Tulsa, Okla. ? The Kansas University women’s golf team’s saved its best round for last but was unable to climb out of 24th place as the NCAA Championship concluded Friday at Tulsa Country Club.
The Jayhawks’ 12-over 292 was their lowest round of the championship and brought their tournament-worst four-day total to 81-over 1,201. Duke won its sixth NCAA women’s golf title with a total of 10-over 1,130.
“We made some birdies (today),” KU coach Erin O’Neil said. “Birdies offset the bogeys or a double (bogey) if we had that. We definitely put ourselves in a better position to shoot lower.
“It has been a great learning experience,” O’Neil added of KU’s first appearance at nationals since 1990. “It was a wonderful opportunity. We got to play against some of the best players in the country on a great golf course. I know we learned a lot and we’ll take what we learned and put it to work next year. Hopefully we will make it a normal thing for us and not such a novelty.”
Sophomore Yupaporn “Mook” Kawinpakorn placed highest among the five Jayhawks at the competition, carding a KU tournament-best 70 to finish in a tie for 89th place with a total of 18-over 299. Two other KU golfers also finished with their best rounds of the championship — freshman Pornvipa “Faii” Sakdee (T122nd, 312) shot a 72 highlighted by two birdies, and senior Thanuttra “Fhong” Boonraksasat (T90th, 300) carded a 73. Junior Minami Levonowich (T-98th, 302) finished with a 77 and senior Meghan Potee (126th, 326) had an 85.
Southern California’s Doris Chen shot a final-round 67 to finish at 6-under 274 and claim the individual championship.
“It was an honor to be here,” Kawinpakorn said. “It was a great experience to be here with our team. I’ve learned a lot the past few days. We need to work on the things that went wrong and didn’t go well. We need to remember that and fix it and be strong.”
Prior to the NCAAs, the Jayhawks earned top-10 finishes in each of their tournaments this season. Kansas won two events — the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational in September and the Palmetto Intercollegiate in October — and finished top-5 in eight others. KU tied for fourth at the Big 12 Championship and qualified for the NCAA Championship by tying for fifth at the 24-team NCAA Central Regional.
“I can’t even describe the feeling,” Boonraksasat, a fifth-year senior, said of concluding her KU career. “I’m so proud of the team and so proud of what we accomplished throughout the year. We’ve been working hard for the past five years when I got here (to Kansas) and now we are here. I can’t even explain it.”
