Men’s golf takes sixth place in Big 12 Championship

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The men’s golf team finished its season this past weekend at the Big 12 Championship with a sixth-place finish. Kansas had a four-round score of 1,194 at Whispering Pines Golf Club (par-72, 7,249 yards) in Trinity, Texas. The Jayhawks entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed and finished ahead of every team in the Big 12 North, as well as Oklahoma.

“We did pretty well as a team,” junior Walt Koelbel said. “We’ve been joking about how we won the Big 12 North.”

Freshman walk-on Brad Hopfinger led the team with a four-round score of 290, highlighted by a tournament best final round of 68. Hopfinger finished tied for seventh place and earned a spot on the Big 12 All-Tournament team.

“As a freshman, you can’t ask for anymore than he’s given us this season,” coach Kit Grove said. “I’m really proud of him.”

The finish marked the best performance of the season for Hopfinger and tied Gary Woodland’s 2006 performance for the best finish by any Jayhawk in the last five years.

CONTRIBUTED

“A lot of hard work paid off at this tournament,” Hopfinger said. “It’s nice that my best tournament was the last of the season. Hopefully I can do it again for three more years.”

Koelbel finished tied for 22nd place with a four-round score of 298. Koelbel, who led the team in the 2007 Big 12 Conference Championship, also had his best finish of the spring.

“I was hoping to finish in the top-20, but 22nd place was a decent finish,” Koelbel said.

Also competing for the Jayhawks were junior Zach Pederson, freshman Nate Barbee and sophomore Patrick Roth. Pederson had a four-round score of 321 and finished tied for 58th place. Roth had a four-round score of 305 and finished tied for 37th place.

“Being the fifth guy in our lineup, Patrick really stepped it up in this tournament,” Grove said.

Barbee had a four-round score of 309 and finished tied for 41st place. His best round came in the third with a score of 74.

“It’s pretty exciting for us, knowing we were seeded eleventh and finished where we did,” Barbee said. “It gives us a lot of momentum going into next year.”

Kansas will return all but one senior, Joey Mundy, to its lineup next year. The Jayhawks have yet to find out if any individuals will be selected to compete in the NCAA Central Regional.

—Edited by Russell Davies

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