photo by: Kansas Athletics
Kansas women’s golf coach Lindsay Kuhle
The Kansas women’s golf team earned its first victory of the season on Tuesday by winning the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational at Lawrence Country Club for the third consecutive year.
The Jayhawks jumped out to a huge lead by shooting 8-under in the opening round on Monday as no opponent did better than 10-over, and they maintained a similar margin over the course of the rest of the event, ultimately finishing at 6-over with a 23-stroke lead over second-place Delaware.
The Blue Hens did take home the individual title, with Rhianna Gooneratne at 2-under for the tournament, beating out KU junior Ebba Nordstedt, the reigning champion, by two strokes. But Nordstedt was one of four Jayhawks in the top six spots. Sophomore Kinslea Jones had led after two rounds and finished in a tie for third at 1-over. Fifth-year golfer Anna Wallin came in fifth at 4-over, and freshman Hannah Hall was sixth at 5-over.
The final member of the Jayhawks’ A team was senior Lyla Louderbaugh, who tied for 16th at 13-over. KU did manage to slip a member of its B team into the top 10, as freshman Elizabeth Wilson tied for 10th by shooting 11-over.
The KU B team was 64-over as a group and came in eighth, with Wilson followed by senior Zoe Pinillos (tied for 24th, 15-over), sophomore Marieke Ebens (tied for 39th, 19-over), freshman Lavanya Gupta (45th, 21-over) and sophomore Amanada Gyllner (50th, 24-over).
Behind Kansas A and Delaware were on the team leaderboard were, in order, Cal, UC Davis, Longwood, St. Thomas, Central Arkansas, Kansas B, New Mexico, San Francisco, Middle Tennessee, Creighton, Omaha and Northern Iowa.
The Jayhawks, who had finished fifth and eighth in their first two events of the season, will be in action next beginning on Oct. 16 at the Play for Her Stanford Invitational in Stanford, California.
Source: www2.ljworld.com
