Men’s golf tournament cut short due to bees

The final round of the UTA/Waterchase Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas, was canceled last Tuesday for one of the more bizarre reasons you will ever hear about. Less than two hours after the K-State golfers had started play, a tree limb holding a beehive fell to the ground near the 18th green, sending more than 7,000 bees into a frenzy. At least a dozen different competitors were stung by the bees, and after a lengthy delay in which a beekeeper was summoned to evaluate the situation, the continuing threat caused officials to cancel the final round and reduce the tournament to the 36 holes played on Monday.

"It was very unfortunate because each of our guys had played five or six holes and our top four scorers were around even par," said head coach Tim Norris. "This is my first experience of something like this happening, but I know our guys are excited to get back out on the course in a couple of weeks at our home tournament."

As for the bee-shortened tournament results, the Wildcats carded a 36-hole score of 19-over-par 595, which gave them a seventh place finish out of 19 schools competing in the tournament. For the second consecutive week, the Wichita State Shockers came out on top, this time with a 36-hole score of 6-under-par 570. They finished four strokes ahead of second-place Sam Houston State.

Individually, the Wildcats were led by freshman Kyle Weldon, who was making his debut on the five-man scoring roster. Weldon recorded a score of 1-under-par 143 in the two rounds on Monday, leaving him in fifth place and only four strokes behind 1st-place finisher Rafael Becker of Wichita State. The fifth-place finish is the highest for a K-State golfer so far in the young season.

Other Wildcats competing in the tournament included junior Curtis Yonke, who finished 4-strokes-over-par 148, tying him for 24th place overall. Finishing two strokes behind him, and tied for 36th place individually, was senior Kyle Smell. Ben Juffer, junior, tied for 70th place with a 12-over-par finish. Fellow junior Chase Chamberlin rounded out the scoring for the Wildcats by carding a 36-hole score of 15-over-par 159. He tied for 82nd place overall.

K-State will host the Jim Colbert Intercollegiate on Oct. 3-4 at the Colbert Hills Golf Course near Manhattan. Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.