Kansas tied for fourth to start the spring

PALM DESERT, Calif. –  With a late surge by senior Chase Hanna, accompanied by a season-best finish for junior Daniel Hudson, Kansas men’s golf found itself tied for fourth place as the Jayhawks concluded the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate at The Classic Club on Sunday afternoon.

“Disappointing day (Sunday),” head coach Jamie Bermel said. “We were playing in the last group and just didn’t play well. After (Saturday), I thought we would carry that effort over but obviously, it didn’t happen.”

Starting off strong for the second day in a row, junior Daniel Hudson managed to collect a birdie on the third hole, followed by another on the par-five fourth. With two bogeys to match his two early birdies, Hudson managed to close out his round with a birdie on the 18^th hole, finishing the day with a 71.  After a stellar five-under-par round on day two Hudson was in a great position and snagged a tied for fifth place finish, his first time inside of the top-5 this season.

Coming off of a solid four-under-par finish to the second round, Hanna got off to a slow start on day three, sitting at two-over-par through 14 holes. Finding his groove late, in true Hanna fashion he was able to birdie three of his last four holes to end the day one-under-par. Tying for an 11th-place finish, Hanna has placed inside the top-20 in six-of-seven events this season.

“This was a loaded field with three top-25 teams,” Bermel said. “I thought Dan Hudson and Chase Hanna had a solid event.”

Freshman Andy Spencer finished tied for 38th after a three-over-par, 75, in the final round of the event. Trying to hang around, Spencer posted only three bogeys in his birdie free round.

Despite an early birdie on the par-four third, two double bogeys on the front nine proved costly for sophomore Charlie Hillier, who finished the day with a five-over-par, 77. With two consecutive rounds under-par to start the event, Hillier was able to finish tied for 22nd.

Running into problems again throughout the final round, junior Daniel Sutton recorded a four-over-par, 76, to end the tournament at eight-over-par and tied for 53rd.
Sophomore Jake Scarrow, who played in the tournament as an individual, played his best round of the event, entering the clubhouse at one-over-par for the day. Scarrow started slow with bogeys on two of the first four holes, but managed to work his way back and finish the tournament at 12-over-par total.

A two-under-par (862) finish for the event, put the Jayhawks tied for fourth with fellow Big 12 competitor, TCU. Leading the 22-team field was No. 16 Oregon, who finished 20 strokes ahead of Kansas and earned its second team victory of the season. The next closest teams were No. 21 Colorado who earned second place with a 17-under-par (847) finish and No. 6 Texas Tech who finished third at 14-under par (850).

“We will hopefully learn from this and be better in our next event,” Bermel said.

In its second event of the spring, Kansas will travel to Scottsdale, Ariz., to compete in the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate at The Outlaw at Desert Mountain hosted by Michigan on March 4-5.

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