Wildcats Set Out for Golden State
Mar 23, 2006 | Men's Golf
Stevinson Ranch Invitational
Monday-Tuesday, March 27-28, 2006
8 a.m. (PST) shotgun start both days
Stevinson Ranch Golf Club
Stevinson, Calif.
Par 72/7,206 yards
Hosted by the University of Colorado
Participating Teams (13): Air Force, Birmingham Southern, Boise State, Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State Stanislaus, Colorado, Drake, Illinois State, Iowa State, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma City and Wichita State.
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Following three-straight tournaments on the east coast, the Kansas State men’s golf team will look to continue its success, this time on the west coast, as the Wildcats travel to Stevinson, Calif., to participate in the eighth annual Stevinson Ranch Invitational, March 27-28. The 14-team field includes four Big 12 schools and six foes from the NCAA Central Region. K-State will tee off at 8 a.m. (PST) in a shotgun format, as they are paired with Colorado and Missouri. No live stats will be available for the tournament. Results will be posted on www.k-statesports.com as soon as they become available.
THE COURSE
Stevinson Ranch Golf Club hosts the eighth annual Stevinson Ranch Invitational. Known as “The Jewel of the Valley,” Stevinson Ranch Golf Club is a par 72, 7,206-yard championship golf club located in Stevinson, Calif. According to GolfDigest, it is known as one of the “best places to play” in California, with only Pebble Beach ranking higher. For more information on the Stevinson Ranch Golf Club, please visit www.stevinsonranch.com.
LAST TIME OUT: HACKLER INVITATIONAL
MURRELLS INLET, S.C. - Tyler Cummins fired a three-over par 219 and Ben Kern carded a five-over 221 helping Kansas State tie for sixth at the Hackler Invitational March 12-13. The Wildcats shot a three-round total of 27-over 891, their first sub-900 score of the spring season. Seniors Cummins and Kern, the only K-State golfers to have previously played the par-72, 6,950-yard TPC at Myrtle Beach, tied for 11th and 20th, respectively. It was only the second time this season that Cummins paced the Wildcats in a tournament and he recorded his second-best placing of season. East Tennessee State, ranked 12th going into the tournament, ran away from the pack by firing an impressive three-over par 867 to win the team title, 10 strokes ahead of second-place and host Coastal Carolina.
K-STATE AT THE RANCH
When the Stevinson Ranch Invitational started in the spring of 1999, the Wildcats had a rough time the first three years of the tournament placing better than ninth just once. However, K-State has had success as of late in Stevinson, Calif. The Wildcats have finished in second place for three-straight years after a tie for second in 2005, and have finished third or better for four-straight years. This will be the Wildcats’ eighth trip to Stevinson Ranch. They are one of only four schools to participate in the event each year (Colorado, Drake and Missouri are the others). Stevinson Ranch Golf Club has been a good course for K-State individuals as well. Throughout the first seven years, the Wildcats have had 14 top-20 finishers, eighth top-10 finishers and five top-five finishers. Current Wildcat Ben Kern placed second in both 2004 and 2005.
ROOKIE SENSATIONS
True-freshmen starters have been somewhat of a rarity during the Tim Norris era. Only four true freshmen have participated in at least 75-percent of the team’s events during the season under Norris’ watch. After the Hackler Intercolleigate, true freshmen Robert Streb and Joe Kinney have joined that list. However, Streb and Kinney climbed to the top of that list in stroke average over the first eight tournaments. Streb’s and Kinney’s stroke averages of 73.88 and 75.22, respectively, ranks them No. 1 and 2 in terms of freshmen stroke averages in the Norris era through the first eight tournaments.
RECAPPING THE FALL
K-State got off to a good start to the fall season, placing eighth out of 17 teams at the Cleveland State Invitational on Sept. 12-13 after a 31-over 883 performance. Senior Ben Kern carded the second-lowest 54-hole score in school history by firing an eight-under 205 to place second. His second-place finish tied for his best career finish. Two weeks later, the Wildcats shaved an impressive 31 strokes off their score, carding even par 852 at the Wolverine Intercollegiate to finish fourth. The next week, K-State matched its placing from the Wolverine Intercollegiate, tying for fourth at the Memphis Intercollegiate. K-State hit a bump in the road out west at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational, its third tournament in as many weeks. The team looked as if they were on their way to one of the lowest 54-hole scores in school history after firing a 280 and 283 in the first two rounds. A third-round score of 302 dropped the Wildcats to a season-low 12th-place finish. After a week off, Norris’ bunch came out firing at the Barona Collegiate Cup, carding a 15-under 849, the second-lowest 54-hole score in school history. However, the Wildcats could only muster a tie for 10th, largely due to the tough competition, including tournament champion and top-10 team Brigham Young. Kern finished first on the team in stroke average at 71.40, exactly one stroke-per-round better than what he did last fall. Senior Tyler Cummins was probably the most consistent golfers as he placed as either the first or second Wildcat in four of the five tournaments.
K-STATE INKS FOUR FOR 2006-07 SEASON
Head men’s golf coach Tim Norris announced the signing of four high school golfers for the 2006-07 season. Joe Ida, Ross Geubelle (pronounced GOO-bell), Brian Larson and Jason Schulte (SHUL-tee) all have signed national letters of intent (NLI) to join the Wildcat golf program. “These guys are a great fit for our program,” Norris said. “They came in and were really impressed with the facilities and the opportunity to further their game. All of them have their best golf in front of them. They have a strong work ethic and basic fundamentals of the game, and we will try to supply the rest.” Three out of the four kids are local are either from Kansas or the Kansas City area (Ida: Fort Scott; Geubelle: Lakin; Schulte: Kansas City, Mo.), with the lone out-of-stater being Larson from Rochester, Minn. All four players will end their high school careers this coming spring before heading to K-State in the fall of 2006 as true freshmen.
KINNEY HONORED BY AJGA
Kansas State freshman golfer Joe Kinney earned honorable mention honors to the Rolex Junior All-American team, the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) announced on Oct. 25. Kinney, of Antioch, Ill., capped off a successful junior career this past summer as he captured a victory at the 2005 Future Legends in Wales, Wis. He also registered a second-place finish at the Midwest Juniors Players Championship in Huntley, Ill. Throughout his four-year career on the junior circut, Kinney cracked the top-15 in seven tournaments. The 135 junior golfers who received honors from the AGJA were recognized Nov. 20 during the Rolex Junior All-American Awards Banquet in Jekyll Island, Ga.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
The 2006 edition of the Stevinson Ranch Invitational will be Ben Kern’s third-straight trip out west to partcipate in the tournament, with successful trips in both his first two years. Overall, K-State individuals have recorded five top-five finishes, with Ben Kern holding two of those. As a sophomore in 2004, Kern shot under par all three rounds, carding a 69-70-71210 (-6), four strokes off the lead, as he tied for second. Last year, Kern looked as though he would better his six-under par 210 from the previous year as he fired a 71 and 68 in the first and second rounds, respectively. However, a third-round score of 75 left him six strokes away from first place as he carded a two-under par 214, placing second for the second-straight year.
K-State’s Stevinson Ranch Invitational Lineup
Stroke
Name Year Hometown Rds. Avg.
Tyler Cummins Sr. Olathe, Kan. 24 73.92
Ben Kern Sr. Tucson, Ariz. 21 72.48
Robert Streb Fr. Edmond, Okla. 24 73.88
Joe Kinney Fr. Antioch, Ill. 18 75.22
Jonathan James* Sr. Keller, Texas 9 76.11
Kyle Yonke* Jr. Lubbock, Texas 18 74.72
* Will compete either as No. 5 golfer or as individual
