K-State with Work to do after Day One at Hackler Championship
Mar 09, 2020 | Men's Golf
MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina – The Kansas State men's golf team found itself at the bottom looking up following the first two rounds of the General Hackler Championship at the par-72, 7,233-yard Dunes Golf and Beach Club Monday.
The Wildcats were 14th, at 25-over 601, seven strokes ahead of Wisconsin and 10 strokes behind Penn State. K-State's Will Hopkins, who was 2-under par 70 after the first round, paced the team while shooting 146 (+2) to sit in a tie for 33rd.
"It's a difficult course that will test every part of your game," head coach Grant Robbins said. "Today we really struggled on and around the greens. We missed some in the wrong spots and left ourselves a lot of six- to eight-foot par putts that we didn't convert enough of."
Hopkins was 2-under through 10 holes in the first round before a bogey on No. 2, but bounced back with a third birdie on No. 3 before par on the next two holes. The sophomore ran into trouble with bogeys on No. 6 and 7, a rough patch he'd repeat in the second round. His back to back 73s were the second best rounds turned in by K-State.
Senior Jacob Eklund shot 6-over par 150, and was in a tie for 58th. Senior Ben Fernandez, who stumbled to an 84 in the opening round before firing a 1-under 71 in the second, and freshman Tim Tillmanns both tallied 11-over par 155 and are were tied for 74th. Junior Kyle Vance and freshman Ryan Bender, who is competing as an individual, both finished the first day tied for 80th at 14-over par 158.
"When you aren't making putts it can chip away at your confidence and puts a lot of pressure on the rest of your game and that's what happened today," Robbins said. "We just have to learn from it, put today behind us and get back after it again tomorrow."
No. 26-ranked North Carolina sits in first at 12-under par 564, five strokes ahead of Wake Forest – two of the 10 teams in the field ranked among Golfstat's Top-60. Coastal Carolina's Zach Taylor sat atop the leaderboard, a full four strokes ahead of the rest of the field after firing 66-68—134 (-10).
The third and final round of the General Hackler Championship tees of Tuesday morning and can be followed along hole-by-hole on golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
