Kansas Women's Golf Spring Outlook

Meghna Bal watches a putt at the Marilynn Smith Invitational. Bal, and fellow senior Grace Thiry, lead Kansas into the spring season.

Feb. 7, 2011

Following a strong fall season in which the Kansas women’s golf team won the Marilynn Smith Invitational and tied for second at the Chip-N Club Invitational in Lincoln, Neb., the Jayhawks will look to continue their success this season. KU will travel to five different states to compete in six events including Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas.

Led by junior Katy Nugent, averaging 74.5 strokes per round, and senior Grace Thiry, 74.6 strokes per round, Kansas will start the season at Texas State University competing in the Claud Jacobs Challenge in Victoria, Texas Feb. 13 and 14.

The Jayhawks will then travel to Weston, Fla., for the Louisville Cards Challenge Feb. 27-March 1.

KU will also rely heavily on freshmen Megan Potee and Thanuttra Boonraksasat who both had great starts to their Jayhawk careers during the fall. Potee recorded the lowest round by a freshman in school history shooting a 69 in the second round at Price’s "Give ‘Em Five" in Las Cruces, N.M. Boonraksasat shot a career-best 70 at Price’s to finsih the tournament in 34th place.

After a three week break the Jayhawks will head southwest to Tucson, Ariz., for the Mountain View Challenge March 25 and 26. Meghna Bal tied for 43rd as a freshman at the 2008 Mountain View Challenge carding a 228. That was the last time the Jayhawks competed in the event.

Kansas will then journey down to Mississippi for the Ole Miss Rebel Intercollegiate in University, Miss., April 1-3.

The regular season will wrap for the Jayhawks at the Baylor Spring Invitational in Waco, Texas, April 11 and 12.

"We are looking forward to getting the spring season under way as we are playing at some great venues against solid teams," said head coach Erin O’Neil. "Our goal is to treat each tournament with equal importance and prepare as best we can so that we will be ready for postseason play in April and May."

Kansas will get its first postseason test at the Big 12 Championship in Bryan, Texas, April 22-24. The Jayhawks will compete against Nebraska and Colorado for the last time as those teams will join the Big Ten and newly renamed Pac-12 respectively in 2011-12. At last season’s Big 12 Championship the Jayhawks finished 12th overall led by Emily Powers who fired a 231 and tied for 28th. Bal tied for 30th, shooting a 232, and Thiry tied for 39th and carded a 235.