Hocker Sets School Record for Low Round

Webster University junior Will Hocker (Grapevine, Texas/University of Oklahoma) blew away his school-record low round 66 by three strokes here Saturday afternoon as he shot an 8-under par 63 at the final round of the Carthage Tim Kopka Memorial Tournament held at Randall Oaks Golf Club.

Hocker's school record final round of 63, which also tied the course record for the lowest round ever, helped the two-time PING All-Central Region selection climbed 42 spots on the leaderboard to finish in a tie for sixth place after carding a 2-under 140 for 36 holes. In Saturday's final round, Hocker, who shot a 77 in Friday's opening round and was tied for 48th place, recorded seven birdies, an eagle, a bogey and nine pars on his scorecard on the par-71, 6,599-yard course.

While Hocker had a record-setting final round on Saturday, senior Zac Ciesla (Lake Charles, La./Alfred M. Barbe) also had a tremendous final round as the reigning St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Golfer of the Year followed up his opening round 69 by shooting a 3-under par 68 on Saturday to move into a tie for first place with Illinois Wesleyan's Rob Wuethrich. Both Ciesla and Wuethrich finished the 36 hole event with 5-under par scores of 137 to share first-place honors. 

Ciesla and Wuethrich finished one shot in front of Illinois Wesleyan's Andrew Abel, who carded a 4-under par 138 for 36 holes to place second. 

The top eight individuals at the event all shot under par for 36 holes. 

While Ciesla and Hocker finished in the Top 6 of the tournament, the Gorloks as a team finished the event by shooting a 12-over par 580 to finish as the tournament's runner-up. Webster opened the tournament on Friday by shooting a 297, before carding a final-round score of 1-under par 283 to jump one spot from third to second among the 20 teams at the event.

Illinois Wesleyan claimed the team title as they shot a 10-under par 558 for 36 holes to win by 22 shots over Webster and 26 shots over Aurora, who carded a 16-over par 584 for 36 holes. Illinois Wesleyan fired rounds of 281 and 277 at the event. 

In addition to Ciesla and Hocker, junior Mitchell Vetter (Colleyville, Texas/Grapevine) fired a 9-over par 152 for 36 holes to finish in a tie for 32nd place. Vetter recorded rounds of 76 and 75. 

The fourth counter for the Gorloks was junior Cole Pickett (Greenville, Ill./Keiser University) as he shot a 10-over par 152 to finish tied for 40th place. Pickett carded rounds of 75 and 77. 

Webster's fifth golfer was junior Christian Deters (Teutopolis, Ill./Teutopolis) as he fired a 167 for 36 holes to finish in a tie for 98th place. Deters fired rounds of 82 and 85 at the event. 

The Gorloks will return to the course on Sept. 22-23 as they travel to Tunica National Golf Club in Tunica, Miss., to play in the Rhodes College Collegiate Fall Classic.

STORY COURTESY OF WEBSTER UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION