The Kansas men’s golf team finished 10th of 16 programs in the Big 12 Championship, which concluded on Thursday afternoon at Southern Hills County Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
KU posted its best overall performance of the event in its final round of action, with a team score of 4-over 284 led by graduate student Gunnar Broin’s 3-under 67, and moved up one spot in the rankings from the previous day.
“We played better today, which was nice to see,” KU coach Jamie Bermel said in a press release on Thursday. “Gunnar played really well today, and Luke (Honner) and Will (King) were steady all 72 holes. Max (Jelinek) came back in the lineup and posted a decent score. Ty (Lasley) didn’t have his best today, but played well the first three rounds.”
However, the Jayhawks had put themselves in a bit of a hole with 15-over, 17-over and 12-over showings in the previous three rounds. Bermel said in a release on Wednesday he felt his team was “a little worn out mentally” and “trying too hard.”
After Broin struggled late in his first day of action, Tuesday, finishing 8-over when he double-bogeyed the final two holes, he ended up 8-over for the entire competition, leading KU in a tie for 17th place individually.
He was followed by juniors King (tied for 34th at a 12-over 292) and Honner (tied for 41st at a 14-over 294).
KU finished with a 48-over score of 1,168 as a team across the four rounds of action. Oklahoma State, which entered the tournament ranked No. 4 nationally, won the league title with its team score of 2-under 1,118. The Cowboys’ Preston Stout shot 3-under to take the individual title as well.
KU entered the event ranked No. 42 and will now await its prospective assignment as an at-large team for NCAA regional competition, which takes place from May 12-14. NBC Sports’ Brentley Romine had projected the Jayhawks, prior to the tournament, as a No. 7 seed out of 13 teams in the Bremerton, Washington, region.
The selection show will take place on Wednesday at 12 p.m. Central Time and will be televised on the Golf Channel.
AP Photo/Gary McCullough
