Cold and snow have made this the quietest golf winter in decades, a cause for concern for the Kansas University men’s golf team that competes against so many schools whose players are able to practice year-round.
Cancel that concern.
Kansas defeated Lamar University, the nation’s third-ranked team, Tuesday by a stroke at the three-round All-American Classic at the Tradition Golf Club in Houston, and senior Gary Woodland won the individual championship by four strokes. Classmate Tyler Docking finished second with a 215.
Big 12 schools Colorado (sixth) and Iowa State (tied for seventh) also competed in the tournament.
A terrific finish by seniors enabled Kansas to edge tournament favorite Lamar with a score of 872 to Lamar’s 873. Docking eagled his last hole, and Woodland finished with a birdie.
Woodland, from Topeka, is one of 22 golfers on the watch list for the Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the best collegiate golfer.
“Of course, Gary played great and Tyler played very well also,” Kansas coach Ross Randall said by phone from Houston as he was returning his rental car. “The other guys came through, too. Everybody had at least one good round, and that really helped us.”
Freshman Patrick Roth finished placed 27th, and redshirt junior Walt Koelbel finished tied 41st on the strength of a final-round 71. Junior Joey Mundy tied for 51st, and redshirt sophomore David Cosel, competing as an individual, finished tied for 57th.
“This is a nice win, a significant win for us,” Randall said. “And this time of year, having been outside three days, we feel pretty lucky.”
The only luck the Jayhawks were feeling last spring during the Big 12 tournament was bad luck. Most of the team was sapped by food poisoning.
Momentum began to shift toward the positive during a fall season in which Kansas won the Jayhawk Invitational, where Woodland won the individual title. Woodand and the Jayhawks earned second-place finishes at the prestigious Windon Memorial Classic in suburban Chicago. Randall also landed a pair of recruits for next year, Nate Barbee from Dakota Dunes, S.D., and Blake Groux of Omaha, Neb., both state champions in high school.
“They’re going to be really good players,” Randall said.
They’ll be replacing Woodland and Docking, the two best players in the 54-hole All-American Classic.
