Kansas University’s men’s golf team has won two of four tournaments second semester.
That classifies as a minor miracle since the Jayhawks have played a grand total of two practice rounds all winter in inclement Lawrence.
“Actually we’ve tried to play on memory,” KU golf coach Ross Randall quipped Wednesday after returning from Stevinson, Calif., where the Jayhawks won the 10-team Stevinson Invitational.
“We’re setting records for not practicing, going to a tournament, coming back, not practicing and going to another tournament. This figures to catch up with us. The weather is either going to get better or we’ll really get bad for lack of practice.”
Travis Hurst, KU’s junior college sensation out of Butler County CC, is off to a fast start, ranking as the No. 2 player in the region.
He placed first of 213 golfers at Stevinson Ranch, shooting rounds of 72, 70 and 71 for a 3-under-par total of 213.
Hurst, a junior from Erie, also won the Purina Classic in November in St. Charles, Mo. He’s also had a third-place finish at the Nelson-Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif., and tied teammate Andy Stewart for fourth at the Cleveland Golf Championship in Aiken, S.C.
“This is maybe one of the first times I’ve seen one player carry the whole team. Travis did,” Randall said of Hurst’s effort at Stevinson Ranch. “The golf course really played hard and he played great. Everybody else was up and down, in and out. He won the tournament with his play.”
KU’s Chris Marshall tied for seventh, while Conrad Roberts and Casey Harbour tied for 24th, Stewart 28th and Tyler Hall 61st.
Hurst, who has a team-leading 72.32 stroke average, was a first-team juco All-American at Butler CC after winning state twice and placing second twice at Erie High School.
“I knew he was good,” Randall said. “He lost to one of my former players two summers ago in the finals of the state amateur. As soon as Sean Thayer got done winning the Amateur, he called me on the phone and said, ‘You’ve got to recruit this guy. He’s really good.’
“We were lucky to get him. He’s quiet, really appreciates the program and all we have to offer. He has really come through and has made everybody else kind of open their eyes. It’s not often somebody just comes in and becomes the best player you have right away. He hopefully will spur the other guys, too.”
Randall has high hopes for the Jayhawks, who won the Big 12 title in 1999 and placed second last year, earning NCAA berths both seasons.
“I know this can be a good team. This is as deep a team as we’ve ever had, but they haven’t had a chance to work on their game at all,” Randall said. “I hope when we finally get a chance to get going, we’ll be pretty good. We’ve got our own goal for conference. We think we can be really competitive.
“We will be going to (NCAA) regionals. We know that. Our aim is to get to the (NCAA) finals again.”
KU will compete at the 55th annual Western Intercollegiate Monday and Tuesday in Santa Cruz, Calif. The Jayhawks placed second at the prestigious tourney a year ago.
Seven of the 18 teams competing are ranked in the top 50 of the current Golfstat rankings. KU is the highest-ranked team at 34th.
