Jayhawks Crack the Top-50 in Latest Polls

LAWRENCE, Kan. – After a fall season that consisted of five top-five finishes, including two tournament victories and an individual title for senior Ben Welle, the Kansas men’s golf team made an appearance in two national polls, ranking in the top-50 of each one.   

In the latest Golfweek.com standings, the Jayhawks sit at No. 41, where they are one of six Big 12 teams to be featured in that poll. Each poll has a Big 12 team in the top-15 of its rankings.

Ahead of Kansas in Golfweek.com’s rankings are Oklahoma (No. 9), Texas (No. 10) and Oklahoma State (No. 12) and Texas Tech (No. 33), with Baylor (No. 50) sitting behind the Jayhawks. In the Golfstat.com polls, KU ranks No. 46 behind all of those same Big 12 opponents.
 
“The fall season was very productive in a lot of ways,” KU fourth-year head coach Jamie Bermel said. “Obviously, we have made progress over the last three plus years, in terms of wins and our national ranking.
 
For Welle, he finds himself amongst the nations best golfers, shooting an average 70.33 strokes per round, which ranks No. 20 in that category. Welle won his first career individual title at the Ram Masters Invitational and had a career-day at the Price’s Give ‘Em Five Invitational, where he recorded both the second-lowest round (64) and the second-lowest three-round total (202) in program history.
 
When Kansas begins the spring season on February 19, 2016, at the Desert Intercollegiate Classic in Palm Desert, California, the team will look to continue its strong start to the 2015-16 campaign and pursue the program’s first NCAA regional bid.  The last time the team accomplished this feat was in 2007.
 
“I look forward to the spring portion of the season and hope to improve the team in each and every tournament,” Bermel said.