K-State Improvement Foiled by Tough Field

Monday, March 9

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Kansas State University

General Hackler Invitational

Jacob Eklund at K-State BIGHORN Invitational

Mar 10, 2020 | Men's Golf

Live Results / Leaderboard

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Jacob Eklund turned in his best round of the tournament to climb 22 positions, part of another improved team score, but it wasn't enough to significantly move the Kansas State men's golf team up the leaderboard against a tough field at the General Hackler Championship Tuesday. The Wildcats finished tied for 13th after shooting 304-297-294—895 (+31) on the par-72, 7,233-yard Dunes Golf and Beach Club.

Eklund logged three birdies over the final 18 holes to match his 36-hole total from Monday and turned in K-State's second round under par with a 1-under 71. That was enough to pass teammate Will Hopkins for the team lead at 5-over 221 for the tournament and a T36th finish. As a team, the Wildcats entered the final round in 14th, but were only able to reel in one opponent – East Carolina – to climb one spot. No. 26 North Carolina ran away with the team title while shooting 21-under 843, including a tournament-best 279 Tuesday, besting a field that included 10 teams ranked in Golfstat's Top-60.

"This course was really demanding in every aspect," Eklund said. "It's a tough driving course, tough second shot course, and it's tough around the greens. If you put yourself in the right positions, you can score out here but you have to golf your ball. The only really thing that changed for me today was just not short-siding myself as much and I got a couple putts to go in. I hit it well all week, just didn't score well."

Coastal Carolina's Zack Taylor won the individual title despite shooting 2-over 74 on Tuesday, a testament to his commanding lead after 36 holes. Taylor finished 8-under after shooting 66-68-74—208, holding off four players tied for second at 6-under 210.

Behind Eklund, Hopkins finished T44th after shooting 73-73-76—222 (+6). Ben Fernandez turned in another solid round after bouncing back from a first-round 84 with a team-best-tying 71 Monday to finish the tournament tied for 67th while shooting 84-71-73—228 (+12). Tim Tilllmanns carded his lowest round of the tournament with a 74 (+2) Tuesday and finished T69th at 13-over 229, while Kyle Vance shot 23-over 239 to finish T82nd, tied with K-State individual Ryan Bender.

"The golf course was extremely difficult, it's not something that we're completely used to playing – that's no excuse, we've got to play a lot better," K-State head coach Grant Robbins said. "Obviously, the field is strong. This is a course that if you're not sharp on every aspect of your game you're going to pay for it, and that's what happened. It's very demanding. You have to drive it well because the greens are very complex. You have to get in the right spots and that's hard to do if you're not driving it well. We just weren't sharp this week, it was hard to put it all together.

"They battled thought, they gave it everything they had, it just wasn't quite enough. Jake had a really solid round today, Ben played really solid. Tim, being a freshman, played really solid, especially his last nine holes today. There's definitely some things we can build on going forward."

K-State will turn its focus quickly to the Mission Inn Spring Spectacular this weekend in Howie-in-the-Hills, Florida. Though a different team than a season ago, the Wildcats are the defending champions and are looking forward to playing a course with positive recent history.

"It's a disappointing week for all of us but lucky we get to go straight to a tournament that we are defending champs," Eklund said. "We need to just clear our minds and get ready for the week coming ahead."