🏌️ Jayhawks Open Spring Season in California
Tournament: The Prestige
Course: Greg Norman Course at PGA West
Par/Yards: 71/7,100
Participating Teams: No. 4 Pepperdine, No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 10 Stanford, No. 14 Kansas, No. 19 Vanderbilt, No. 25 LSU, Cal Poly, Colorado State, Denver, Iowa State, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, North Texas, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, Princeton, San Diego State, San Francisco, Santa Clara, SMU, TCU and UCLA
Live Stats: Golfstat
LA QUINTA, Calif. – Following a fall season filled with unprecedented success, the Kansas Men’s Golf Team will open its spring season Monday at The Prestige at the Greg Norman Course at PGA West.
The Jayhawks, ranked No. 14 in the first Bushell/Golfweek Coaches Poll of the spring season, are part of a loaded 24-team field that features six teams in the Top 25, including No. 4 Pepperdine, No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 10 Stanford, No. 19 Vanderbilt and No. 25 LSU joining 14th-ranked Kansas.
On top of the six ranked teams, the field also consists of UC-Davis, Cal Poly, Iowa State, Colorado State, Denver, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, North Texas, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, Princeton, San Diego State, San Francisco, Santa Clara, SMU, TCU and UCLA.
Kansas, coming off of four tournament wins in the fall, will go with a lineup of Luke Kluver, Harry Hillier, Callum Bruce, Davis Cooper and Zach Sokolosky. The Jayhawks will be paired with Long Beach State and Colorado State in the first round. Sokolosky will be the first Jayhawk to tee off at 8:45 a.m., CT.
“It’s a big event this week in Palm Desert,” Coach Jamie Bermel said. “There are a lot of good teams on a pretty good golf course. We need to be ready to play starting on the first hole. Zach is a fourth-year guy who played quite a bit last year. He played well in qualifying, and is going to get a start this week.”
Kluver led the Jayhawks in the fall with a scoring average of 69.00 over 15 rounds. He won the Gopher Invitational and also logged three Top-10 finishes (Marquette Intercollegiate, Windon Memorial, Ka’anapali Classic). He was under par in 13 of his 15 rounds and even par or better in all 15.
Hillier had two Top-five finishes and a Top 10 in the fall to go with his scoring average of 69.73, which was third-best on the team. He finished tied for second at the Quail Valley Collegiate and tied for fifth at the Ka’anapali Classic, which were the final two events of the fall season. The Prestige will mark Hillier’s 36th stroke play event with the Jayhawks in his career.
Bruce was second in scoring average for the Jayhawks in the fall at 69.40. He had three Top-fives and a Top 10 in his first season at Kansas. The Banff, Scotland native didn’t finish worse than seventh place over the final four stroke play events for the Jayhawks in the fall. He finished tied for fourth at the Gopher Invitational, tied for seventh at the Windon Memorial, tied for second at the Quail Valley Collegiate and finished fourth at the Ka’anapali Classic.
Cooper, who claimed his first tournament title in his career at the Windon Memorial, had a scoring average of 70.13. He was under par in 10 of his 15 rounds on the season. On top of his win at the Windon, Cooper finished out the season by finishing tied for fifth at the Ka’anapali Classic. He also logged a Top-20 at the Quail Valley Collegiate, finishing tied for 19th.
Sokolosky will be making his first appearance in the team lineup this season. He competed at the Minnesota Golf Classic in the fall as an individual and finished second at 11-under par. He had rounds of 67, 68 and 70 in that tournament. Last year, he played in 18 rounds for the Jayhawks and placed in the Top-20 twice.
The Greg Norman Course at PGA West will play at 7,100 yards and is a Par 71. The teams will play 18 holes a day Monday through Wednesday. Live stats for the tournament are available through Golfstat.
