Kansas Men's Golf Set to Host Kansas Invitational Monday
Sept. 16, 2011
Kansas Invitational Program 
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas men’s golf will look to build on its success from the Mark Simpson Invitational earlier this week when it hosts the Kansas Invitational at Alvamar Golf Club next Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 19-20.
Junior Chris Gilbert led all Jayhawks with his ninth place finish at the Mark Simpson Invite, KU’s season-opening event hosted by the University of Colorado. Gilbert shot a final round 68 to climb 18 spots on the leaderboard and earn his third career top-10 finish. As a team, Kansas finished eighth out of 15 schools.
“We’re excited,” said Kansas head coach Kit Grove. “Chris (Gilbert), Alex (Gutesha) and Doug (Quinones) have all been here at least one year. For some of them, it will be their third Kansas Invitational. Most of the guys should know what to hit off most of the tees and where the pins are going to be. It’s a golf course where the scores aren’t very low very often. Alvamar’s a very difficult golf course at the end of the day. Even when it’s your home golf course, it can beat you up. We played solid last week. We would have liked to have finished higher than eighth, but if we shoot eight-over par at every tournament this year, we’ll be just fine.”
In addition to Gilbert, senior Doug Quinones and junior Alex Gutesha each had rounds in the 60s at the Mark Simpson Invitational. Quinones tied his career-best with a round of 69 in the final round to tie for 24th place, marking his second-straight top-25 finish and the fourth of his career. Gutesha opened with a round of 69 and ended up placing 41st, along with freshman Dylan McClure, with a three-round score of 222. Junior Paul Harris made his Jayhawk debut at Colorado and placed 75th.
For the first time in Kansas Invitational history, the tournament will not utilize a shotgun start. Rather, groups will begin their rounds on No. 1 and No. 10 with staggered tee times between 8 a.m. and 9:39 a.m., with the groups beginning their second round on Monday four hours and 45 minutes after their round one tee time. Coach Grove said this will be possible because of the smaller field size and the new UnderFour system that encourages golfers to complete their rounds in less than four hours.
“We’re using the UnderFour system as the pace of play structure for the event,” said Grove. “I’m from the school of thought that you can start gathering your data when somebody else is hitting. You can start getting your yardages, or you can be on the other side of your putt gathering data while somebody else is putting. You don’t have to wait until it’s your turn. Just adding a few little things like that, our guys never take four hours to play a round anymore. It makes golf more enjoyable, and the scores really aren’t affected at all.”
Fans can follow the action of the Kansas Invitational by checking www.kuathletics.com for the scores after each round.
Following the Kansas Invitational, KU will travel to Cardinal Intercollegiate, which takes place Sept. 26-27 in Louisville, Ky.
