KU golf second; Sutton tied for lead at NCAA Regional

STOCKTON, Calif. – Kansas senior Daniel Sutton played the front nine of The Reserve at Spanos Park even Monday at the NCAA Stockton Regional, but after making the turn he birdied five out of six holes, including four-straight to end the first round tied for the overall lead and put the Jayhawks in the second spot on the leaderboard at end of day one.
 
Collectively, the Jayhawks were competitive with the course, and the wind, all day and finished with 20 total birdies, 13 bogeys and only one double bogey. KU ended the round with a 7-under 281, which is three strokes back from the leader, Iowa State, at 10-under. Rounding out the top-five is No. 7 Alabama (-6), No. 31 TCU (-5) and No. 18 Stanford (-3).
 
“We were very steady all day,” head coach Jamie Bermel said. “We just battled the course and the conditions.  Everyone played solid and that really relieves the pressure when we have five guys in the game.”
 
Sutton bogeyed the third hole after a pair of pars, but then got the stroke back with a birdie on No. 5. He finished the front nine with four-straight pars and also pared No. 10.  At No. 11 is when Sutton caught fire, his first of four-straight birdies. He added another on No. 16 for good measure to finish with a 5-under 67 and in a three-way tie for the individual lead with Stanford’s Brandon Wu and UC Davis’ Ryan Han. Sutton’s score marked his best round of the season and his six birdies tied for the second most in the field.
 
Tying Sutton with six birdies was Andy Spencer. The KU sophomore set the tone for the Jayhawks early by carding birdies on the first two holes. Spencer then added another on No. 6 to finish the front nine at 3-under after shooting par for the other six holes. On the back nine, Spencer got into a pattern by scoring bogeys on No. 11, No. 13 and No. 15, only to wipe the extra stroke away with birdies on the following holes (No. 12, No. 14 and No. 16). He finished with a 3-under 69 and is tied for eighth place after scoring in the 60s for the ninth time this season.  
 
“Obviously, Andy got off to a hot start and Dan Sutton finished really well on the back nine,” Bermel added.
 
Junior Charlie Hillier finished the day at even par and sits in a tie for 27^th.  After a birdie (No. 6) and a bogey (No. 9) on his front nine, Hillier appeared to be heading to an under-par score following birdies on No. 14 and No. 16.  However, a double bogey on No. 17 put Hillier back at even for the round.
 
Freshman and younger brother Harry Hillier bogeyed two of his first three holes, but then shot 1-under for the remaining 15 holes. He finished with a 1-over 73 and is tied for 37^th.  Senior Daniel Hudson ended the first 18 holes with a 2-over 74 and is tied for 44^th, after shooting 1-over on each half of the course.   
 
“The forecast is for more wind Tuesday, so we need to continue to play our game – fairway and greens,” Bermel said.  “It’s still a long ways from over, but we got off to a good start and looking forward to the next two days.”
 
Tuesday, the Jayhawks will play the second round with Iowa State and Alabama as the three groups start teeing off at 9:30 a.m. CT.  Hudson will be the first Jayhawk in the tee box, while Sutton will start his second round at 10:14 a.m. CT.
Live scoring for the NCAA Regional is available at golfstat.com.

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