Kansas Women’s Golf Travels to San Antonio for Big 12 Conference Championship
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LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas women’s golf team will head to San Antonio, Texas, to compete at the 19th Big 12 Women’s Golf Championship at the Dominion Golf Club, April 24-26. This marks the first time in conference history that the women’s golf championship is not held in a Big 12 city.
The Jayhawks will be represented by junior Yupaporn Kawinpakorn, senior Minami Levonowich, sophomore Pornvipa Sakdee, senior Gabriella DiMarco and freshman Pitsinee Winyarat.
According to GolfStat rankings, every team in the Big 12 is ranked in the top-65. The field will include nine of the 10 Big 12 members which will include (11) Oklahoma State, (26) Baylor, (34) Iowa State, (38) Texas Tech, (43) Texas, (53) TCU, (55) Oklahoma, (60) Kansas and (62) Kansas State. KU, the eighth seed, will be paired with No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 9 Kansas State when it tees off at 10 a.m. (Central) on April 24 for the 54-hole conference championship. Pairings for the final two rounds, April 25 and 26, for the nine-team field will be based on how teams play in the event.
“I just expect us to go out and give our best on every shot,” Kansas head coach Erin O’Neil said. “I think it will be real important to be decisive and committed to our game plan and in to every shot especially when things kind of get off into a bumpy start. We have been working real hard, our ball striking is good. I think if we just focus getting most out of our games, we should be okay.”
Since the Big 12 Conference tournament began in 1997, Kansas has only finished in the top five only twice including finishing tied for fourth in last year’s Big 12 event at the UT Golf Club in Austin, Texas, with an score of 886 (+22), which is the lowest KU score ever shot in Big 12 tournament history. It was also the Jayhawks’ highest finish in the Big 12 era surpassing a fifth-place outcome in 2009.
For the past two seasons, Kawinpakorn has been a Big 12 Championship All-Tournament selection placing tied for 10th at the 2013 Big 12 Championship at The Harvester Golf Club in Ames, Iowa, and finishing tied for second at the 2014 league tournament. Last year, Kawinpakorn shot an all-time school record low of 5-under 211 at the conference championship.
“Personally, I am starting to feel more confident in my game right now.” Kawinpakorn said. “I just know I am going to play good next week and I am going to do my best. I will go out and just try to shoot the lowest I can.”
The Dominion Golf Club measures 6,333 yards with a par 72 for the Big 12 Championship. Live scoring will be provided by Golfstat via the Big 12 website at Big12sports.com.
