Free State High senior golfer Lauren Phlegar wasn’t even sure she wanted to play at the next level.
Kansas University made that decision easy for her.
Phlegar, the Firebirds’ No. 1 golfer and a three-time Class 6-5A state qualifier, signed a national letter of intent with the Jayhawks on Tuesday on the KU campus.
“It hasn’t really sunk in,” Phlegar said. “The first semester of my senior year isn’t even over yet. Maybe at graduation I will be really excited. I’m excited now, but maybe it will hit me harder then.”
Phlegar, who made her official “visit” to the KU campus on Friday, said she also received interest from Nebraska, Florida, Arizona State and Louisville, among others.
“I wanted to play at a Division-I school, but I wanted to be able to play,” Phlegar said. “At Arizona State, I’d get to go to practice and not be able to play. That’s why I’m excited about KU.”
For a while, she wasn’t excited about playing golf in college anywhere.
“I know she wanted to stay close to home,” FSHS coach Steve Grant said, “and she said she wanted to go to KU whether she played golf or not.”
Thanks to the Jayhawks, now she can enjoy the best of both worlds.
Phlegar capped her high school career last month by finishing second at state after carding a 6-over-par 78 at Manhattan Country Club. She also had finished eighth at state as a junior and ninth as a sophomore.
“When I was a junior and sophomore, I wanted to go to Georgia or South Carolina, things like that,” she said. “Then when it started getting closer and closer, I wanted to stay close to home. My junior and senior years I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to play in college.
“After golf was over this year after state, I just missed it. I didn’t think I’d miss it that much, but I did. I wasn’t ready to give up that part of my life.”
Ironically, it was at state that the Jayhawks really started showing interest in Phlegar. In fact, KU coach Nicole Hollingsworth whose team was playing in Manhattan the same day as state even followed the future Jayhawk for a couple of holes.
“I had talked to her (Hollingsworth) that weekend before state,” Phlegar said. “She said she’d be out there. I didn’t know if she was looking into me or just looking around, but I knew she was coming. I was excited she came out to see me.”
It turned out Hollingsworth was excited that Phlegar was excited.
“Lauren will be a great asset to our program,” the KU coach said. “She has the ability and the potential to do great things at Kansas. She is the type of player that will help us both in the classroom and on the golf course. We are looking forward to her joining the team next fall.”
Phlegar’s former coach agreed with her future coach about her potential.
“KU coach Hollingsworth is trying to build a program and wants to do it with home-grown kids,” Grant said. “I think Lauren is capable of helping them out. She’s consistently in the 70s. With a little work she can bring that down. She’s long off the tee, chips and putts pretty well. She has all the tools to help them out. I’m pleased and very proud.
“We’ll miss her. I’m glad she’s staying at home so we can keep track of her. And the Big 12, that’s not too shabby,” he added.
Phlegar will be joined in the conference by golfing buddy Emily Milberger of Olathe North, who clipped the Firebird by two strokes to win the state championship and has signed with Oklahoma.
“That’s going to be awesome,” Phlegar said. “I didn’t even think about that. That will be a lot fun, just to see people like that.”