Kansas Goes 1-0-1 on Day One of Big 12 Match Play

HOUSTON – Kansas men's golf completed the first day of the Big 12 Match Play tournament Monday at The Clubs at Houston Oaks. Kansas, propelled by wins from Luke Honner, Will King, and Noah Holtzman, won its opening matchup with Kansas State, before working a tie with UCF in the afternoon session.

"We had a hard fought match with K-State and came out on top on the morning round. We won a few holes late and got the win. The UCF match this afternoon, we didn't play as well. We were a little sloppy, but still managed to halve the match. Noah and Luke did not lose today and played pretty steady golf. The other guys were solid as well. We have a big match in the morning with Oklahoma State. We need to be ready to go and sharp, as they are a good team." Kansas Head Coach Jamie Bermel

Match 1: Kansas Tops K-State 3-2-0
The Jayhawks opened this year's match play tournament by squaring off with in-state rival Kansas State. In a close battle between the two in-state foes, King, an Olathe native, made the first impression on the match. King used key wins on his third, seventh, and ninth holes to defeat Fionn Dobbin 2&1 to tally the first win of the morning for Kansas.

Honner was another Jayhawk who tallied a win over the Wildcats, as he bested Nicklaus Mason 3&1. Honner won three of his last five holes to beat Mason and grabbed the day's second win for the Jayhawks. Another Kansas native came up big for the Jayhawks in the Monday morning session, as Holtzman dominated Cooper Schultz. Holtzman ended the match on the 15h hole, claiming a 5&3 victory without dropping a hole to Schultz.

Despite good efforts from Max Jelinek and Gunnar Broin, the pair of Jayhawks dropped their respective matches to the Wildcats. After all five matches concluded, Kansas won the three points, defeating the Wildcats 3-2.

MATCH 2: Kansas Ties UCF 1-1-3
In a closely contested matchup between Kansas and UCF, three ties would ultimately be the difference as the two teams worked a draw in the Monday afternoon session.

Broin was the only Jayhawk to tally a win in the afternoon session, as he rallied back to win three of his last four holes to knock off Lucas Dutartre 3&1, closing things out on the 17th hole of the match.

Jelinek, Honner, and Holtzman all worked ties against the Knights. Holtzman trailed Clemente Silva by two holes with just two holes remaining in the match, and then proceeded to storm back and win the last pair of holes to earn the tie for Kansas.

In a similar storming back effort, Jakob Stubhaug of UCF used two wins on the last four holes to work a draw with Honner in their respective match. Marc Keller won the final hole of his match with Jelinek, to work the third draw between the two schools, making for a drama filled Monday evening.

Kansas finished with four total points after Moday's play. The Jayhawks and Oklahoma State both lead Pool B with four points, as Kansas State and UCF both are tied with a single point after the opening two sessions.

UP NEXT:
Kansas will take on Oklahoma State in the morning session Tuesday, and then will await its Tuesday afternoon opponent following its match with the Cowboys. Fans can follow the Kansas Men's Golf X Account for live updates throughout the day, and can stay tuned through Live Scoring as well.

University of Kansas Athletics

Kansas Goes 1-0-1 on Day One of Big 12 Match Play

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Players Mentioned

Gunnar Broin

Noah Holtzman

Luke Honner

Max Jelinek

Will King

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