Loyola’s Brandon Berry and Team Kansas Earn 2021 Trophy at 2021 Kā‘anapali Classic

Loyola Maryland’s Brandon Berry was steady all three days and took home the individual trophy in the 2021 Kāʻanapali Classic – Collegiate Invitational with a 197 total (-16). Team Kansas pulled further ahead on Sunday and shot an impressive 268-262-70-800 (-52) for the 54-hole tournament, locking in their fourth consecutive team win this season.

Sunday was Brandon Berry’s second collegiate win after earning the title in the 2021 Patriot League Championship earlier this year. Berry’s 54-hole score at Kāʻanapali this weekend tied the Loyola school record – this is his senior year.

“The finish was incredible,” referring to holing out from a greenside bunker on the seventh hole, Berry’s 17th hole of the day, for an eagle. Berry added, “It’s something I will always remember. It was a great end to a great week. It feels great to win this one after a tough loss at Georgetown a few weeks ago.”

At the Georgetown Intercollegiate, Berry led nearly wire-to-wire and was up a stroke through 52 holes, but he double bogeyed the 17th hole and lost by a shot, in an event that Loyola won as a team. The tides were turned when Berry was tied with Denver’s Carson Griggs (paired together in the final round) going into the final hole. Griggs then bogeyed their final hole to seal the deal for Berry.

Carson Griggs, who had the lead going into the final round shot 68 (-3) at Kāʻanapali came up just one stroke off Berry to secure second place. Griggs is a sophomore at Denver University and will perhaps have his revenge at Kāʻanapali in 2022. As a team, the Pioneers posted a season-best score of 21-under (831) for the 54-hole event.

This was Kansas’ fourth consecutive team win this season with a 268-262-270-800 total in the 54-hole event. Kansas’ final round was led by Callum Bruce at 66 (-5) who finished fourth overall at 200 (-13), along with Harry Hillier (T5), Davis Cooper (T5) and Luke Kluver (9 th ) all coming in at 68 (-3) today to complete the round. They finished 20 strokes ahead of second place team Colorado. Kansas was tied with Boise State after round one but pulled ahead in the second round and maintained their lead all the way through the final round today. This is their first win at Kāʻanapali.

Team Colorado shot 271-275-274-820 this weekend. Men’s Head Golf Coach Roy Edwards commented, “All around it was a nice team effort all three days and though we didn’t catch Kansas, it was a great way to finish our fall season,” Edwards added, “Two really good rounds from Freddy and Justin today.  Kris (Max) was playing great but had a couple of hiccups coming in, but still had a great event despite a tough finish.”

“We are pleased with the direction of the team and how we have grown over the fall,” coach Edwards added.  “I look forward to the work the players will put in over the off-season to get better and we can’t wait to get started again in February.  It is very competitive up and down our lineup and I expect a great off-season from everyone.”

Felix Schrott, a junior at Cal State – Northridge climbed two spots today with a 66 today (-5) to finish the event in third place at 199 (-14). Long-time head golf coach legend, Jim Bracken said, “Felix is consistent – he’s really a good ball striker and if he’s giving himself chances, he’ll be under par ever round.”

As for the rest of the team, Bracken added, “As a whole, they got off to a rough start today. Blake (Brothers) had a triple on his opening hole but climbed back to just two over for the day, and Nick (Fowlkes) couldn’t seem to get anything going, with a few ups and downs to start but still finished one-under today and T5 overall at -12.” Bracken said, “As a freshman, this was a great experience for Nick to be in the hunt and there is a lot of room for him to do really well in the future.” The Matadors finished fourth overall this weekend at Kāʻanapali, tied with UConn at 826.

Other notables:

• Connecticut’s Caleb Manuel got a hole in one on the 185-yard par 3 8th hole with a 6-iron (T10)
• Nevada’s Peyton Callens (T10) and Colorado’s Justin Biwer (T14) both shot 65, the low round today
• Wyoming’s Jimmy Dales finished T10 with a -1 today in the final round
• Sacramento State was led by Jonathan Tanihana and teammate Ethan Davidson both T16 for the weekend
• First round leader Hugo Townsend shot 66 today to finish T10
• Host University Hawaii’s Kanata Irei shot 72 today to finish T23
• Gonzaga was led by Charlie Magruder who was even par after 54-holes and T39 for the weekend
• United States Air Force was led by freshman, Cameron Kahle at T50

The seventh annual 54-hole, individual and team stroke-play tournament featured the men’s teams from Boise, CSUN, Colorado, Connecticut, Denver, Gonzaga, Hawaiʻi-Manoa (host), Kansas, Loyola Maryland, Nevada, Sacramento State, US Air Force Academy and Wyoming.