⛳ Kansas Women’s Golf travels to Arizona to Kick Off Spring Season
LAWRENCE, Kan. – In one of the strongest fields for a non-NCAA Tournament, Kansas women’s golf will open the 2022 spring season hosting the Rapsodo Match in the Desert at the Lost Gold Golf Course in Gold Canyon, Arizona from Sunday, January 23 to Monday, January 24.
The Lost Gold Golf Couse measures 6,498 yards with a par of 72. The seven-team tournament field will be scored as a two-day stroke event totaling 36 holes.
Five of the seven teams in the field rank in the top 25 in the country, according to the latest Golfstat rankings released after the 2021 fall season. Those include No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 14 Arizona, No. 15 UCLA, No. 20 Arizona State and No. 24 Ole Miss. Kansas will serve as the host and will be paired with Oklahoma State and Arizona for Sunday’s first round.
“This is a great test for our team to compete against five teams in the top 25, four of which have won a national championship in just over a decade,” Kansas head coach Lindsey Kuhle said. “Our goal in building this program into a national contender is to consistently play against the best teams every tournament and we’re doing just that this tournament.”
Ole Miss is the defending NCAA Champion and Oklahoma State was the 2021 runner-up to the Rebels. Arizona in 2018 and Arizona State in 2017 each claimed recent national title as did UCLA in 2011.
“We’re just excited to test our games and compete against the best teams in college golf,” Kuhle said. “We couldn’t ask for a better field, host course and weather.”
Super-senior Sera Tadokoro, seniors Lauren Heinlein, Pear Pooratanaopa, Abby Glynn and freshman Caroline Wales will represent Kansas in Arizona. Additionally, KU sophomore Hanna Hawks will be playing as an individual.
Tadokoro posted one top-five finish and led KU in the fall with a 72.8 per round scoring average. Heinlein was next at 73.6 and she recorded two top-10 placings. Pooratanaopa (73.7) also finished in the top 10 twice last fall. As a team, Kansas finished 10th or better in all four fall tournaments.
Live stats for the Rapsodo Match in the Desert can be found via Golfstat here.
