Men’s golf takes eighth in River Landing Intercollegiate
This is the Kansas’ best finish of the spring season
The Jayhawks finished 30 strokes behind tournament champion Duke. This was the last competition before the Big 12 Championship which starts on April 25.
By Bryan Wheeler (Contact)
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
The men’s golf team finish eighth-place in the River Landing Intercollegiate over the weekend. This marked the Jayhawks best finish of the spring season. With a three round score of 881, Kansas finished 30 strokes behind tournament champions Duke.
“We faced our toughest competition of the year and played pretty solid,” coach Kit Grove said. “It’s a step in the right direction going into the Big 12 Championship.”
The Jayhawks competed against three top-25 teams in the country as determined by the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. The tournament was also Kansas’ last competition before the Big 12 Championship April 25 to April 27.
The team was led by its freshman duo of Brad Hopfinger and Nate Barbee. Hopfinger finished tied for 16th place with a three round score of 217. This was his sixth top-30 finish of the year. Hopfinger recorded the third-best round of his career, with five birdies in the third round and a score of 69.
“I wasn’t doing well at first, but I started to hit the ball straight and putted a lot better,” Hopfinger said.
Barbee finished tied for 20th place with a three-round score of 218. Barbee has finished in the top-20 four times this year.
Also competing for the Jayhawks were juniors Zach Pederson and Walt Koelbel. Pederson finished tied for 45th place with a three round score of 223. Pederson recorded a third round score of 72, which marked the fourth time he had finished on par or better.
Koelbel had a three-round score of 225 and finished tied for 54th place. Sophomore Patrick Roth had a three-round score of 236 and finished tied for 79th place.
As a team, the Jayhawks improved during each round of the tournament with scores of 299, 294 and 288 subsequently.
“It was a really solid tournament,” Hopfinger said. “It was a really good effort as a team.”
—Edited by Russell Davies
Discussion
All comments are moderated by Kansan.com staff. For our full user policy, click here.
Share your 2¢
Requires free registration.