Kansas State men’s golf finished in 10th place with a team score of eight over par as they finished up their fall schedule.
The Wildcats were competing in the Steelwood Collegiate tournament, held at Steelwood Country Club in Loxley, Ala. The tournament was a 14-team field which contained four ranked teams, including Texas A&M, West Virginia, Purdue and Wake Forest.
The tournament was scheduled for Oct. 25-26; however, due to inclement weather, the Oct. 26 round was canceled, ending the Wildcats’ hopes of finishing higher.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish the tournament today because of the weather,” K-State head coach Grant Robbins said. “It was definitely a disappointing finish this week.”
The Wildcats’ first round ended with them finishing three over par as a team, being led by Fionn Dobbin, who was one under on the opening 18 holes. However, the rest of the team struggled a little bit to open up the tournament, and K-State, after one hole, was tied in 11th place.
The second round was led by Alex Lindstrom, who shot four under par, taking his total score back to even par for the entire tournament. Despite finishing the competition in a tie for 23rd place, Lindstrom was disappointed that he and his team were not able to advance further since the final round was called off
Texas A&M took home first place in the tournament, with Rutgers coming in second and West Virginia coming in third place. The Wildcats’ 10th-place finish resulted in a tie with Kennesaw State and was five shots behind fellow Big 12 foe Iowa State, which came in ninth place.
The Wildcats’ finish to their fall schedule wasn’t exactly what they wanted, but that shouldn’t overshadow what was otherwise a successful fall season.
“Overall, we had a pretty good fall,” Robbins said. “We have to learn from this tournament and get better. I believe we have a chance to be a very good team this spring, but this offseason is going to be crucial for us.”
K-State will compete in five tournaments in the spring and also aspires to reach the Big 12 tournament and return to the NCAA regionals.
The next time the ‘Cats will hit the course will be Feb. 16-18 in LaQuinta, Calif.., as they compete at The Prestige tournament held at the PGA West golf course.
