Rockhurst High graduate Will King a success on golf course, in classroom at KU
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- Will King was named Big 12 scholar athlete of the year for men’s golf for the second.
- King graduated in four years with a 4.0 GPA.
- Kansas must place in the top five of 13 teams at the Athens regional to advance.
Kansas senior Will King, who recently was named Big 12 scholar athlete of the year for men’s golf for the second straight school year, has been able to put away the books and focus solely on the upcoming NCAA Regional the past several days.
“None,” Rockhurst High graduate King said with a smile on Tuesday, asked how many exams he needed to take during the just-completed finals week to complete his requirements for graduation in the field of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.
He’s certainly had a sensational senior season in the classroom (4.0 GPA) and on the links (finishing fourth overall at Big 12 championship).
The 2022 Class 5 Missouri individual state champion — Rockhurst also won the team title his senior year — has recorded two top-ive finishes, five top-10 finishes and seven top 20-finishes (in 11 events) for the Jayhawks, who must place in the top five of 13 teams at the Athens, Georgia regional Monday through Wednesday at the University of Georgia Golf Course to advance to the NCAA championships.
The NCAA meet is May 29-June 3 at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa Champions Course in Carlsbad, California.
King — he won the Gopher Invitational in Minnesota as a sophomore and Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa as a junior — this year also had 18 rounds under par and nine rounds in the 60s. During the Kaanapali Classic in November in Hawaii, King broke the program record for lowest 54-hole score, with rounds of 68-65-66 (199).
His work in the classroom has been just as stellar.
On Monday, King became the first athlete in KU golf history to be named conference scholar athlete of the year in men’s golf two seasons in a row.
He’s the second golfer in Big 12 history to earn the award in back-to-back seasons, joining former Baylor golfer Johnny Keefer, who won it three years in a row from 2022-24.
“It feels great to have that work recognized,” King said. “I think it shows the great support that we have here at KU. It wouldn’t be possible without good coaches, good staff and good academic advisors to kind of point me along the way,” he added.
Jayhawk coach Jamie Bermel said it “was a very deserving award for Will. He has worked hard in the classroom and on the golf course throughout his time at KU. Will has set a very high standard for Kansas men’s golf by graduating in four years as a straight-A student, while also being the number one player on our team and the team leader.”
During his days at Rockhurst High, King informed coaches who were recruiting him he had both athletics and academics on his mind entering college.
“He wanted to be a pre-med major, and I thought, ‘There’s no way that can happen. You can’t do that,’’’ Bermel said on Tuesday at a news conference held in advance of KU’s 10th consecutive trip to regionals.
“I’ve had guys come in and want to be an Engineering major and after their first semester they’re in Business, or whatever. I didn’t try to talk him out of it, but I certainly tried to show him what it would take and he didn’t flinch. He’s done everything — a 4.0 and played at a high level,” Bermel added. “We’ve kind of adjusted reps, given him extra days off because of tests.
“Sometimes early in his career it seemed like every third week he had four tests, but he’s done great and plus being injured a lot, rehabbing his back (past injury), so it’s been a full load for him,” Bermel stated.
This will mark King’s fourth trip to regionals as a Jayhawk.
Others in the KU lineup: senior Luke Honner, junior Will Baker, sophomore Hartej Grewal, and freshman Arthur Carlier. Junior Max Jelinek will travel with the team as an alternate.
“Since I started here, we have always expected to make it to regionals. It hasn’t been a huge accomplishment just to get there,” King said. “We’ve always had the talent to make a run at the national championship, but during my four years we haven’t done that as a team yet. I think this year we have the most capable group of guys that I’ve been a part of, so I’m excited for that.”
KU last advanced out of regionals to the NCAA Championship event in 2022. The Jayhawks finished 17th overall in the stroke-play competition at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Teams competing for five slots and an NCAA bid at this week’s Athens, Georgia regional: No. 7 seed KU plus No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Illinois, No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 4 BYU, No. 5 Georgia, No. 6 Louisville, No. 8 Northwestern, No. 9 College of Charleston, No. 10 Rice, No. 11 Southern Mississippi, No. 12 Harvard and No. 13 Howard.
“I think we have some experience, and we certainly have more depth than we’ve had in a while. With that combination we have a chance to do well this postseason,” Bermel said. “Will King has played in three regionals and Luke Honner is heading to his second, so I think that’s going to help. Then we need the other three guys to not get caught up in the moment and just go play golf.”
Junior Will Baker, who is a native of Statham, Georgia., has played the University of Georgia course many times. He shot a 67 on the layout at age 13.
“From the back tees. I hadn’t done that yet (from front tees),” he said, smiling.
Baker is ready to offer tips to his teammates on how to play the course.
“I’ve had great rounds there. I shot my first round in the 60s there. I’ve also had some pretty bad ones. Just because I’ve been there a lot doesn’t mean I’m going to play great, but I’m super excited. I’m preparing,” Baker, a transfer from Clemson, said.
“I think I’ll be able to help a lot of the guys, kind of knowing where to hit it, where not to and just having some knowledge gives me a little bit of ‘comfortability’ to kind of practice, visualize the shots on the range, and kind of see what I need to do, know how to prepare.”
Bermel has confidence in Baker.
“Will’s quite familiar with the course. He’s one of those guys that he’s like training a racehorse. You get him going and he can go low. He has that ability. And I think my biggest concern with Will Baker this week is, don’t try too hard, because there are some schools down there that passed on him (in recruiting). So if we can get him going early, the kid, he goes on confidence,” Bermel stated.
