⛳️ Jayhawks Finish Eighth at Veritex Bank Texas Showdown
DALLAS – The Kansas women’s golf team wrapped up its regular season campaign on Tuesday with an eighth-place finish at the Veritex Bank Texas Showdown at the Dallas Athletic Club.
The second day of competition was formatted with two rounds of match play, the semifinal in the morning and final in the afternoon. Kansas, who finished fifth in the stroke play portion at +1, dropped the fifth-place match against Texas State 2-3 Tuesday morning and fell to UNLV 1-1-3 in the afternoon match to finish eighth.
“Today was a really good learning lesson for our program,” said Kansas head coach Lindsay Kuhle. “There is no bigger feeling of pressure outside of winning a tournament than there is winning a match for your team and we experienced that today. We learned a lot about what is in our control and staying in the present today during our matches. It’s really easy to get ahead of yourself and not play your own game in match play, and I think we experienced that the first 1.5 matches today.”
MORNING MATCH
Juniors Lauren Clark, Jordan Rothman and freshman Lyla Louderbaugh all won their matches in the morning session, although Louderbaugh’s score did not count as she competed as the individual.
Clark defeated Texas State’s Gabasa 4&3 and held her lead for the entire match. Rothman also defeated her opponent 4&3 and never trailed. Louderbaugh won her match after a back-and-forth battle that went all the way to the 18th hole, as the freshman won the final hole of the match.
Senior Hanna Hawks dropped her match 3&2, while sophomore Amy DeKock and junior Lily Hirst fell 2&1 in their matches.
AFTERNOON MATCH
In the afternoon session, Kansas fell to UNLV 1-1-3 in the seventh-place match. Kansas’ lone win came from Hirst, who finished 1 UP after maintaining her lead for the final nine holes.
Hawks managed to tie her match and after trailing for the opening nine holes, Hawks battled through adversity to win the final hole of her match.
After being three down through eight holes, DeKock won three of her next four holes to bring the match to a tie. Despite the comeback, DeKock fell to UNLV’s Yokoyama by one hole.
Rothman dropped her match 3&2, while Clark fell in hers 5&3.
MATCH PLAY RECORD
Rothman (1-1)
Clark (1-1)
Hirst (1-1)
DeKock (0-2)
Hawks (0-1-1)
Louderbaugh (1-0)
“Looking forward to coming back down to Houston next week for conference and taking these experiences and strong competitions with us to play confident golf,” Kuhle added.
UP NEXT
Kansas will open postseason play at the 2024 Big 12 Championship, hosted at Houston Oaks Country Club in Hockley, Texas April 18-20. The Jayhawks finished eighth at last year’s conference championship and were led by a ninth-place finish from former KU golfer Esme Hamilton (+2), who was named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team for her performance.
