For the first time in seven years, a member of the Kansas men’s golf team has won multiple tournaments in a single season.
Senior Cecil Belisle shot a 13-under 200 across three rounds (67-66-67) between Monday and Wednesday to claim the top spot at The Prestige at Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta, California.
“Cecil was the guy this week,” KU coach Jamie Bermel said. “He played well all three days and was in total control of his golf ball. The kid works as hard as anyone I have coached in 32 years, and he deserves to be the champion.”
Belisle’s victory — he beat Petr Hruby of Washington and Karl Vilips of Stanford by two strokes each — helped lift KU into the No. 2 spot as a team at the competition with its score of a 21-under 831. Texas Tech claimed the team win by a fairly wide margin after shooting 33-under.
Belisle had previously won the Folds of Honor Collegiate in Grand Haven, Michigan, in his first event of the 2023-24 season, which was also his first-ever win as a Jayhawk.
The native of Red Wing, Minnesota, said in a press release following The Prestige that he “was able to take advantage of the opportunity I was blessed with.”
“I want to thank the coaches for always making me better and I am grateful for another strong start to the semester, but we are not done yet,” he said. “Congrats to the boys too for delivering a strong week. Now it’s time to build from (it) and keep getting better each day. We have what it takes and we can do it.”
Davis Cooper (4-under), William Duquette (1-over), Will King (2-over) and Gunnar Broin (4-over) rounded out the top five for KU, with Broin finishing strong in particular as he shot a 2-under 69 on Wednesday.
“We didn’t have our best stuff today, but they fought hard and played with a lot of toughness,” Bermel said. “Gunnar responded well today with a nice round and really helped the team, but it was a total team effort. All of them played solid golf.”
The Jayhawks’ next event is just over two weeks away on March 11-12 as they travel to St. Simons Island in Georgia for the Johnnie-O at Sea Island.
