KU Women’s Golf Set for a Return Trip to Dallas
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas women’s golf team will travel to the DAC/SMU Invitational in Dallas, Texas for the third-straight year April 1-2 at the Dallas Athletic Club Blue Course in Dallas. KU finished fifth in 2014 and eighth in 2015.
“(The Dallas Athletic Club) has 36 holes and we are playing the Blue course instead of the Gold which is where we were last year,” 12th-year KU head coach Erin O’Neil said. “The Blue course requires you to hit accurate tee shots and we will need to play for the center of most greens rather than firing at a lot of pins to avoid putting ourselves in situations that are difficult to recover from around the greens.”
After the DAC/SMU Invitational concludes, two golfers from KU will be competing in the Kansas City Shootout as individuals at the 6,124-yard, par-72 Shoal Creek Golf Club from April 4-5.
Representing Kansas in Dallas will be senior Yupaporn Kawinpakorn, junior Pornvipa Sakdee and freshmen Ariadna Fonseca Diaz, Victoria Chandra and Laine Evans. This particular lineup will make its first appearance for Kansas this year.
Kawinpakorn has averaged 72.7 strokes per round in the spring, maintaining a pace needed to break KU’s season stroke average record, which she set last year at 73.35. Sakdee is coming off of a strong showing at the SDSU March Mayhem at The Farms, where she recorded a team-best 3-1 record in match play. Fonseca Diaz has continued her incredible feat of having all of her rounds count as a freshman. Chandra has asserted her presence in KU’s lineup, competing in her third-consecutive tournament. Her spring play has demonstrated improvement throughout the year, recording nearly a four-stroke improvement over her fall average of 80.5. Evans has traveled to every tournament thus far in the spring.
“We were able to get some good rest in during the week we were home. Most of our time was centered around improving our wedges and putting and of course catching up on school work and sleep,” said O’Neil. “Our goal at SMU is to take what we have learned in the last three events and play to our strengths.”
Kansas will compete against host SMU, Baylor, Central Arkansas, Florida International, Iowa State, Kansas State, New Mexico State, North Texas, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, Tulane, UNLV, UTSA and Washington on the 6,124-yard, par-72 Dallas course. The field features many familiar faces for the Jayhawks, having played against 12 of the 15 opponents already this year.
The first 36 holes of the DAC/SMU Invitational will begin on Friday, April 1, with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. The third and final round will begin on Saturday with an 8 a.m. shotgun start. Live stats can be found at GolfStat.com.
The Kansas City Shootout will feature a field of 87 golfers that includes sophomores Kallie Gonzales and MacKenzie “Kenzie” Sexe, Gonzales and Sexe will be making their first appearances in the spring season. They averaged 80.6 and 79.7 strokes per round in the fall, respectively.
“It will be a great opportunity for Kallie and Kenzie to get some competitive rounds under their belt,” O’Neil said. “They have been working hard and competition is the best way for a player to learn and to gauge if they are working on the correct areas of their game.”
An 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on Monday, April 4 will mark the start of the Kansas City Shootout. The tournament will conclude after an 8:30 shotgun start on Tuesday. Stats can be found live at GolfStat.com.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
###
