Welle Claims Another Title, Wins Louisiana Classics Invitational

Final Results

LAFAYETTE, La. – After battling for the tournament’s top spot most of the day, Kansas senior Ben Welle outlasted Thomas Detry of Illinois to win the Louisiana Classics Invitational individual title by just one stroke. Welle’s victory marks the second title of his KU career and has four top-five finishes in the seven events he has competed in in 2015-16.

The four birdies Welle recorded in the final round, including a bogey-free front-nine, helped put the Moorhead, Minnesota native on top of the leaderboard. By the time he walked off the course, Welle’s scores of 71-68-70–209 (-7) were good enough to come back to Lawrence with some extra hardware.
 
“I definitely knew I was in the mix coming down the stretch and really found a way to finish today,” Welle said. “Most of all its good to see I am becoming more and more comfortable winning golf tournaments as the year goes on.”
 
Throughout the two-day tournament, Kansas led the 12-team field in birdies recorded with 49, which helped guide the Jayhawks to their seventh top-five placing in eight events, as Kansas finished runner-up to top-ranked Illinois. With scores of 278-285-287–850 (-14), KU was the only team amongst the field to shoot under par in every round of the event, but fell one shot short to the Illini (849).
 
As a team, four different Jayhawks finished in the top-15, as this becomes the second time in the 2015-16 season that such a feat has been accomplished. The first came when the team won the Badger Invitational (Sept. 27-29).
 
“The guys gave it all they had today and came up one shot of winning, but I’m extremely proud of the effort and play in all three rounds,” Kansas head coach Jamie Bermel said. “I know everyone is disappointed because we went toe-to-toe with the No. 1 ranked team in the country and just didn’t get it finished.”
 
By placing tied for fifth in the tournament, KU freshman Charlie Hillier completed his second top-five finish of the season. His rounds of 68-75-70–213 (-3) were good enough to earn himself All-Tournament honors, alongside Welle. Behind Hillier on the Kansas leaderboard was senior Connor Peck and junior Chase Hanna, who each placed tied for 11^th.
 
Peck, like he has all season, played consistent once again, as he finished at an even par, carding scores of 71-71-75–216. His two scores of under par rank second on the team, as he now has eight recorded rounds of below par this season.
 
Hanna managed to have a strong start to the tournament, opening up with back-to-back rounds of under par, as well and found himself tied for third after the first day of play. Though he struggled in the third round, Hanna still managed to fire off nine birdies throughout the event, which was tied 21^st-most amongst the 78-golfer field.
 
Rounding off the Jayhawks squad was sophomore Daniel Hudson. His even par in the opening round gave Hudson a team-high seven rounds of even par this season. Hudson went on to tie for 28^th place with a total score of 221 (+5).
 
After scoring 73-75-75–223 (+7), sophomore Brock Drogosch managed to move up five slots on the leaderboard from day one and finish the invitational tied for 39^th. This was the third event he has competed in this season, where all three times he has participated as an individual.
 
Kansas will now begin to prepare for the Desert Shootout, which will take place March 18-19 in Phoenix, Arizona at Palm Valley Golf Club.
 
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