K-State Set to Host Wildcat Invitational

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Looking to improve off a seventh-place finish a week ago in which it battled an illness that ran through the squad, the Kansas State men's golf team will have the benefit of playing in a familiar setting as it hosts the 2024 Wildcat Invitational at the par-72, 7,525-yard Colbert Hills Golf Course.

This is the fourth-straight year the Wildcats will host a home event, and they are looking to earn the team title for a third-consecutive season. After finishing in second place in 2021, K-State won the next two events, including the 2022 outing when it posted the 11th-lowest 54-hole score in school history at 837. That edition of the Wildcat Invitational also saw K-State produce the individual medalist in Cooper Schultz with a 54-hole score of 11-under par 205, the lowest three-round total by a Wildcat during competition at Colbert Hills.

"We are looking forward to hosting this week. The golf course is in excellent condition and should provide a great test," head coach Grant Robbins said. "We got the guys all back healthy and ready to go. The key for us this week is just to stay patient and disciplined with our decision making. There is always a unique pressure that comes with hosting, but we just have to treat it like any other tournament, which is to play to our strengths and take what the course gives us each day."

Schultz will be joined in the primary scoring lineup by two seniors in Kobe Valociek and Nicklaus Mason and a pair of freshmen in Fionn Dobbin and Erik Sabelström Holmberg. The Wildcats will also field a "B" team that will consist of seniors JP Roller and Ian McCrary, sophomore Harry Bent, junior Alex Lindstrom and freshman Tyler Strong.

Valociek, a transfer from Virginia Tech, led the Wildcats last week at the Southern Dunes Invitational by tying for 17th place at 2-under par 214 thanks to a final-round total of 3-under par 69. He finished two shots ahead of Schultz and Sabelström Holmberg, who tied for 24th place. Dobbin was on track for a top-10 finish last week as he carded rounds of 68 and 69 on Monday, but the freshman fell ill before Tuesday's final round and was forced to withdraw from the event.

Mason is looking to bounce back from a 7-over par 223 performance last week where he tied for 46th place. He finished two shots behind McCrary, who tied for 42nd place, and three shots back of Bent, who tied for 37th place. Roller battled through three rounds last week while ill as he tied for 50th place at 11-over par 227.

Lindstrom will be making his season debut, and Strong will be making his collegiate debut. Last year, Lindstrom produced a 73.19 stroke average thanks in part to a score of 10-under par 206 at the Wildcat Invitational. Strong, a product of Olathe, Kansas, was named the 2023 Kansas Junior Player of the Year by Central Links Golf and was ranked as the third-best player in the state and 180th nationally by Junior Golf Scoreboard at the timing of his signing last November.

The Wildcats will be joined at Colbert Hills by Bradley, Central Arkansas, Creighton, Drake, Houston Christian, Jacksonville State, Kansas City, Lindenwood, North Dakota, Northern Iowa, Omaha, Stephen F. Austin and UT Arlington.

Live results of the Wildcat Invitational can be viewed on Scoreboard Powered by Clippd.

– k-statesports.com –

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Players Mentioned

Harry Bent

Fionn Dobbin

Alex Lindstrom

Nicklaus Mason

Ian McCrary

JP Roller

Cooper Schultz

Tyler Strong

Kobe Valociek

Kansas State University Athletics