MANHATTAN, Kan. After securing a runner-up finish in their most recent outing, the Kansas State men’s golf team heads into the Mossy Oak Collegiate on Monday and Tuesday aiming to keep its momentum rolling. The Wildcats will take on the par-72, 7,212-yard Mossy Oak Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi.
This marks the sixth consecutive year K-State will compete at Mossy Oak, where the program’s best result was a fifth-place finish in 2022. The Wildcats will be chasing their sixth top-five performance of the season which would tie the fifth-best mark in school history and their second in a row following a runner-up showing at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate in late March.
“We are excited to get back to Mossy Oak,” head coach Grant Robbins said. “It’s a unique layout that demands precision from start to finish. It’s a long track with some forgiveness off the tee, but hitting the right sections of the greens is crucial. This field is loaded with strong teams, and it’s a great opportunity for us to compete directly with some of the nation’s best. Our guys are eager for the challenge.”
The 19-team field features three top-20 programs in No. 10 Vanderbilt, No. 15 Mississippi, and No. 17 Alabama. Also participating are Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Louisiana Tech, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, host Mississippi State, New Mexico State, North Texas, Rice, Sam Houston, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Troy, ULM and UTEP.
K-State will bring six players to Mississippi: seniors Shea Harmeson, Alex Lindstrom, and JP Roller; sophomore Fionn Dobbin; and freshmen Oliver Toyer and Ville Virkkala. Five will make up the scoring lineup, with the sixth competing individually.
Lindstrom, from Halmstad, Sweden, leads the Wildcats with a 72.20 scoring average. He, Harmeson (72.57), and Virkkala (72.80) are the three players averaging below 73.00 this season. Each has recorded four top-20 finishes; all of Harmeson’s have been inside the top 10, while Lindstrom has three and Virkkala two. All three posted top-10 results at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate—Harmeson finishing second, Virkkala tying for third, and Lindstrom tying for eighth.
Roller enters the event riding a career-best 54-hole total of 5-under 208 in Mobile, where he tied for third thanks to matching rounds of 3-under 68 in the first and third rounds.
Dobbin, from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, is coming off back-to-back top-20 finishes, tying for eighth at the Michael A. Marino Classic before claiming 18th in Mobile. His 5-under 211 at the Marino Classic matched his best 54-hole score, followed by an even-par 213 at Mobile.
Toyer also tied for 18th in Mobile, recording his first even-par or better 54-hole score since the fall.
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