⛳️ Kansas Heads to Cle Elum for NCAA Regional

Tournament: NCAA Cle Elum Regional 
Course: Tumble Creek Club (Cle Elum, Washington) 
Par/Yards: 72/6,306 
When: May 6-8 
Participating Teams: (1) Stanford, (2) Duke, (3) Arizona State, (4) Virginia, (5) San Jose State, (6) Washington, (7) Alabama, (8) Virginia Tech, (9) Kansas, (10) Long Beach State, (11) Sacramento State, (12) Seattle 
Live Stats: Golfstat 

LAWRENCE, Kan. – For the third time in school history and second-consecutive year, the Kansas women’s golf team will compete in an NCAA Regional, May 6-8, at the Tumble Creek Club for the Cle Elum Regional in Washington. 

Kansas is the No. 9 seed in the 12-team Cle Elum Regional that will consist of three rounds, 18 holes each day. There are six NCAA Regionals with 12 teams in each. The top five teams from the regional will qualify for the NCAA Championship, May 17-22, at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa Champions Course in Carlsbad, California. Additionally, the low individual not from a top-five finishing team from each regional will also advance to the NCAA Championship. 

“We are excited to be competing again this time of year,” said third-year Kansas head coach Lindsay Kuhle. “Our ladies worked very hard this season to get to this point. Now, anything can happen, and your ranking doesn’t matter. It is all about playing three solid rounds of golf to help the team. We are very motivated right now and I feel we are playing our best golf collectively.”  

Kuhle and the Jayhawks will travel six for the Cle Elum Regional, including senior Hanna Hawks, juniors Jordan Rothman, Lily Hirst, Lauren Clark and sophomore Amy DeKock. Junior Johanna Ebner will travel as the alternate player for Kansas. 

The Cle Elum Regional consists of No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Arizona State, No. 4 Virginia, No. 5 San Jose State, No. 6 Washington, No. 7 Alabama, No. 8 Virginia Tech, No. 9 Kansas, No. 10 Long Beach State, No. 11 Sacramento State and No. 12 Seattle. Tumble Creek Club measures 6,306 yards with a par 72.

Kansas will tee off for the opening round on Monday, May 6 at 11:55 a.m. CT and will be paired with Alabama and Virginia Tech. For the second and third round, teams will be re-grouped according to round one scores after the first round and by 36-hole cumulative scores after the second round. 

Ranked No. 49 in the latest Clippd rankings, Kansas has five Top 5 finishes in 2023-24, three of those being in the Top 3. In the third tournament of the spring season, Kansas won the Wisconsin Westbrook Invitational with a score of -43 for the program’s first team title since 2017. Also, at the Westbrook Invitational, the Jayhawks broke the 18-hole (-19), 36-hole (-30) and 54-hole (-43) program records.  

Through 11 events this season, Kansas has compiled a 288.26 scoring average and accumulated a 73-60-1 head-to-head record. At this year’s Big 12 Conference Championship, Kansas shot an 876 (+24) for the program’s lowest team score recorded in the league tournament. DeKock and junior Lauren Clark led the Jayhawks in scoring at the conference event, both finishing inside the Top 20.  

Kansas has been selected as an at-large team for an NCAA Regional just two other times in program history, in 2014 and 2023. The 2014 team placed fifth at the NCAA Regional in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and advanced to the NCAA Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Last season, Kansas finished eighth in the Athens Regional. 

In just her third season at Kansas, Kuhle has the Jayhawks in the NCAA Regional for the third time in school history and in back-to-back seasons. This is Kuhle’s 21st NCAA Regional with 17 as a coach and four as a student-athlete at Tulane (2002-05). 

“I’m excited for these ladies to get another opportunity to represent KU and play their best golf at the end of the season,” Kuhle said. “This is a difficult championship course with challenging colder weather. This is about who wants it and who is tough mentally and physically to get the ball in the hole. It doesn’t have to be pretty this week, but you’ve got to keep the ball in play and have an exceptional short game and wedges, which we have been working extremely hard on all season.” 

2023-24 STROKE AVERAGES (Rounds/Avg.) 
Rothman – 30/71.83 
DeKock – 6/71.83 
Hirst – 30/72.23 
Clark – 30/72.80 
Hawks – 21/73.52 
Ebner – 22/74.13 

HOW TO FOLLOW 
Live scoring for the Cle Elum Regional can be found on Golfstat, while fans can also follow with live updates throughout the round from the official Kansas Women’s Golf Twitter (X) account.