In what head coach Grant Robbins called a disappointing two-day tournament, K-State men’s golf jumped one spot to a 13th place finish in the 30th Annual Louisiana Classics in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Out of the 14-team field, the Wildcats trailed the next-best team by three strokes, shooting a 26-over par 890. The tournament victor, No. 1 Illinois, was a combined 45 strokes better than the Wildcats at 19-under par 845.
After shooting a dominant five-under par 67 in the second round to sit in 12th place, red shirt sophomore Matt Green shot a 1-over par 73 in the third and final round on Tuesday. Despite shooting over par, Green moved up into 10th place, securing the best performance of the tournament by a K-State golfer.
“It was a disappointing week, but I saw some good things today,” Robbins said to K-State Sports. “Matt (Green) and Seth (Smith) really played well and overall I thought we were much more focused and committed to the process than we were yesterday.”
Sophomore Seth Smith finished the tournament Tuesday with his best round of the weekend with a two-under par 70. His efforts helped him jump 31 spots to move into 17th place.
The only other Wildcat to secure a top-50 performance was freshman Trent Evans. Evans managed to finish tied for 50th place after shooting two-straight four-over par 76’s. His best round came on Monday in the first round with a one-over par 73.
“We have a young team and we are going to experience some ups and downs, so we just have to learn from this and get better,” Robbins said.
K-State will now turn their attention to the three-day Tiger Intercollegiate in Opelika, Alabama starting on Sunday.
