The Kansas women’s golf team shot one of the best scores of the day on Wednesday, but it wasn’t enough to climb up the leaderboard and advance out of the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Jayhawks failed to shoot their way into the top five teams to advance out of the NCAA Regional tournament on Wednesday at the UGA Golf Course in Athens, Georgia. KU finished eighth in the 12-team field.
KU, though, made a run in the final round. As a team, the Jayhawks shot 4-over par for the day, which was the fourth lowest round of the day among the teams in Athens. It also was KU’s lowest team score of the three-day tournament.
The low score was enough for KU to gain some ground. The Jayhawks finished five strokes out of the coveted fifth-place spot. KU started the day seven strokes out of the fifth spot. At one point in the round, KU got within three strokes of the fifth-place spot.
KU was led by a pair of golfers who shot under par in the final round. Graduate senior Esme Hamilton and sophomore Lauren Clark both carded rounds of 2-under par on Wednesday. Hamilton’s final round concluded a solid tournament. She shot 5-over par for the tournament, and finished 20th in the field of 66 golfers. Clark was just one stroke behind her in the tournament and finished tied for 24th.
KU may have climbed up the leaderboard more, but the Jayhawks got off to a slow start on Wednesday.
“We got off to a shaky start, probably due to nerves and excitement in wanting to play well, but I’m really proud of how we finished,” Kansas head coach Lindsay Kuhle said. “We were 5-under our last 11 holes. We were very resilient and wanted to make KU proud.”
Failing to advance to the second round brought an end to KU’s season. But it was an end that came later than many had predicted heading into the season. KU qualified for an NCAA regional for just the second time in school history. The last time was in 2014. The Jayhawks ended the regular season ranked 51st in the country. That was a big jump from a year ago, when KU ended the season ranked No. 79.
The improvement came in just the second year for Kuhle, who previously was the head golf coach at the University of Denver. Between her time as a college player, head coach at Denver, and as an assistant coach at the powerhouse golf program at the University of Georgia, Kuhle has participated in 16 NCAA regionals.
Kuhle’s team likely will enter next season with growing expectations. Four of the six golfers who competed in the regional tournament are scheduled to return to KU next year. Only two of the six were seniors.
“I’m proud of our seniors and how they competed for KU and how they competed this week,” Kuhle said of Hamilton and super senior Abby Glynn. “This was very motivating for the four other players that were here to come back even stronger next year. We now know what to expect at this level, and we’ll work hard this summer to get back here next year and have another chance.”
In addition to making an NCAA Regional for just the second time, the Kansas team also hit some other milestones during the season. The squad broke both the 54-hole school scoring record and the 18-hole school scoring record in tournaments this season. It also nearly pulled off a major upset, finishing second to eighth-ranked Texas in the Big 12 Match Play Tournament in early April.
The top five teams from the Athens Regional will now compete in the National Championship tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona, May 19-24. Host school Georgia ended up winning the Athens Regional with a team score of 13-under par.
The Big 12 Conference will be well-represented in the championships. Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU and Oklahoma State all advanced out of regional play.
