Eklund’s Huge Day Leads Wildcats after Day One at Royal Oaks
Oct 21, 2019 | Men's Golf
MANHATTAN, Kan. – A pair of bogeys over the final three holes dropped Jacob Eklund out of the lead, but that was nearly all the trouble the K-State senior had while playing his way to a tie for third through 36 holes at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate following a 5-under par 137 at the Par-71, 7,068-yard Royal Oaks Country Club.
Eklund, who led the team last year with three top-five finishes, is one stroke off the lead after opening with a 2-under 69, then topping that with a 3-under 68. In both rounds Eklund was tagged with a pair of extra strokes down the stretch. As a team, the Wildcats were in eighth at 5-over par 573, but only four strokes behind fifth place New Mexico and five strokes behind fourth place Michigan.
"Jake was really solid today," K-State head coach Grant Robbins said. "He hit it close quite a bit and was able to make a lot of birdies. As a team we just had too many big numbers. We are only a few shots out of the top 5. We just need to get everyone going and put up a low round tomorrow."
Sophomore Will Hopkins shot 1-over par 143, and sits in a tie for 23rd, while junior teammate Kyle Vance is one stroke behind him at 2-over par 144 and tied for 28th.
The freshman duo of Tim Tillmanns and Riccardo Leo experienced their first road bump in their college careers, as Tillmann was tied for 52nd at 7-over par 148 and Leo was sitting at 14-over par 156 and in 66th place.
SMU was atop the leaderboard following day one at 12-under par 556 and one stroke ahead of Liberty headed into Tuesday. Ervin Chang of Liberty and Michigan's Charlie Pilon are both tied for first at 6-under par 136.
K-State will tee off Tuesday's final round of the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate on hole seven at 8:30 a.m. (CT).
Players Mentioned
