Challenging back nine places Jayhawks in sixth

IOWA CITY, Iowa – With senior Daniel Sutton coming out of Friday’s first round of the Hawkeye Invitational in a top-20 position, the Kansas men’s golf team sits in sixth place heading into Saturday’s second and third rounds.

“Unfortunately we played pretty poorly on our second nine holes today,” said Kansas head coach Jamie Bermel. “We just made some bad bogeys on par-5’s and were pretty sloppy on our par-3’s. It was tough (Friday) with the wind and cold, but the conditions were tough for everybody.”

Bermel’s squad is currently three strokes outside of the top-5, where they’ll have their sights locked on for Saturday’s 36-hole action.

Sutton’s day was highlighted by four birdies, which helped lead him to an even-par 72. While his birdies were cancelled out by four bogeys, Sutton is the lone Jayhawk in the top-20 at the conclusion of the first round.

Two Jayhawks will go into Saturday tied for 24th place at 1-over. For sophomore Andy Spencer, he had a strong performance on the front nine, making the turn at a 1-under 35. The back nine was less favorable, as three bogeys slid him just outside of the top-20. Junior Charlie Hillier was the opposite, as early struggles dropped him down the leaderboard, only to help revive his score with two birdies on his final three holes.

One stroke behind Spencer and Hillier was another Jayhawk tandem, as senior Daniel Hudson and freshman Harry Hillier will enter Saturday tied for 30th place at 2-over. Hudson’s round got off to a scorching start, as he birdied three of his initial five holes on the day. The senior found himself as high as sixth place on the individual leaderboard before a string of three-consecutive bogeys hurt his position.

For Harry Hillier, his 2-over 74 also came by way of a strong front nine and a challenging back nine. When Harry Hillier made the turn, he led the Jayhawks with a 2-under 34, thanks to birdies on three of his final four holes. After starting the back nine with three-straight pars, his scorecard was afflicted by two bogeys and a double bogey, dropping him out of the top-20.

Making an individual appearance, freshman Ben Sigel ended the day tied for 55th place at 5-over. Though the freshman didn’t tally any birdies on the day, his 14 pars were the most on the team, and were tied for 5th-most out of the field.

With Saturday’s round featuring 36 holes of golf, Bermel knows his guys are going to have to make adjustments to earn the team its ninth top-5 finish of the season.

“There’s going to be rain again on Saturday,” said Bermel. “So we’ll need to be really prepared to battle some tough conditions and hopefully move up the leaderboard.”

Saturday’s second and third rounds begins with a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m. CT, with live scoring available at golfstat.com.
 
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