HOCKLEY, Texas (Kansas State Athletics) – Following Monday’s victory over No. 21 Texas, the Kansas State men’s golf team battled to an impressive draw against No. 1 ranked Texas Tech before falling to TCU on Tuesday at the Big 12 Match Play Tournament, held at par-71, 7,007-yard Club at Houston Oaks.
With one session of pool play remaining, K-State sits at third on the leaderboard of Pool A.
“It was an up-and-down day today,” said head coach Grant Robbins. “The guys really grinded it out this morning to get the tie with Texas Tech.” ”
The Wildcats’ performance against the Red Raiders included individual wins by Cooper Schultz, Luke O’Neill, and Nicklaus Mason.
Mason came up key with a push down the stretch of his round to close the gap to take the lead, and he finished his match off with a birdie on hole 17 to win 2&1 and clinch the 3-3-0 tie for K-State.
Schultz dominated his matchup, getting out to a four-hole lead at the turn before coasting to a 5&3 win. O’Neill also won fairly comfortably with a 3&2 victory.
Laurenz Schiergen was pitted against Red Raider star Ludvig Adverg and fell 5&3. Tim Tillmanns lost 4&2 and Will Hopkins’ comeback effort came up short in a 2 Up loss.
The draw was proof that this Wildcat squad, who is off to a historic start the 2022-23 season, can compete with anybody in the country.
Unfortunately in the afternoon session, K-State didn’t come up with enough positive holes to get back in the win column.
Despite the 3-2-1 loss, Schultz shined once again picking up a 2&1 victory while Hopkins took control of his match early and won 5&4. O’Neill won the round’s final match to earn a tie.
Tillmanns fell 5&4, Schiergen lost 3&2 and Mason dropped a heartbreaker 1 Up.
“I thought we came out really flat against TCU,” said Robbins. “We gave away some holes early on, and you can’t do that against good teams. We have to put it behind us and get ready for a couple of tough matches tomorrow.”
The Cats will now turn their attention to the final match of pool play, a bout with No. 9-seed Iowa State, held Wednesday morning.
They will hope to move up the Pool A standings to earn a higher matchup when the Big 12 Match Play Tournament concludes on Wednesday afternoon with the championship round, where K-State will be pitted against a corresponding team from the opposite pool.
Live scoring of the event can be found on Golfstat.com.
