Kansas University junior Gary Woodland is in second place after 30 holes of the Big 12 Conference men’s golf tournament.
Woodland fired an opening round score of 1-over 71 on the Southern Hills Country Club course and was 2-under on his second round scorecard when play was suspended because of rain at 6:52 p.m. Woodland had six holes left to play in round two.
KU’s team is tied for sixth entering resumption of play today.
Play was suspended by lightning with Oklahoma leading by four shots midway through the second round.
Led by Brodie Sanders, the Sooners were at 7-over par and four strokes ahead of Texas Tech. Texas was another stroke behind at 11-over. Sanders shot a 1-under 69 in the first round and was also 1-under through 15 holes of the second round.
All of the teams made it through at least 27 of the 36 holes slated for the first of the tourney’s two days and none of the golfers finished the second round. Play was delayed for two hours because of rain earlier in the afternoon at Southern Hills CC, and the golfers didn’t return to the course after lightning caused another delay at 6:52 p.m.
Texas A&M was fourth at 18-over par, three strokes ahead of Nebraska. Defending champion Oklahoma State and KU were tied for sixth at 22-over. The Cowboys won last year’s title by nine strokes over Oklahoma.
Play was scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. today, with the final round to follow later in the day.
Nebraska’s Brady Schnell shot a 2-under 68 for the best score of the first round. He was in a seven-way tie for fifth place when play was halted.
Last year’s winner, Oklahoma’s Anthony Kim, was tied for 35th at 9-over par with six holes left to play.
Also for Kansas, Pete Krsnich is tied for 30th, 8-over through 30 holes; Luke Trammell 35th at 9-over through 30 holes; Tyler Docking 39th at 10-over through 30 holes; Zach Pederson 55th at 13 over through 33 holes.
Here’s a look at the team scoring (teams have varying amount of holes left): Oklahoma 285, Texas Tech, 289, Texas 285, Texas A&M 289, Nebraska 291, Oklahoma State 299, Kansas 295, Baylor 289, Colorado 301, Kansas State 296, Iowa State 293, Missouri 300.
Ten players in the 60-man field, including Woodland, opened the championships with a birdie, with two schools having two players do it: Kansas State (Joe Kinney, Robert Streb) and Missouri (Ben Scott, Peter Malnati). By contrast, 13 players scored bogeys and two registered double bogeys.
The first group – Trent Price (Nebraska), Zach Pederson (Kansas) and Curtis Foster (Iowa State) – finished in four hours and 14 minutes, considered fast for college (remember, they carry their own clubs) as well as for a tough golf course.
Both the defending individual and team champions struggled in their opening defense of their titles.
Oklahoma State, last year’s winner by nine strokes at Whispering Pines (Trinity, Texas), shot a 19-over par team score of 299 and was in 10th place, 14 strokes behind co-leaders Texas and Oklahoma (285).
Oklahoma’s Anthony Kim, who claimed medalist honors by six strokes, shot a 75 in the morning to tie for 32nd, seven strokes off the lead.
