K-State Wins Team & Individual Titles at Johnnie-O; Broin Is T6; Stevens & Glynn Are Both Top 10s

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, S.C. -- Tim Tillmans had never won in three and a half years playing for Kansas State, but you wouldn't have guessed that this week, based on the way he played in the Johnnie-O at the Sea Island Golf Club's Seaside Course. The senior from Cologne, Germany, pretty much grabbed the tournament by the throat in the first round, and he never let go on the way to a five-shot victory.

On Monday, in the first round, he parred the first four holes, then birdied the next four in a row. He ended up with a 3-under 67 and a one-shot lead, which he expanded to three shots later in the day with a second-round 65. During that second round, he birdied those same four holes in row -- Nos. 5 through 8. Tillmans sealed the victory with a bogey-free 66 on Tuesday. That gave him a 54-hole total of 198 (12 under). 

This time, he birdied the 429-yard, par-4 fourth and the 582-yard, par-5 seventh while going around the front nine in 33. He added another birdie at the par-4 10th (418 yards) and notched his 16th birdie of the tournament at the 16th hole (407, par 4).

Barend Botha, a Toledo junior from South Africa, started the day three behind and never got any closer than that. He posted a 68, which gave him at aggregate of 203, and that was good enough for second place. It was another four strokes back to North Carolina Greensboro's Nick Lyerly, who finished third at 207, thanks to a second straight 68. There was a tie for fourth at 208, between Ohio State's Maxwell Moldovan, who closed with a 70, and Noah Kumar of Rutgers. He shot 72.

Gunnar Broin, the former Minnesota State Boys PGA Junior champion who's now a junior at Kansas, after transferring from Colorado State, tied for sixth at 210, having shot a final-round 71 at the Seaside Course, which is the same course where three of the four rounds of the PGA Tour's RSM Classic are played.

A pair of former Minnesota Mr. Golfs, Connor Glynn (2019) and Nate Stevens (2022), ended up in a four-way tie for ninth at 211. Glynn, a Minnesota senior from Waconia, opened with a 73 but came back with a pair of 69s. Stevens, a two-time Minnesota state high school champion (Class AAA) from Northfield, is now a freshman at Notre Dame. He shot the low 18-hole score of the tournament, a 64 on Monday afternoon, and was tied for third after two rounds. On Tuesday, he started on No. 1 and was going along pretty well at 1 over through 12 holes -- but he made a triple bogey 7 at the 14th hole, bogeyed the par-5 16th and wound up with a 75.

In addition to Tillmanns, Kansas State had another player in the top 10. Will Hopkins tied Broin for sixth at 210. He started off with a 72 and improved by two in each of the next two rounds (70-68), which helped the Wildcats, who are 17th in Golfstat's NCAA Division I Rankings, come from 10 behind after the first round and win the Johnnie-O team championship by seven with an overall 839 (1 under).      

No. 31 Cincinnati and No. 32 Ohio State tied for second, seven behind at 846. Then came No. 37, UNGC, aka North Carolina Greensboro, in fourth at 848, followed by No. 55 Kansas at 850 and No. 87 Rutgers in sixth at 851. Notre Dame (No. 43) finished seventh in the 13-team field with an 857.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, currently No. 81 in the rankings (the new ones came out Tuesday), Glynn did not count toward the team score. He was playing as an individual only. Without him, the Gophers finished 13th at 876.


The Johnnie-O at Sea Island

At Sea Island Golf Club -- Seaside Course

 Par 70, 7,005 yards

St. Simons Island, Ga. 

Final results

1. Kansas State                         288-273-278--839

2. Ohios State                            282-277-286--845

3. Cincinnati                               278-286-282--846

4. North Carolina-Greensboro   282-283-283--848

5. Kansas                                   278-286-286--850

6. Rutgers                                  282-286-283--851

7. Notre Dame                           287-275-295--857

T8. Iowa                                     288-283-293--864

T8. Memphis                              295-286-283--864

T8. Toledo                                 294-291-284--869

11. Michigan State                    294-291-284--869

12. Penn State                          291-289-290--870

13. Minnesota                           294-295-287--876

Individual results 

*--indicates anyone playing as an inividual only

1. Tim Tilllmanns, Kansas State        67-65-66--198

2. Barend Botha, Toledo                   68-67-68--203

3. Nick Lyerly, UNCG                        71-68-68--207

T4. Maxwell Moldovan, Ohio State    70-68-70--208

T4. Noah Kumar, Rutgers                   68-68-72--208

T6. Gunnar Broin, Kansas               69-70-71--210

T6. Patrick Sheehan, Penn State       73-67-70--210

T6. Will Hopkins, Kansas State          72-70-68--210

T9. Nate Stevens, Notre Dame        72-64-75--211

T9. Connor Glynn, Minnesota         73-69-69--211*

T9. William Duquette, Kansas            68-73-70--211

T9. Noah Connor, UNCG                   75-65-71--211

T25. Cecil Belisle, Kansas                70-71-74--215

T39. Eduardo Galdos, Minnesota     74-74-70--218

T39. Ian Meyer, Iowa                          74-71-73--218

T45. Ben Warian, Minnesota             74-74-71--219

T45. Antoine Sale, Minnesota           74-72-73--219

T55. Lincoln Johnson, Minnesota    74-75-73--222

T55. Harrison Arnold, Minnesota      72-75-75--222

T69. Mason Roloff, Minnesota           81-72-73--226*

79. Cormac Sharpe, Minnesota          84-73-79--236*