No. 36 Kansas Set to Close Out Fall Season in Hawaii
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Coming off its second victory and fifth top-five placing of the fall season, the Kansas men’s golf team travels to Lahina, Maui, Hawaii to participate in the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic on Nov. 6-8. The three-day event will take place at the Ka’anapali Golf Course, where the 19-team field will compete on the par-71, 6,700-yard course.
The Jayhawks look to improve on their performance from when they partook in this event last year and finished fourth. This will mark the fifth time this season that KU has played in a tournament that they have already participated in during previous years, making this Kansas squad an experienced group.
“This is a great event and an awesome way to end the fall portion of our season,” KU head coach Jamie Bermel said. “The conditions this weekend are calling for a lot of wind, which should make this course a very good test of golf and the guys are up for the challenge.”
Representing Kansas are four players who performed in the contest last season: seniors Ben Welle and Connor Peck, junior Chase Hanna and redshirt sophomore Brock Drogosch, who will be competing as an individual. Joining them this weekend will be freshmen Charlie Hillier, and sophomore Daniel Hudson.
Welle, who is off to a hot start this season, finished at an even 213 in last year’s Hawaii event, which was good enough to crack the top-20 and finish in 16th place. To go along his individual victory at the Ram Masters Ivnitational (Sept. 21-22), Welle also leads the team in nearly every statistical category, including average strokes per round (70.12), rounds in the 60’s (7), and total number of rounds at even or under par (9).
This will be the first time that Peck is in this tournament as part of the five Jayhawks representing Kansas. Last season, the senior participated in the event as an individual, where he shot two rounds of even par and finished tied for 44th. Peck has been one of the team’s more consistent players on the season thus far, as he is currently tied for second on the team with a seven total rounds of even or under par scores.
For Hanna, this is going to be the second time in as many years that he has played in the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic. Last season, the Leawood, Kansas native recorded two rounds in the 60’s and finished with a score of 214 (+1) to finish tied for 17th. Heading into this tournament, Hanna is tied for second on the team with two rounds of even par and places third in rounds under par (5).
Looking to continue the solid start of his young and promising career, Hillier will be competing in his sixth event this weekend. His tendency to begin tournaments with hot starts is something to watch out for, as he has posted a score under par in every first round, averaging 69.40 strokes in the opening rounds.
Rounding off the Jayhawks is Hudson, who is participating in this tournament for the first time. On the season, he leads Kansas with a total of three rounds at even par, while recording an average of 74.25 strokes per round.
Competing in his first tournament of the season as an individual, Drogosch will look to improve upon his score from his previous outing at this event, where he finished tied for 17th. Last season, Drogosh shot two rounds under par, including a six-under, 66, in the opening round.
The other teams joining Kansas in the 19-team field include: Ball State, Bowling Green, CSUN, Georgia, Gonzaga, host-Hawaii, Indiana, Liberty, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, North Carolina, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma, Sacramento State, South Carolina, UC Santa Barbra and Washington State.
For up-to-date stats and live scoring, be sure to follow the event on golfstat.com.
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