Thursday, February 21, 2008
Brad Hopfinger may not have been recruited by any college coaches during high school, but the freshman walk-on has been playing as good as anyone for Kansas’ men’s golf team.
Competing in the Hawaii-Hilo Invitational tournament to start the spring season, Hopfinger carded his fourth top-30 finish of the school year. On the first day of the tournament, Hopfinger had a career-best round of 66. Hopfinger had a three-round score of 210 and finished the tournament tied for 26th place.
Hopfinger, from Lake Forest, Ill., a North Shore suburb of Chicago, was a standout golfer in high school. Playing for Lake Forest High School, Hopfinger was an Illinois All-State golfer and individual conference championship winner in 2006. In 2007, Hopfinger finished fifth in the 2007 Illinois State Golf Tournament.
Though Hopfinger was a standout golfer in high school, he did not get any scholarship offers.
“In high school I was a couple of shots away from being noticed by college coaches,” said Hopfinger.
Though no schools actively recruited Hopfinger, Jeff Mory, his swing coach and former coach at Northwestern, contacted former Kansas coach and current director of golf operations Ross Randall. With an open spot on the roster, Hopfinger was off to Kansas.
Hopfinger started his collegiate career in the fall of 2007 at the Kansas Invitational. With a three-round score of 225 and a tie for 22nd place, Hopfinger was off to a solid start for the Jayhawks. Nearly a month later, Hopfinger carded a then-career best three-round score of 219 and tied for 23rd place in the Prestige at PGA West in Palm Springs, Calif.
Hopfinger finished the fall season strong at the Landfall Tradition in Wilmington, N.C., tied for 12th place with 220 strokes.
Men’s golf coach Kit Grove said motivation was the reason behind Hopfinger’s success.
“When you’re a walk-on you want to prove you belong,” Grove said.
Hopfinger has also been a success in the classroom as well. With plans of majoring in business, the freshman was named to the Athletics Director’s Honor Roll with a 4.0 GPA during the fall 2007 semester.
“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.”
With his success as a freshman on the green, Hopfinger would like to become a more consistent golfer in tournaments.
“One round has always hurt me,” Hopfinger said. “I would like to just have three competitive rounds.”
With the spring season just underway for the Jayhawks, Hopfinger would like to build on his success.
“I would just like to be in a position where I’m in contention to win a tournament,” said Hopfinger.
Hopfinger and the Jayhawks will be trying to defend their 2007 team title on February 25 and 26 in the All-American Golf Classic in Houston.
—Edited by Jared Duncan
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