Hutchinson ? Several schools have closed the gap on three-time Big 12 Conference champion Oklahoma State.
Kansas University isn’t one of them.
The Jayhawks led the Big 12 men’s golf championship by three strokes after the morning’s first round Monday at Prairie Dunes Country Club. But a disastrous afternoon round left KU in seventh place, 22 strokes behind first-place Baylor.
No. 34-ranked Kansas will try to catch up during the final 18 holes today.
“I haven’t had a team play this poorly,” said KU coach Ross Randall, whose team won the league tournament two years ago and was runner-up to OSU last year. “I’m disappointed. They’re disappointed. I think we’re too far out of it team-wise, but I hope we can pass some teams and finish as best as we can.”
On a sunny, cool day, challenging pin placements and winds gusting up to 30 mph combined to make play difficult on the prestigious private course.
“It’s the hardest course I’ve ever played,” said sophomore Chris Marshall, who posted KU’s best two-round score at 15-over-par 155 to tie for 12th place, 11 strokes off the lead. “They set it up extremely hard.”
In the opening round, when the wind was at its worst, the field’s average score was 80.7.
KU’s Andy Stewart and Baylor’s Worth Williams both carded 2-over par 72s for the first 18 holes and stood atop the leaderboard.
Stewart had four birdies on the front nine before he bogeyed Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 14 after the turn. That same stretch haunted the senior when Kansas started the second round on the 10th tee. Stewart, who was 15th here last year, bogeyed Nos. 10, 12 and 13 the second time around.
“I hit three bad holes this afternoon,” he said. “I just couldn’t get it back. I made some bad swings.”
Then things got ugly.
Stewart’s drive on No. 14 sailed out of bounds, and his provisional ball landed in a bunker. He posted a snowman on the par-4 hole.
“We lost four balls on the 14th,” Randall said. “That’s a hole you use a 4-iron and a wedge on. You don’t need a driver. We made bad decisions.”
While the Jayhawks were hitting their drivers in the wind, Williams was proving his worth.
“I was playing with Andy, and he was struggling,” said Williams, who kept his driver in his bag most of the day and opted for a 3-wood instead. “It was tough out there. When I saw him struggling, I knew I might be in the lead.
“I played smarter, knowing what was happening out there. The wind was taking the ball. With 30-mph winds, you have to have a game plan. You can’t just go out and play.”
Williams, who tied for 50th last year, matched his morning round with another 72 for a 144 total and a five-stroke lead over Oklahoma State’s Par Nilsson.
The BU senior had six birdies and eight bogeys in his afternoon round. He started by nailing an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 10 and chipped in from behind the green for another birdie on No. 12.
Teammate Jimmy Walker was tied for third at 151 as the unranked Bears picked sixth last week in a poll of the league’s coaches finished the day with a three-stroke lead over No. 5 Texas at 606.
The Longhorns came in as the favorites, but were seven strokes back after the morning round at 314.
UT recovered in the afternoon with a 295 for a total of 609. Jason Hartwick (80-71151) and Matt Dobyns (82-76158) both showed major improvements during the second 18 holes, but the biggest jump came from John Klauk. The junior carded an 87 in the morning before coming back to shoot 70 the only par round of the day in the afternoon.
“The key was we got off to a better start in the afternoon,” UT coach John Fields said. “We maintained it. It was very difficult this morning. We felt a lot of pressure, and we didn’t play well.”
No. 49 Colorado (614) and No. 16 Oklahoma (616) were also in the hunt, while No. 11 Oklahoma State was 14 strokes back at 620. Texas A&M (625) was sixth, followed by Kansas (628).
KU senior Conrad Roberts was at 158 and tied for 25th after 36 holes. Juniors Travis Hurst and Casey Harbour were tied for 41st at 163.
The Jayhawks will tee off at 8 a.m. in today’s final round.
“We have to come back tomorrow and play like it never happened,” said Stewart, who’s tied for 21st. “Unfortunately, it did.”
Team scoring: Baylor 310-296-606, Texas 314-295-609, Colorado 316-298-614, Oklahoma 311-305-616, Oklahoma State 311-309-620, Texas A&M 311-314-625, Kansas 307-321-628, Kansas State 328-307-635, Missouri 320-324-644, Iowa State 323-325-648, Nebraska 327-322-649, Texas Tech 338-313-651.
Individual scores
Worth Williams, Baylor 72-72-144
Par Nilsson, Oklahoma State 75-74-149
Jimmy Walker, Baylor 80-71-151
Jason Hartwick, Texas 80-71-151
Kane Webber, Colorado 80-73-153
John Kidwell, Oklahoma 76-77-153
Kelsey Cline, Oklahoma 77-76-153
Matt Call, Colorado 76-78-154
J.J. Wall, Texas 76-78-154
Stephen Reed, Texas A&M 75-79-154
Martin Flores, Oklahoma 80-74-154
Brandon Sanders, Baylor 78-77-155
Ben Portie, Colorado 83-72-155
Matthew Zions, Colorado 80-75-155
Chris Marshall, Kansas 77-78-155
Mark McBride, Missouri 79-76-155
Jon Antunes, Baylor 80-76-156
A.J. Elgert, Kansas State 82-74-156
Cody Freeman, Oklahoma 78-78-156
J.C. DeLeon, Oklahoma State 77-79-156
Andy Stewart, Kansas 72-85-157
John Klauk, Texas 87-70-157
Mark Hull, Texas Tech 80-77-157
David Bolen, Texas Tech 82-75-157
Matt Gatchel, Iowa State 80-78-158
Conrad Roberts, Kansas 83-75-158
Matt Dobyns, Texas 82-76-158
Matt Brost, Texas 76-82-158
Dwayne Morley, Texas A&M 80-78-158
Duke Butler, Texas A&M 84-75-159
Kevin Oswald, Iowa State 75-85-160
Bryan Milberger, Kansas State 77-83-160
Casey Cronin, Texas A&M 78-82-160
Joe Liley, Colorado 80-81-161
Matt Williams, Kansas State 88-73-161
Blake Humbles, Nebraska 80-81-161
Jim Troy, Nebraska 84-77-161
Anders Hultman, Oklahoma State 81-80-161
Peter Davidson, Oklahoma State 78-83-161
Boyd Summerhays, Oklahoma State 86-76-162
Casey Harbour, Kansas 78-85-163
Travis Hurst, Kansas 80-83-163
Bryan Schweizer, Kansas State 81-82-163
Chris Happ, Missouri 85-78-163
Seth Porter, Nebraska 82-81-163
Matt Lindholm, Texas A&M 78-85-163
Adam Meyer, Baylor 86-78-164
Michael Radek, Missouri 76-88-164
Rob Arthur, Nebraska 81-83-164
Brandon Knaub, Missouri 83-82-165
Jamie Faidley, Iowa State 87-79-166
Aaron Watkins, Kansas State 88-78-166
Kyle Willmann, Texas Tech 89-79-168
Matt Cohn, Oklahoma 81-87-168
Josh Clay, Iowa State 81-88-169
Phil Slovitt, Iowa State 87-83-170
Brad Jacobson, Texas Tech 88-82-170
Tom Vogt, Missouri 82-89-171
Trey Pyka, Texas Tech 88-85-173
Mike Vanier, Nebraska 85-90-175
