Kansas In Ninth After Two Rounds of Play at Louisiana Classics
March 7, 2011
LAFAYETTE, La. –
Rounds 1 and 2 Results 
After two rounds of play, Kansas’ men’s golf team is in ninth place at the Louisiana Classics with a score of 590, placing the Jayhawks 20 strokes behind leaders LSU and Illinois. Kansas posted a first-round score of 296 and a second-round score of 294 Monday.
Leading the way for the Jayhawks are sophomore Chris Gilbert and senior Nate Barbee. Both are tied for 18th place with a two-round total of 145. Gilbert shot a 75 in the first round and a 70 in the second round while Barbee managed to shoot a 73 and a 72. Senior Jeff Bell was not far behind, posting rounds of 74 and 75 en route to a 149, tying him for 38th. Sophomore Alex Gutesha finished the day tied for 52nd with rounds of 74 and 77 for a total of 151. Sophomore Dan Waite, who is competing in his first tournament of the spring, rounded things out for Kansas with rounds of 80 and 77 for a total of 157, putting him in a tie for 80th.
Head Coach Kit Grove said he was not discouraged with the team’s play on Monday and said his players did some good things.
“I’m not mad with 590, I’m really not,” Grove said. “After last week, we didn’t know quite what to expect. Obviously it was great to see Nate play better, he’s getting close, we did some pretty good work with him this week. He’s still finding his comfort level, but it’s definitely getting better. Chris had an unbelievable finish, he played his last five holes five-under and that really helped out. Jeff was pretty solid and Danny can help us out a little bit tomorrow hopefully. Alex played solid in the morning, but had a little bit of a rough finish, I think he double (bogeyed) the ninth hole, which was the second to last hole in the morning. Then he double (bogeyed) the eighth and ninth holes to finish this afternoon.”
Grove admitted that he expects his team to do better, but takes a little bit of comfort in the fact that they have shown some improvement.
“I don’t want to say I’m pleased with our results, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” he said. “Especially with the way the majority of the guys finished today, we feel good about it.”
Only 12 strokes separate Kansas from fifth-place TexasState, but Grove said it may be too early in the season to predict how much ground his team can make up.
“We’re not getting much help out of all our five,” he said. “Obviously last week we really struggled and today we had some struggles as well. Making up 12 shots is going to be a little bit tough this time of year for us because right now we are just really struggling from a depth standpoint. If we can play a solid round, I would love to shoot a 290 or something low and see if we can’t move up a spot or two.”
The third and final round will take place on Tuesday. LSU and Illinois currently are in a tie for first place with a score of 570. KentState is right on their heels with a 573. John Hahn of KentState leads all individuals with an impressive 136 putting him at eight under par. Chris DeForest of Illinois is two strokes behind him with a 138. Results for the tournament can be found at golfstat.com and recaps on Kansas’ outing can be found at kuathletics.com
Team Leaders
T1. LSU- 283-287–570
T1. Illinois- 288-282–570
3. Kent State- 295-278–573
4. Louisiana-Lafayette-290-287–577
9. KANSAS- 296-294–590
Individual Leaders
1. John Hahn (KentState)- 70-66–136
2. Chris DeForest (Illinois)- 68-70–138
T3. Andrew Loupe (LSU)- 70-70–140
T3. Carlson Cox (Memphis)- 72-68–140
Kansas Individuals
T18. Chris Gilbert- 75-70–145
T18. Nate Barbee- 73-72–145
T38. Jeff Bell- 74-75–149
T52. Alex Gutesha- 74-77–151
T80. Dan Waite- 80-77–157
