Junior Luke Trammell practiced yesterday at the Alvamar Golf Club. Trammell took over for senior golfer Andrew Price in mid-March after Price had to sit out with a left-hand fracture. Since then, Trammell has played in six events with the team and has started in four consecutive tournaments.

When senior golfer Andrew Price was forced to sit out in mid-March with a fracture in his left hand, junior Luke Trammell stepped up and filled the leadership position.

In the fall, Trammell played in one event, the Kansas Invitational at Alvamar Golf Club, in Lawrence. But this spring he has played in six events and has started in four consecutive tournaments since the loss of Price, whose last March tournament appearance was an 18th-place finish in the Louisiana Classics Invitational on March 8.

He sat out the next three tournaments before competing in the Big 12 Conference Championship April 29 to May 1.

“I really don’t feel like I’m playing any better than the other guys on our team,” Trammell said. “I think that I got lucky to have the opportunity to play, and I made the most of my opportunity.”

After Kansas coach Ross Randall decided to take him to the UTSA Invitational in San Antonio and the Louisiana Classics as an individual, Trammell was able to build some tournament experience that helped him receive the starting nod.

Trammell made his first start at the Stevinson Ranch Invitational in Stevinson, Calif., where he finished in a tie for 23rd place with a three-round total of 227 and helped the Jayhawks win their third tournament championship of the season.

On April 9 at the Courtyard by Marriott Intercollegiate, Trammell tied his roommate, junior Pete Krsnich, for the team’s low score. Trammell shot rounds of 72 and 73 for a two-round total of 145, and he finished the tournament in a 27th-place tie.

Since then, Trammell has started in every tournament for the Jayhawks. Most recently he played in the Big 12 Championships in Trinity, Texas, where he finished in a tie for 39th with his three-round total of 234.

Trammell has held a steady stroke average of 75.50, and has been a reliable starter who consistently fires rounds in the 70s.

While Price was out, the Jayhawks won one tournament and finished second in another, but Trammell said that losing a player like Price always hurt.

“He’s a guy that we really need on our team,” Trammell said. “Any guy that can go out and tie the lowest round in Kansas golf history is a guy that will help our chances to win.”

On Feb. 11, at the Taylor Made Waikoloa Intercollegiate Golf Tournament in Hilo, Hawaii, Price shot a final-round score of 63, which tied former Kansas player Ryan

Vermeer for the lowest score as an individual.

Price recently made his return to the Jayhawk starting lineup at the Big 12 Championship and he will next compete in the NCAA Central Regionals in South Bend, Ind., from May 19 to 21. Price said that he was glad Trammell got the opportunity to play and that his confidence had boosted since he become a starter.

“He feels like he should be there, and he feels like he’s part of the team,” Price said.

With the conference season done, the Jayhawks are still alive in the postseason. If the Jayhawks can finish in the top 10 out of 27 teams at the central regionals, they will qualify to play in the NCAA Finals in Baltimore beginning June 1.

— Edited by Ross Fitch