🏌️♂️ King, Cooper Lead Kansas to a Seventh Place Tie at the Cowboy Classic
MARICOPA, Ariz. – Both sophomore Will King and senior Davis Cooper tied for 13th place as the Kansas men’s golf team finished in a tie for seventh at the Cowboy Classic on Tuesday, posting a team score of 848 (-16) in the 23-team field.
As a team, the Jayhawks posted rounds of 280 (-8), 280 (-8) and 288 (E) and were led by Kansas natives King and Cooper, who finished the event T13 at 6-under par, marking a pair of Top 20 finishes for Kansas.
“We were in a good position going into the final round and just didn’t play well,” Head Coach Jamie Bermel said after the round. “We had the same problem today that we have had the last three events – we couldn’t get a good fourth score.”
Grand Canyon won the event at -31 and was followed by UNLV (-29), Iowa State (-28), USC (-26) and CSU-Fullerton (-21) to round out the top five. UNLV’s Yuki Moriyama topped the 120-player field with a score of -17, clearing Iowa State’s Luke Gutschewski, who finished second, by five strokes.
After opening the event with a two-over 74, King bounced back with a 67 (-5) on Monday and followed that up with a final round of 69 (-3). King’s final-round 69 consisted of six birdies and just three bogeys.
Cooper, who shared a tie of the heading into the final round after a season-low round of 66 on Monday, posted a two-over 74 in the third round. Cooper began the final round on Tuesday with three-straight birdies out of the gate, but allowed three bogeys and a double on the back nine. The 13th-place tie marks the best finish for Cooper this season.
Freshman Max Jelinek lit up the scorecard with a season-low round of 65 (-7) in the final round. Jelinek competed as the individual for Kansas and jolted up 51 spots in the leaderboard on Tuesday, finishing the event in a tie for 25th at -4. Jelinek’s 65 was the result of five-consecutive birdies to close out the round, finishing as the low scorer for Kansas in the third.
“I thought Will had another good week and Davis was good as well,” added Bermel. “Max played as the individual this week and played very well for a freshman and is progressing nicely. We have some work to do before we get to Iowa City.”
The senior duo of Gunnar Broin and Cecil Belisle finished the event tied for 38th at -2. Broin fired rounds of 70-72-72, while Belisle posted scores of 70-71-73.
Senior William Duquette finished T113 at +13.
UP NEXT
Kansas will head to Finkbine Golf Course, April 13-14, for the Hawkeye Intercollegiate in Iowa City, Iowa. Last season, Kansas finished second in the tournament after firing a team score of -24. Broin finished second individually, posting the second-lowest round in Kansas history with a 9-under 63.
