Kansas Jayhawks men’s golf team barely misses cut at NCAA championships
Kansas’ men’s golf team failed to advance to the final round of stroke play at the 2022 NCAA championships on Sunday at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Jayhawks, who needed to place in the top 15 after three 18-hole rounds to remain in the 30-team competition, wound up dropping from 10th place (after 36 holes) to 17th place overall at 40-over 880.
Oklahoma’ score of 839 after three rounds leads the group of 15 teams. That’s four strokes better than second-place Oklahoma State (843). The top eight teams after Monday’s round move on to match play.
Georgia Tech and Mississippi were the final two teams inside the cut line at +37 (score of 877). Texas A&M finished two shots back at +39 and the Jayhawks were three off the cut at +40.
Texas (seventh place) and Texas Tech (ninth) advanced to Monday’s competition.
KU will have one golfer continue in the fourth and final round of the NCAA’s individual competition. Senior Callum Bruce shot a third-round 78 Sunday and tied for 49th place at 9-over 219. His +9 score is tied for sixth-best by a player on a non-advancing team. The top nine players on non-advancing teams reach the final round.
KU senior Harry Hillier, who finished at 13-over-par 223, had a hole-in-one Sunday. The New Zealand native used a 6-iron to ace the par-3, 230-yard 13th hole. He shot a 2-over-par 72 Sunday.
Sophomore Luke Kluver, who shot 3-over-par 73 on Sunday, also finished at 13-over-par 223. Senior Ben Sigel shot 77 Sunday and finished at 15-over-par 225. Sophomore William Duquette shot 75 in the final round and finished 17-over-par 227.
“We’re obviously disappointed to see our season come to an end for the team,” KU coach Jamie Bermel said. “We didn’t have our best stuff today and missed the cut to 15 teams.
“It was a record-breaking year for our team,” Bermel added. “The seniors — Ben Sigel, Harry Hillier and Callum Bruce — were a big part of the team. Ben and Harry have played a lot of golf for the Jayhawks and did a lot of great stuff. Callum only played one year as a graduate transfer, but he was an absolute joy to coach and fit in well with our team.”
“We have a very good team coming back,” Bermel continued. “Luke Kluver was our 1, 2 guy all year long and William Duquette and Davis Cooper (sophomore out of Blue Valley North) played a lot as well. I know we are losing three good players, but the others need to step up as the expectations are the same.”
Hillier on Sunday was named to the Division I PING All-Central Region team by the Golf Coaches Association of America. Hillier entered the tournament leading Kansas in scoring at 71.33, which would rank fourth all-time in single-season scoring at KU.
Hillier was one of 25 golfers selected for the All-Central Region team. There were a total of six all-region teams — Northeast, East, Southeast, Midwest, Central and West.
This story was originally published May 29, 2022 at 10:52 PM.
