Wildcats Make 11 Stroke Improvement on Day Two
Sep 23, 2019 | Men's Golf
DALLAS, Texas – Jake Eklund turned Sunday's most punishing holes into a pair of birdies, part of three-in-a-row that saw the K-State senior drop below par and keyed a second-round 68 (-3) to climb into the top-20 at the Trinity Forest Invitational. The turnaround also helped K-State improve 11 strokes, but the Wildcats sat in ninth out of 17 teams with 18 holes to play at Trinity Forest Golf Club.
A day after struggling – along with his teammates – to close out the back nine, including bogeys on No. 17 and No. 18 before the turn, Eklund mishit his tee shot on No. 17 but got a lucky roll within three feet to birdie, then added another on No. 18 and No. 1 to shake off a pair of early bogeys and start a run.
"I wish it'd happen more often," Eklund laughed about three straight birdies. "It's always a good feeling to get your round going. I actually hit it to about six feet for eagle on No. 1, but had a really tough putt and missed on the low side. I didn't have a birdie putt outside of three feet those three holes. To make birdies like that really puts a lot of confidence in your swing and put momentum into the round going forward."
Eklund, a product of Carbondale, Illinois, finished round two with five birdies, and was two strokes away from a top-10 finish with 18 holes to play, a category he led the team in last year while qualifying for regionals as an individual.
Freshman Riccardo Leo continued his strong start to his K-State career, shooting 1-under par 70 in round two, and like Eklund turned in a consecutive trio of birdies on his final three holes. It was his first career round under par, in his second tournament, but first as a member of the scoring lineup. Junior Kyle Vance bounced back with his best round in a year, shooting 1-under par like teammate Leo. Vance had a team high six birdies during round two.
Senior Ben Fernandez continued his Texas homecoming with a solid second round of 1-over par 72 and sat 2-over par 144 after round two. Junior George Clarke shot 3-over par 75, and was tied for 74th, but just three strokes outside of the top 50.
"The conditions were very favorable," head coach Grant Robbins said. "The wind died down. The course was yielding a lot of birdies especially on the front side. We started on the back again. I thought we turned ok, struggled again on the ninth hole which was No. 18. We made several bogeys there, but we hung in and finished strong.
"Riccardo birdied his last three holes. Jake made a birdie down the stretch and Kyle came back with an under-par round, so it felt like a team effort today."
SMU and Arizona State continued their dominant tournament, as both teams are 21-under par 547 and 10 strokes ahead of 3rd place in Houston. Alex del Rey sits atop the leaderboard for a second straight day, as the Arizona Sun Devil will head into the final round with a three-stroke lead.
The final round of the Trinity Forest Invitational begins at 8:00 a.m. (CT) on holes one and ten.
