Kansas State University
Royal Oaks Intercollegiate
K-State Finishes 9th behind Eklund’s Top-10 Finish at Royal Oaks
Oct 22, 2019 | Men's Golf
DALLAS, Texas. – A final round score of 1-under 70 secured senior Jacob Eklund a top-10 finish at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate and K-State finished ninth as a team at the Par-71, 7,068-yard Royal Oaks Country Club Tuesday.
Eklund started off the day in a tie for third but had little margin for error and dropped four spots after a pair of bogeys on holes five and seven. The Carbondale, Illinois product finished under par in all three rounds for the first time this season to lead the 'Cats, who dropped one spot, finishing 11-over par 863, and in ninth. K-State was four strokes behind North Texas and four strokes ahead of Iowa.
"Jake played really solid again today," head coach Grant Robbins said. "He was really good from tee to green, just wasn't able to get some putts to fall."
Sophomore Will Hopkins and junior Kyle Vance slipped on the leaderboard, as Hopkins finished tied for 34th at 4-over par 217, while Vance finished 7-over par 220, and in a tie for 44th.
Both freshmen Tim Tillmanns and Riccardo Leo moved up during the final round, as Tillmanns moved up a spot to finish 9-over par 222 and in a tie for 51st, while Leo moved up four spots and tied for 62nd, at 16-over par 229.
"Overall, we just made too many mistakes that just killed our momentum," Robbins said. "We made a lot of birdies this week, we just made way too many bogeys especially inside 100 yards. It's all about a mentality with this team and something we have to keep working hard to develop."
SMU continued its dominant tournament, as the sixth-ranked Mustangs finished 27-under 825, a full 11 strokes ahead of second place Baylor. There was a four-way tie for the individual title at 8-under par 205, including Ollie Osborne of SMU, who shot the best round of the tournament at 6-under par-65 during Tuesday's final round.
The event concluded K-State's fall slate and the Wildcats will have nearly four whole months to work on their game before opening the spring campaign in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the TPC Dorado Beach Collegiate on Feb. 23-25.
Players Mentioned
