Jayhawks end day one in Gainesville in 11th place

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Trouble struck the Kansas women’s golf team early on Saturday as they shot a 48-over par 608, which landed them in 11^th place after two rounds at the Suntrust Gator Women’s Invitational.

“We really got off to a rough start in the morning, but played better this afternoon,” head coach Erin O’Neil said.

Junior Pitsinee Winyarat and sophomore Ariadna Fonseca Diaz were the top performers for the Jayhawks, both in a tie for 38^th place, ending day one at 11-over par. Winyarat shot a team-best in the second round, firing a four-over 74.

Chomchana Phuchanbanchob did not have similar success following her top-10 finish in the Westbrook Spring Invitational two weeks ago, as she shot a 13-over, placing her in a tie for 51^st. Phuchanbanchob had two birdies in the first round, but failed to score one in the second.

Freshman Yi-Tsen Chou is tied with teammate Phuchanbanchob tied for 51^st. Chou recorded three birdies in the first two rounds, but ran into trouble on the ninth hole in the first round, where she shot an eight on the par-four hole.

Sophomore Victoria Chandra stands in a tie for 70^th after she shot an 18-over.

Xinyun Yu, who is competing as an individual, shot a 22-over and is in a tie for 74^th.

O’Neil saw some improvements from round one to round two.

“We were able to shave 10 shots in the second round and can hopefully keep the momentum going into the final round,” O’Neil said.

Host school Florida, who is ranked as the No. 6 women’s golf team in the country, is ahead of the field by seven strokes following a collective 5-over performance. Florida is followed by Duke (+12), UCF (+19), Campbell (+29) and Maryland (+30) to round out the top-five.

The Jayhawks will look to climb the leaderboard Sunday as they play the third and final round, beginning with a 9:15 (EST) shotgun start.

Live scoring updates are available at Golfstat.com

KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.