2012-13 Kansas Women's Golf Media Guide
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FALL 2012 RECAP Back-to-back tournament titles and four top-10 fi nishes highlighted what was a solid scores of 307 and 296, and concluded with a 299 in the fi nal round to fi nish seventh. fall 2012 for the Kansas women’s golf team. “We showed much improvement this fall and I am proud of what we have The Jayhawks concluded their 2012 fall season on a high note after fi nishing seventh accomplished so far,” O’Neil said. “The team will need to continue to work hard in at the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate Oct. 28-29. Junior Thanuttra “Fhong” the off season so that we can come back even stronger this spring.” Boonraksasat led KU, shooting a three-round total score of 219 (+3), to tie for fi fth individually. Head coach Erin O’Neil thought the fi nal tournament was refl ective of how the team played during the fall season. Looking to carry its momentum from four top-10 Kansas began the season by placing 11th at the Dale McNamara Invitational in Tulsa, fi nishes into the spring 2013 season, Kansas is back in action Feb. 15-17 at the FSU Okla., Sept. 17-18. Boonraksasat led the Jayhawks with a 54-hole total of 223 (75-73- Match Up Invitational in Tallahassee, Fla. 76) and tied for 24th, while junior Meghan Potee was three strokes behind with a 226 (75-75-76; t-30th ), which tied for her third-lowest 54-hole score as a Jayhawk. A week later, Kansas hosted the eighth-annual Marilynn Smith Sunfl ower Invitational, claiming its fi rst team title of the 2012-13 season with a three-round total score of 906 (+42). Boonraksasat, sophomore Gabby DiMarco and freshman Yupaporn Kawinpakorn all fi nished in the top seven. Boonraksasat led the Jayhawks again placing second individually, shooting an even-par 72 in her fi nal two rounds and a three-round 221 (+5). The Jayhawks competed next in the Price’s “Give Em’ Five” Intercollegiate in Las Cruces, N.M., Oct. 8-10, where Kawinpakorn claimed her fi rst medalist honors at the college level and Kansas won its second-consecutive tournament, a fi rst for the program since the fall 1988 season. Kansas shot a three-round school-record 871 (+7), while Kawinpakorn led the Jayhawks with a 54-hole total of 213 (69-71-73). Kansas had less than a week to prepare for its next tournament before traveling to Norman, Okla., to compete in the Susie Maxwell Berning Classic at the Jimmy Austin OU Golf Club Oct. 15-17. Potee was the team’s top fi nisher for the second year in a row in Norman, carding a fi nal round 74 to fi nish tied for 24th and helped the team to a ninth-place fi nish. Kawinpakorn and DiMarco also fi nished strong shooting within three strokes of each other for a three-round total scores of 227 (+11) and 228 (+12), respectively. The Jayhawks wrapped up their 2012 fall season two weeks later at the Edwin Watts/ Palmetto Intercollegiate in Kiawah, S.C., Oct 28-29. Boonraksasat was in eighth after the second round was suspended due to darkness, but moved up the leaderboard to Freshman Yupaporn Kawinpakorn took medalist honors at the New Mexico close the tournament tying for fi fth. The Jayhawks notched fi rst- and second-round State Invitational in her third ever college tournament. Fall 2012 Results Date Event Course Location Place/No. of Teams Sept. 17-18 Dale McNamara Invitational Oklahoma Golf Club Tulsa, Okla. 11th/15 Sept. 24-25 Marilynn Smith Sunfl ower Invitational Alvamar Golf Club Lawrence, Kan. 1st/13 Oct. 8-10 Price’s “Give Em’ Five” Intercollegiate NM State Golf Course Las Cruces, N.M. 1st/13 Oct. 15-17 Susie Maxwell Berning Classic Jimmy Austin OU Golf Club Norman, Okla. 9th/18 Oct. 28-29 Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate Kiawah Island Oak Point Kiawah Island, S.C. 7th/17 2 2 2013 SPRING PREVIEW Q&A WITH ERIN O’NEIL Coming off one of the best Falls in Kansas women’s is defi nitely more of our vocal leader; she will call you golf history, how has that success carried over to the out if you are not doing what you are supposed to be With golf being such an individual sport, how do you team heading into the spring? doing. Audrey is kind of a mixture. She does a lot by set individual goals? EO: “I think it is a good confi dence builder. There is example but she is kind of the big sister. Yowell is the