K-State Men's Golf Continues Season at Border Olympics
Apr 02, 2003 | Men's Golf
April 2, 2003
Border Olympics
Laredo, C.C.
Laredo, Texas
Dates: April 4-5
Par: 72
Yardage: 7,125
The Field: Alabama-Birmingham, Arkansas, Baylor, BYU, Colorado State, Iowa State, Lamar, Louisiana- Lafayette, Notre Dame, Rhode Island, Rice, San Diego State, SMU, SW Texas State, Texas A&M, Texas-Arlington, Texas-San Antonio, Texas Tech, Washington State
Off to the Olympics
The Kansas State men's golf team will travel to Laredo, Texas, to compete in the 52nd Border Olympics, April 4-5. The 54-hole tournament will be hosted by Texas A&M at the par-72, 7,125-yard Laredo Country Club. The 19-team field will play the first two rounds on Friday and one round on Saturday with 8 a.m. starts both days.
Leading the Wildcats will be freshman Josh Persons and sophomore Matt Van Cleave, who have combined for four top-20 finishes in the last three tournaments. Also in the lineup for K-State will be juniors Aaron Watkins, A.J. Elgert, and Greg Douglas.
Last Time Out
Leading after day one, Kansas State finished second at the Stevinson Ranch Invitational, hosted by Colorado at Stevinson Ranch Golf Club. The Wildcats' total of 2-under-par 872 was not enough to hold off Pacific, which turned in the single best round of the tournament on the final day to win with an 8-under-par 866.
K-State defeated every Big 12 and District V team in the tournament, which head coach Tim Norris said will help when it comes to selection for the NCAA Regional to be held at Colbert Hills Golf Course, May 15-17.
Individually, K-State was led by freshman Josh Persons, who tied for fourth with a 1-under-par 215. Persons' total of 215 was a career low for the Fargo, N.D., native as he captured his fifth top-20 finish as a Wildcat.
Big & Tough
The field of 19 teams will be the biggest that Kansas State has faced this year. The next largest was the 16-team field the Wildcats faced at the Baylor Intercollegiate on Oct. 28-29.
The tournament will feature seven of the country's top-50 team accoding to the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. These teams include No. 23 Arkansas, No. 36 San Diego State, No. 38 Colorado State, No. 41 Baylor, No. 42 SMU, No. 43 Lamar, and No. 46 BYU. Kansas State is not far behind at No. 52.
Last Year in Laredo
Baylor won the team title with rounds of 280-284-281=845, finishing 13 strokes ahead of runner-up San Diego State (858). Baylor's Jamie McLeary won the individual crown in a playoff against Texas-San Antonio's Gibby Martens after each finished with nine-under-par totals of 207. This will be K-State's first time to compete in the 52-year-old event.
In the Polls
The Wildcats currently rank 52nd in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin national rankings with a rating of 72.74. Aaron Watkins is K-State's top nationally-ranked golfer at No. 56 with a 71.23 rating.
The Wildcats are currently tied for third with Missouri in the NCAA District V rankings with Watkins sitting in third in the District. In Big 12 rankings released by GolfStat on April 1st, K-State ranked 9th in the Big 12, with Watkins coming in at 10th in the individual standings.
