LAWRENCE, Kan. – For the second time in school history and first since 2014, the Kansas women’s golf team will compete in an NCAA Regional, May 8-10, at the UGA Golf Course in Athens, Georgia.
Kansas is the No. 9 seed in the 12-team Athens Regional that will consist of three rounds, 18 holes each day. There are six NCAA Regionals with 12 teams in each. The top five teams from the regional will qualify for the NCAA Championship, May 19-24, at the Grayhawk Golf Club, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Additionally, the low individual not from a top-five finishing team from each regional will also advance to the NCAA Championship.
“Another top-five finish is what we are going for,” said Kansas head coach Lindsay Kuhle whose Jayhawks have four top-five finishes in 2022-23. “We have played really well this spring and have a lot of great momentum and confidence. It’s there. We just need all five players playing well at the same time. I always believe if we have five players playing well and only count four scores, our team score will be pretty good.”
The Athens Regional consists of 1. South Carolina; 2. San Jose State; 3. Ole Miss; 4. Ohio State; 5. Georgia; 6. Maryland; 7. Kent State; 8. Charleston; 9. KANSAS; 10. Furman; 11. Augusta; and 12. Sacred Heart. Kansas will be playing with Kent State and Charleston on May 8 beginning at 7:58 a.m. CT on hole No. 1. The UGA Golf Course measures 6,347 yards with a par of 72.
In 2022-23, Kansas has faced four teams in the Athens Regional with a 2-4 record – 1-0 vs. Charleston, 1-1 vs. Kent State, 0-1 vs. Ole Miss and 0-2 vs. Ohio State.
KU will travel six for the NCAA Regional, with the lineup consisting of graduate transfer Esme Hamilton, super-senior Abby Glynn, and sophomores Jordan Rothman, Johanna Ebner, and Lauren Clark. Freshmen Anna Wallin will be KU’s alternate.
At the 2023 Big 12 Championship, Hamilton was named to the Big 12 Championship All-Tournament team after she tied for ninth. Hamilton has two top-10 finishes in 2022-23 and a 74.55 per round scoring average for the year. Ebner leads KU with a 73.59 per round average and has placed in the top-five in two tournaments, with four top-20 finishes. Rothman is just behind Ebner with a 73.60 per round average. Rothman has four top-20 finishes this year, including a tie for third at the PING/ASU Invitational, March 24-26. Clark (74.32) has six rounds of par or better, with all six in the spring portion of the season. Glynn has competed in all but one tournament in 2022-23 and the NCAA Regional will be her 31st tournament in her KU career. Wallin has played in two events this season and was also the alternate at the Big 12 Championship.
The only other time Kansas was selected as an at-large team for an NCAA Regional was in 2014. That team placed fifth at the NCAA Regional in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and advanced to the NCAA Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Prior to NCAA Regional play, KU was an NCAA Championship at-large selection after it won the 1990 Big Eight Conference Tournament. Additionally, Kansas has had individuals compete in NCAA Regionals in 1993 (Holly Reynolds), 1994 (Holly Reynolds), 2006 (Amanda Costner), 2008 (Emily Powers), 2015 (Yupaporn Kawinpakorn) and 2016 (Pornvipa Sakdee and Yupaporn Kawinpakorn). Kawinpakorn and Sakdee were part of the 2014 team along with Thanuttra Boonraksasat, Minami Levonowich and Meghan Potee.
In her second season at Kansas, head coach Lindsay Kuhle has the Jayhawks an NCAA Regional for the second time in school history and the first time in nine years. This is Kuhle’s 20th NCAA Regional, with 16 as a coach or assistant coach and four as a student-athlete at Tulane (2002-05). As head coach at Denver, Kuhle’s teams advanced to eight NCAA Regionals, including seven consecutive from 2013-2019.
Live scoring for the 2023 NCAA Athens Regional will be via Goltstat.com and can be found here.
Kansas Notables
- Kansas has nine top-10 finishes in 2022-23, four of those in the top five.
- In 2022-23, Kansas has played against four teams in the Athens Regional with a 2-4 record – 1-0 vs. Charleston, 1-1 vs. Kent State, 0-1 vs. Ole Miss and 0-2 vs. Ohio State.
- Collectively, individuals have posted 36 rounds of par or below par this season.
- Kansas broke the 54-hole school record with an 852 (-12) at the UCF Challenge (Feb. 5-7).
- Kansas broke the school record for 18 holes with a 279 (-9) in its final round at the Westbrook Invitational (Feb. 27). The previous record was 280 (-8) set at the same event in 2017.
- Kansas hosted the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational for the first time since 2014. KU finished fourth and the 2022 field included current No. 26 Arizona and No. 42 Kent State.
- Kansas finished second to then-No. 8 Texas in the first-ever Big 12 Match Play Tournament, April 7-9. Scoring 17.0 points in pool play, the Jayhawks were the No. 1 seed entering the semifinals.
- Kansas is currently No. 51 in the Golfstat rankings. KU ended the 2021-22 year ranked No. 98, an improvement of 47 spots from last year to 2022-23.
