KU golfer Gautier in 13th at tourney

? Kansas University sophomore golfer Stan Gautier worked his way into a tie for the lead after his first nine holes on Saturday at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate. The back nine wasn’t as kind.

Gautier carded an even-par 72 at the end of the day to tie for 13th place, but two bogeys and two double bogeys on his final nine holes marred a flawless front nine that included a trio of birdies, an eagle and no bogeys.

“Overall, I thought Stan had a good day,” KU coach Jamie Bermel said. “He got off to a hot start, then got sloppy on the back. He hit a couple bad shots and made a couple easy doubles.”

As a team, the Jayhawks dropped back one spot to a tie for 10th place.

Senior Chris Gilbert, KU’s leader after the first round, stumbled with a 5-over 77 on Saturday, dropping to 26th place. Freshmen Jackson Foth (77) and Bryce Brown (81) also counted toward the Jayhawks’ second-round team total of 16-over 304. Kansas sits at a two-day total of 27-over 603, tied with Idaho and trailing tourney leader TCU by 16 strokes.

“Stan and Chris are playing solid, but we need two more scores — we’re struggling to find that third and fourth score,” Bermel said. “We need to get off to a fast start tomorrow, but we need to hold it throughout 18 holes. Hopefully we can catch a few more teams in front of us.”

The third and final round of the tournament begins at 9:20 a.m. today.