Kansas had hoped for a first-place finish at the Big 12 men’s golf championships.
The Jayhawks instead finished in the second division.
“We were all disappointed,” KU coach Ross Randall said of the Jayhawks’ seventh-place league performance last month at Hutchinson’s Prairie Dunes. “But like I told the guys, the great thing is we have another chance. I told them, ‘As long as you get to nationals, you are forgiven for this one.’
“We have had so many good things happen to us, we do not want the season to end on a bad note.”
The Jayhawks, who have won three tournaments this school year, have a chance at redemption at the 27-team NCAA Central golf regional today through Saturday at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla. the top 10 teams in the 54-hole tournament advance to the NCAA championships, May 30-June 2 in Durham, N.C.
“Our No. 1 goal is to get back to nationals. If we make it, that’s three years in a row,” Randall said. “That’s a pretty big feat. We’ve never done that. We’ve done it two years in a row several times, but never three.”
Randall likes KU’s chances, partly because of the difficult Karsten Creek layout.
“We play tough courses well,” Randall said. “If you shoot even par at Karsten Creek you can be contending. I’d rather have that than go to a course where you shoot 12-under to make it.
“I know we’re good enough to breeze through this thing. We had a hard time at the Big 12, but I know this team can do really well. We need to come together and play our best of the year.”
The Jayhawks, who have reached nationals six of the past 10 years, are led by Travis Hurst, who has won a pair of tourneys this year and has a team-leading 73.26 stroke average.
“With a good tournament, he’s definitely an All-America candidate,” Randall said of Hurst, a junior from Erie.
Andy Stewart, Casey Harbour, Conrad Roberts and Chris Marshall complete KU’s lineup.
Central Regional Participants: Big 12 champ Baylor plus, KU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Colorado, Wichita State, Northwestern, TCU, Minnesota, Houston, Kent State, Southern Methodist, Purdue, Tulsa, Ohio State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Augusta State, College of Charleston, North Florida, North Carolina, Toledo, Louisiana-Lafayette, Arkansas State, Lamar and Jackson State.
Fifteen of the 27 teams are ranked in the top 50 of the current MasterCard collegiate rankings. Texas is the highest ranked Big 12 team at fifth. Kansas is ranked 34th.