EO: “We do it per player. We have a statistical service defi nitely some good momentum. They (KU women’s second oldest of seven kids so she is used to being the called GolfStat that we send in the golfers’ stats golf team) are very excited to get started this spring. big sister. She will speak up but in a pretty nice way after every tournament. It measures their fairway They have been working hard, getting out and getting that gets their (other golfers) attention. Fong is more percentage, the greens that they hit, putts, up and lots of extra work in on their own, which is good. I think of a leader by example. She rarely has a bad day. She downs, everything so we evaluate all of those for each they are really excited to keep going and see what they is always happy and has a good eff ect on chemistry player and talk to them about ways to improve certain can accomplish this season.” by helping everyone get along. Fhong also shoots stats that need to come up. We set our goals based on good scores, so I think that is her way of leading by that and then we have our team goals.” Kansas showed balanced competition in the fall as example.” its top fi ve players were within three strokes of each With the success of the fall, what are the team goals other in scoring average from 74.4 to 77.1. Does this Mook (Yupaporn Kawainpakorn) won a tournament for this spring? make the competition in practice just that much and Fhong (Thanuttra Boonraksasat) was your EO: “They want to maintain what they started in the tougher? leading scorer. How have they adjusted to playing fall. Their goal was to give 120 percent every day, to EO: “It has defi nitely been more competitive and golf in the U.S.? have no excuses, to take 10 seconds before responding intense in practice and in qualifying. It has pushed EO: “They have obviously done a good job of it as or reacting to something. It is those type of goals that all the girls to work harder, which I think is always a they are our two lowest in stroke averages. Fhong everybody, whether they are travelling or not, can be good thing to have that kind of competition within the is a little celebrity around here and her scores have a part of. It seems to have worked real well in the fall. squad. It helps push everyone to keep getting better.” been improving. Mook has come in and played really Obviously make good grades, too. They want to have a well right out of the gate. I am proud of both of them 3.5 GPA, which we almost did in the fall (3.45). I think You used the same lineup in all fi ve events last fall. because it is not an easy thing to come over here, ultimately their goal is to make the postseason and to Do you expect that to change or do you like the adjust to a diff erent culture, a diff erent style of golf and do that, they need to take it one day at a time and give consistency? team golf. They have done a very good job.” it their best today.” EO: “I would like to have some of the other girls pushing to be in that lineup. It helps because, when Besides the fi ve who played last fall, who else is some people get comfortable, they tend to not work vying for playing time? as hard. I think it will help everybody stay on their ‘A EO: “Michelle Woods is right there. Minami Game’ if everyone is getting pushed. I think some of (Levonowich) is starting to play better. I think she the girls from the fall who didn’t travel have worked was a little overwhelmed coming in at mid-semester over the break, and I have seen improvement in and adjusting to that change. I’ve seen her scores our qualifying recently. We added another transfer get progressively better so far. Mackenzie (Thayer) is (sophomore Minami Levonowich) player in at mid- getting better but she still has a little bit of work to do. year. I am hoping that we’ll see some changes. I just It is probably Michelle and Minami that are pretty close want to see everyone pushing each other.” to breaking through.” You have one senior, two juniors, four sophomores How will this spring schedule prepare you for the Big and two freshmen. Who are the leaders on this team? 12 and NCAA Championships? How do they lead? EO: “It (the Florida State tournament) is a really EO: “We have our captains, Fhong (Thanuttra good fi eld. It is a diff erent format than we normally Boonraksasat) and Audrey (Yowell). Outside of that, play.