Jamie Bermel:
On the team’s performance through the first two rounds:
“Well, conditions were absolutely perfect today with soft greens, no wind, and pick, clean and place in the fairway and we didn’t take advantage of it. I’m very disappointed in the team score, disappointed in the lack of toughness and resolve out there today by the majority of the team.”
On what the team needs to do in the final round to make a push up the leaderboard:
“We need to go out and play sound fundamental golf and make some putts. It seemed like we made absolutely no putts today and that kind of led to some frustration and silly unforced errors. If we can get all five guys playing well on Sunday, we can move up the leaderboard.”
