KU Men’s Golf Signs Five to National Letters of Intent
The Kansas men’s golf team signed five to its 2015-16 squad, landing one of the top-50 ranked recruits, Charlie Hillier, of New Zealand, KU head Jamie Bermel announced Monday.
Hillier, the 40th ranked boy’s player according to Golfweek.com, signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) along with Alex Moorman from Centerville, Iowa, Zach Kirby, a transfer from Dodge City Community College, Kale Reynolds, from Wichita, Kansas, and Drake Hull of Rutland, Vermont.
“We were out at the Callaway Junior in San Diego and Charlie was the first guy we saw on the range,” Bermel said. “Neither coach (Zach) Zaremba nor I have seen him play, but we watched him every hole that week and got him to take an unofficial visit after his performance there, he liked what he saw.”
Hillier has participated in three major events in 2014, finishing in the top-10 in all three. He tied for 10th at the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships, finished eighth in the 2014 Australian Boys Amateur Championship and won the 2014 North Island Under-19 Championship in New Zealand.
Moorman finished 27th at the 2012 FCWT Junior Golf Tournament at Notre Dame. In 2014, he finished runner-up at the Southeast Iowa Amateur, tied for fifth at the AJGA Lockton/Samsung Kansas City Tournament and competed at the AJGA Midwest Junior Players Championship, where he tied for 16th. Moorman won the 2012 and 2014 3A individual state title, as well as being a first alternate for 2014 US Junior Amateur and being first alternate at the Riverside, Iowa, local U.S. Open qualifier.
“We had Alex on campus two years ago as a sophomore,” Bermel said. “There were a lot of schools recruiting him and we were pretty fortunate to get him. He has won a couple of state titles up in Iowa. I think he has a chance to be a pretty good player.”
Kirby is currently a sophomore at Dodge City Community College. He played in five tournaments during the 2014 fall season. The Dodge City native finished runner-up at the Samuel Proal Insurance Wolf Pack Invite in Pueblo, Colorado and at the DC3 Shootout in Dodge City, Kansas. He posted a season scoring average of 72.2 strokes per round.
“Zach is a lifelong Jayhawk,” Bermel said. “He will help balance out our class because we had a couple of players redshirt and Chase Hanna and Zach will be the only juniors in that class. His two years of junior college will help give him some great college experience.”
Reynolds is a senior at Maize High School in Wichita, Kansas. In 2013, Reynolds finished 29th in the Kansas Stroke Play and 16th in the Kansas Boys Junior Amateur. He competed in six events in 2014 including the Lockton/Samsung Kansas City Junior Tournament where he finished ninth. Additionally, Reynolds placed 34th at the Kansas Stroke Play, 17th at the UA/Gary Woodland Championship, 32nd at the AJGA Kansas Junior, 16th at the AJGA Preseason Junior at Vinoy and won the Kansas 6A individual state title.
“Kale won the state high school tournament last year. He holds the all-time record for lowest score (63) in Kansas high school golf history. Kale has the ability to go low and is a state champion, so he is a winner,” Bermel said. “I think he will come right in and have a chance to play right away.”
Hull is currently a senior at Rutland High School in Vermont and helped lead his team to the state title in 2012 and 2014. He is the 2013 and 2014 Vermont Junior Match Play Champion and was a member of the McCullough Cup Team Champion.
“Drake has won two state titles in high school and two match play titles and played up and down the east coast. He is a winner and has a lot of playing experience to add to the depth of the team,” Bermel said. “From top to bottom there is a lot of depth, experience and a lot of winning. There are a lot of state champions in there and Charlie has some international playing experience. I think all five are excited to be here and they all have a chance to be great college players.”
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