Jayhawks Look to Bounce Back After Day One in Hawaii

First Round Results

LAHINA, Hawaii – Heading into Saturday’s second round of the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic, the Kansas men’s golf team will look to climb up on the leaderboard after finishing in 14^th place after the first round of the event. 

“We just didn’t finish today and had to count way too many doubles,” head coach Jamie Bermel said. “We just didn’t play well and need to get off to a good start on Saturday and see what we can do. Daniel Hudson played solid and seems to be playing pain free.  It was good to have him back in the lineup.”

The Jayhawks got off to a fast start though, and sat just three strokes behind current leader Oklahoma, through the first nines holes.  However, the wind started to pick up on the back nine and KU was unable to recover from that factor, completing the day shooting 293 (+9).

Leading the way for Kansas was Hudson and junior Chase Hanna.  The two teammates shot a one-over, 72, in the first round and head into Saturday’s second round tied for 32^nd place. 

They are currently seven strokes behind leaders Jonny Hogan of Long Beach State and Ryle Reinerston of Oklahoma.  Hudson is also amongst the tournament leaders in pars recorded, as he posted the second-most pars out of the 102-player field. 

Behind them is senior Ben Welle, who finds himself tied for 51^st.  Welle, who was the Big 12 Golfer of the Month of September, started the event off strong, finishing the front-nine at an even par.  He walked off the course on the first day shooting a 74 (+3).

Welle’s senior counterpart, Connor Peck recorded a 75 (+4) in the first round and is tied for 62^nd with teammate Brock Drogosch, who is competing in his first tournament of the season as an individual player. 

Rounding off the Jayhawks is freshman Charlie Hillier.  Participating in the sixth event of his young career, Hillier looks to improve his score of 76 (+5) in day two of the event.

The second round of the Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic continues on Saturday, with tee-off time slated for 8:30 a.m. HST.  For live stats and current standings, be sure to follow the event on golfstat.com.

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