The men’s golf team starts off slow in Hawaii

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The men’s golf team left the Kansas winter for three days for the 18th Annual Hilo Invitational Golf Tournament in Kona, Hawaii. The tournament, which was held Wednesday through Friday at the 6,738 yard Waikoloa Village Golf Course, where par is 70, started the spring season for the Jayhawks.

Kansas finished 14th out of 18 teams with a total score of 858, 45 strokes behind tournament champion and Golfweek’s No. 8 college ranked team, Stanford. According to the Golfweek performance ratings, the tournament featured eight of the top 50 teams in the country. The Jayhawks’ finish tied its 14th place finish in last year’s Hilo Invitational.

“It was the first competition of the season,” coach Kit Grove said. “There’s a lot of rust right now because we haven’t played in a while.”

Freshman walk-on Brad Hopfinger and sophomore Bobby Knowles led the Jayhawks individually.

Hopfinger tied for 26th out of 96 players overall and started the first round with a career-best score of 66. He followed up the second round with 74 strokes. In the third round, Hopfinger shot a 70, giving him a three-day total of 210 strokes.

“As a walk-on, he exceeds all expectations of what you want out of a player,” Grove said. “You wish you could have 10 more like him.”

Knowles started the first round with a score of 73. Knowles continued to build off a solid start by scoring a 72 and a 71 in the second and third rounds, respectively.

“I was able to build on that success each day, which is something I haven’t done before,” said Knowles, whose 216 total tied him for 58th overall.

Freshman Nate Barbee tied for 68th place with a total of 217 strokes. Junior Walt Koelbel tied for 83rd place with a total of 221 strokes and junior Zach Pederson finished in 91st place with 227 strokes. The team finished each round in 14th place.

“We placed 14th, but we played against some of the best competition in the country,” said Knowles. “Overall, it was a great time to be in Hawaii.”

The team’s next competition will be Feb. 25-26 in the All-American Golf Classic in Houston. The Jayhawks will be attempting to defend their team title in last year’s tournament.

—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina

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