🏌️‍♂️ Jayhawks in 11th After Round One of NCAA Rancho Santa Fe Regional

RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. – The Kansas men’s golf team posted an opening round score of 297 (+17) at The Farms Golf Club on Monday and sit in 11th place in the 14-team NCAA Rancho Santa Fe Regional.

North Florida leads the pack at -3, followed by Oklahoma State (-2), California (E), Oklahoma (+4), San Diego (+5) and West Virginia (+5) rounding out the top five of the standings. With 36 holes left to play, the top five teams will advance to the NCAA Championship in La Costa, California, May 24-29. Kansas is 12 shots back of fifth place. The low individual on a non-advancing team will also advance to the championship.

“We struggled to get a few good scores and we’re behind the 8 ball but we still have two more days of golf,” said head coach Jamie Bermel after the opening round. “When your best players aren’t your best for the day, we struggle.”

Kansas was led for the day by freshman Max Jelinek, who fired off a one-over round of 71 in his NCAA Tournament debut. Jelinek opened his round with birdies on two of the first three holes. After tallying three birdies on the day, Jelinek sits in a tie for 13th place.

“I’m really happy for Max,” Bermel added. “He was even par going into the last hole and we couldn’t have asked more than that from a freshman, so that is the bright spot of today.”

Senior Davis Cooper posted a 74 (+4) and sits T42 after bouncing back in his round with a one-over 36 on the back nine.

Senior Cecil Belisle notched two birdies on his way to a round of 75 (+5) and is T48.

Sophomore Will King and senior Gunnar Broin both share a tie for 63rd after posting rounds of 77 (+7). After a seven-over front nine, King answered back with an even-par nine holes on the back side.

“We need to get off to a good start tomorrow and eliminate the silly mistakes,” said Bermel. “This is a hard golf course. We got some work to do and will hopefully post a good number tomorrow.”

CURRENT STANDINGS
T13. Jelinek, +1
T43. Cooper, +4
T48. Belisle, +5
T63. Broin, +7
T63. King, +7

UP NEXT
The 11-seed Jayhawks will tee it up for the second round on Tuesday, May 14 at 11:25 a.m. CT and will be grouped with Chattanooga and Wright State. Live scoring for the round will be available through Golfstat. Fans can also keep up with live updates throughout the tournament from the official Kansas Men’s Golf Twitter (X) account.