Kansas finishes Top-Five at Lady Paladin Invitational

GREENVILLE, S.C. – On its final day of action at the Lady Paladin Invitational, Kansas moved up three spots to finish in a tie for fifth place with North Florida at the Lady Paladin Invitational. Collectively, the team shot 289 and carded 18 birdies on the day to shoot their best round of the weekend for a three-day total of 881 and 17-over-par.

The Jayhawks shot their lowest round score since last year’s Westbrook Spring Invitational where the team shot a 288 in consecutive rounds.

During the three days of golf, different players stepped up for Kansas, but sophomore Sera Tadokoro was the difference on the final day of play. She used five birdies on the day to shoot the second-lowest round of her career with an impressive score of 70. She shot 2-under on the day and finished the tournament even par. Tadokoro was the most consistent of the weekend for the Jayhawks and recorded eight birdies for the tournament to tie her best-career finish for an eighth-place tie.

“Sera had a solid showing for us this week shooting under par in two of the three rounds,” head coach Erin O’Neil said. “She has grown a lot since her freshmen year and we are very excited about what the future holds for her.”

Freshman Phisitkhwan “Pear” Pooratanaopa made strides this weekend to improve her game and finished as the second-leading scorer for KU. She had a solid final day as she shot 1-over par and finished 2-over for the tournament to secure a tie for 12^th place. Pooratanaopa and Tadokoro both shot 70 at the tournament, which led the team in low-round score.

 Senior Ariadna Fonseca Diaz shot her best round of the tournament on the final day of play, shooting even par on the front nine thanks to two birdies. She followed on the back nine with a 1-under performance on the day. Her score of 71 was the second-best score for the Jayhawks on the day, and she finished in a tie for 35^th place to improve six strokes from round 2.

Junior Yi-Tsen Chou had a great first round of the tournament, but couldn’t maintain a consistent score as she carded five bogeys on the front nine and recorded a double bogey on No.14 in round 3. Despite three birdies, she finished 6-over on the day and 11-over on the tournament. Freshman Lauren Heinlein improved four strokes from Saturday’s second-round action and played her best round of the weekend (3-over). Heinlein concluded the tournament tied for 77th place.

Rounding out the lineup for the Jayhawks were individuals Chomchana “Cake” Phuchanbanchob and Abby Glynn. Even though Phuchanbanchob’s score didn’t count to the overall team score, she shot 1-under on the day and finished 2-over to tie for 20^th place. Glynn saw her first collegiate action this weekend but couldn’t bounce back from round one as she finished 23-over.

“We are very encouraged by the progress we made at this event,” O’Neil said. “It was great to see us improve each round, especially finishing the final round at +1.  We still left some shots out there, mostly on the greens so we will definitely work on that the next 10 days before heading to Denver.”

Up Next
The Jayhawks travel to Highlands Ranch, Colorado for the Ron Moore Intercollegiate at Highlands Ranch Golf Course. The tournament is hosted by the University of Denver and runs Oct. 5-7.

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