Charlie Hillier carries Jayhawks through two rounds
Hawkeye Invitational
Finkbine Golf Course
Iowa City, Iowa
Par-71 | 6,884 yards
| Results - Round 2 of 3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | Team (golfstat rank) | Score |
| 1 | Iowa (43) | -29 (539) |
| 2 | Illinois (30) | -26 (542) |
| 3 | Missouri-Kansas City | -9 (559) |
| T4 | KANSAS (31) | -8 (560) |
| T4 | Kansas State | -8 (560) |
| 6 | Minnesota | -7 (561) |
| 7 | Oral Roberts | -5 (563) |
| 8 | Wisconsin | -3 (565) |
| 9 | Indiana | +5 (573) |
| 10 | South Dakota State | +6 (574) |
| 11 | Depaul | +8 (576) |
| 12 | Eastern Michigan | +10 (578) |
| 13 | Nebraska | +14 (582) |
| Individual Leaderboard (Top 3) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Name | Team | Score |
| 1 | Charlie Hillier | KU | -10 (132) |
| 2 | Matthew Walker | Iowa | -9 (133) |
| T3 | Varun Chopra | IU | -8 (134) |
| T3 | Benton Weinberg | Iowa | -8 (134) |
| Kansas Leaderboard | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | Name | Score |
| 1 | Charlie Hillier | -10 (132) |
| T25 | Andy Spencer | -1 (141) |
| T33 | Ben Sigel | +1 (143) |
| T38 | Harry Hillier | +2 (144) |
| T48 | Jeff Doty | +4 (146) |
| T48 | Shaun Campbell (I) | +4 (146) |
IOWA CITY, Iowa – No. 31 Kansas men’s golf traveled to Iowa City, Iowa, hoping to continue their strong spring play after placing inside the top three in all four of their previous spring tournaments. After 36 holes of action at the Hawkeye Invitational, the Jayhawks find themselves just one stroke out of third place and in a tie for fourth place with Kansas State after posting a 560 (-8) score in the team’s final regular season tournament of the 2018-19 season.
KU senior Charlie Hillier carried his team through much of the first two rounds as he continues his record-setting spring season. After shooting a 68 (-3) in the first round, he followed it up with a collegiate career-low 64 (-7) in round two. Charlie Hillier opened the second-round birding five of his first six holes. He would finish the front-nine 4-under to lead all Jayhawks. He was able to cap off his back nine with an eagle on the 15th hole and birdie on the 17th to finish the round 7-under. His 10-under (132) overall score is not just the best score posted by a Jayhawk through two rounds, it also placed him atop the player leaderboard by one stroke over Iowa’s Matthew Walker. Charlie Hillier is vying for second collegiate tournament victory after claiming his first at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate a mere two tournaments ago.
Jayhawk junior Andy Spencer was the Jayhawks second-best finisher of the day, posting a 141 (-1) total. Spencer used a stretch of three birdies in seven holes on the front nine of round two to help him post the third lowest Kansas round of the tournament (70). Spencer enters Sunday tied for 25th overall on the leaderboard.
Kansas sophomore Ben Sigel continued his steady from the Irish Creek Intercollegiate to come in third on the Jayhawk leaderboard. Sigel tied Spencer with a 71 (E) in round one for the second-best score and followed it up with a 72 (+1) in the second go around. His 143 (+1) total score has him tied for 33rd in the tournament. Sophomore Harry Hillier came in just one stroke behind Sigel posting 72s (+1) in both rounds. He is tied for 38th overall with his 144 (+2) total score.
KU redshirt freshman Jeff Doty rounds out the five for the Jayhawks after opening up the tournament with two straight 73 (+2) rounds. Doty tied freshman Shaun Campbell, who is competing this weekend as an individual, with a 146 (+4) total score. Doty and Campbell both enter Sunday tied for 48th overall in the 74-player field.
No. 43 Iowa leads the 13-team field after the first two rounds, finishing at 29-under (539). Three strokes behind them in second place is No. 30 Illinois who posted a 542 (-26) total score through the team’s first two rounds. Missouri-Kansas City rounds out the top-three finishers through two rounds after shooting 9-under (559) on Saturday.
Teams will begin the final round Sunday morning with 8:30 a.m. (Central) shotgun starts. Live scoring for the final day can be found here.
NOTEABLES
- Senior Charlie Hillier finished with five birdies in the first round and seven in the second.
- Charlie Hillier eagled hole 15 in the second round.
- Junior Andy Spencer combined for five birdies in his two rounds.
- Sophomore Ben Sigel had four birdies through his 36-holes.
- Sophomore Harry Hillier posted in three birdies in the first round and followed it up with two in the second.
- Redshirt freshman Jeff Doty combined for eight birdies on Saturday, the second most for the Jayhawks.
- Freshman Shaun Campbell had the team’s first eagle of the tournament on hole 15 in round one.
- Campbell finished with one birdie in his two rounds.
QUOTES
Head Coach Jamie Bermel
Q: What did you think of the overall team performance today?
A: “We were average today and played a little sloppy. The course was fairly easy with little to no wind. We had some careless three putts and just struggled to gain momentum. We played better in the second round but didn’t finish really well.”
Q: What did you think of Charlie Hillier’s performance?
A: “Charlie played well all day. He was in command of his golf ball and played like a senior.”
Q: How are you going to be able to improve tomorrow?
A: “For us to post a good score on Sunday, we need some help from the other four guys. I hope we can get off to a fast start and continue throughout the entire round.”
