Cats Use Strong Second Round to Remain in Contention
Sep 14, 2026 | Men's Golf
MANHATTAN, Kan. – After an early morning start on Monday, the Kansas State men's golf team fell to the middle of the pack in round one but battled back to second place and in contention through 36 holes of the Wildcat Invitational held at the par-72, 7,525-yard Colbert Hills Golf Club.
Play began at 8:30 a.m. Monday morning with a shotgun start. All 15 teams were able to play the scheduled 36 holes despite battling average winds of 20 miles per hour.
The Wildcats finished the first two rounds at 13-over, leaving them six shots behind the leader St. Thomas, which shot 7-over. South Dakota State finished the first 36 at 19-over leaving them in third place heading into the final round.
"We got off to a slow start today. Not sure if it was nerves, but we made some uncharacteristic mistakes early in the round that cost us," said head coach Grant Robbins following the first round. "We bounced back pretty well in round two. The wind really kicked up and outside of a couple of holes, I thought we played pretty well. We were under par on the par threes in the afternoon which was really solid. Just didn't take advantage of holes 13 and 16 which put us behind. The mistakes we made are easily correctable. We just need to go out tomorrow, focus on what we can control, play a solid round and see what happens."
The Cats have three players in the top five through the first two rounds. Ville Virkkala finished the day tied for second at 1-under, while sophomores Octavio Laurent and Oliver Toyer finished the day tied with one another for fourth.
Virkkala, a product of Espoo, Finland, tallied a score of 1-under par through 36 holes leaving him in second overall on the day. Totalling nine birdies, two of which were on hole 13, Virkkala looks to continue his consistent production in the final round.
Sophomore transfer Laurent, native of Bordeaux, France, finished the day tied for fourth at even par through day one. A finish of 2-under in the first 18 was enough to project Laurent into the top five and his 2-over total in the second round solidified him among the best in the field. Also tied for fourth, Toyer, from Cambridgeshire, England, ended the day at even par thanks to solid performances on the back nines of both rounds.
Dobbin, who hails from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, finished the day 6-over par leaving him tied for 23rd among the field. Freshmen Stendahl, from Myggenas, Sweden and Smith, out of Lee's Summit, Missouri, rounded out the scoring lineup finishing 8-over and 18-over respectively leaving Stendahl tied for 36th and Smith tied for 69th.
The additional individual scorers were led by junior Sabelström Holmberg and his tally of 4-over through his first two rounds. Freshman Thompson, from Surrey, England and Sophomore De Brauwere, a product of Saint Cloud, France round out the scoring for the Cats with Thompson ending the day 6-over tied for 23rd and De Brauwere at 12-over tied for 56th.
With a field-leading score of 2-over in the second round, the Cats jumped four spots to land in second and get within striking distance of the top spot. With 18 holes to go K-State looks to continue to climb the leaderboard.
The Wildcat Invitational resumes at 8 a.m., Tuesday, with a shotgun start for the final round. Live results can be followed on SCOREBOARD powered by Clippd.
