Seniors await last regular-season tourney

Friday, April 17, 2009

This weekend’s Texas A&M Aggie Invitational has a different meaning for each member of the KU men’s golf team. For senior Walt Koelbel, it presents a challenge to show the rest of the field what he can do in his last regular season tournament.

“There’s a little bit of extra pressure in this tournament to give a little extra effort,” Koelbel said.

And for sophomore Nate Barbee, the tournament is an opportunity to give the seniors a proper sendoff before the conference tournament.

“Obviously we want to do well for our seniors, we’re just going to play hard and do what we can for them,” Barbee said.

Coming off a tough finish last week in North Carolina, Koelbel said the squad is looking for more than a win.

“This weekend it’s really important to start building momentum with consistency, then worry about winning,” Koelbel said.

Both Koelbel and Barbee mentioned that the range of teams competing in this week’s tournament will be a glimpse of what will face them in the Big 12 tournament. The Aggie Invitational will feature a total of five Big 12 teams, a fact Barbee noticed right away.

“Having a solid finish here would give us confidence going into next weekend,” Barbee said.

That confidence will be needed to disprove the Jayhawk’s No. 11 scoring average in the Big 12. Koelbel, arguably KU’s most consistent performer on the season, has ideas about what the team needs to do improve its performance.

“Getting rid of big numbers, especially coming down the stretch, will help us be more consistent,” Koelbel said.

This weekend’s tournament will feature a different scoring system than what the men are used to. The system, known to the golfers as a six-count-five, means KU will have six golfers competing in the tournament while the top five scores for each team are counted.

“With this type of system, every shot counts so we really need to pick our game up to be successful this weekend,” Barbee said.

— — Edited by Justin Leverett

Golfers finish 15th overall in North Carolina

Walt Koelbel tied for 19th place at the River Landing Intercollegiate tournament.

/news/2009/apr/13/golf/

Men’s golf ties for fifth in third ...

The team secured the standing after coming back from a rough second ...

/news/2009/apr/29/mens_golf_ties_fifth_third_round/

Barbee leads Jayhawks to third place finish

Sophomore golfer places sixth to lead golf team for second straight meet ...

/news/2008/sep/17/mensgolf/

Golf team tees off in Mizzou Intercollegiate

Kansas will play in its final tournament before the Big 12 Championship

/news/2010/apr/12/golf-team-tees-mizzou-intercollegiate/

Men’s golf takes sixth place in Big ...

Freshman Brad Hopfinger tied for seventh place, which was his best finish ...

/news/2008/apr/30/mens_golf_takes_sixth_place_big_12_championship/

Senior golfer finishes in top 10

The golf team took 7th place at the Big 12 Tournament.

/news/2009/apr/30/golfer_top_10/

Men's Golf Notes: February 5, 2008

Here's what's new in men's golf.

/news/2008/feb/05/mens_golf_notes_february_5_2008/

Golf team breaks last-place streak

The Kansas men’s golf team rallied late to place eighth in the ...

/news/2007/oct/29/golf_team_breaks_lastplace_streak/

Men’s golf takes eighth in River Landing ...

The Jayhawks finished 30 strokes behind tournament champion Duke. This was the ...

/news/2008/apr/16/mens_golf_takes_eighth_river_landing_intercollegia/

Team places second at Kansas Invitational

The second place finish ends the team’s three-year streak as tourney champs. ...

/news/2007/sep/19/mgolf/

Jayhawk golfers turn in solid performances

Team places third in Nebraska meet as sophomore Nate Barbee places fourth ...

/news/2008/sep/11/jayhawk_golfers_turn_solid_performances/

Men’s golf team finishes 12th in Texas

Kansas will compete in Big 12 Championship next week in Hutchinson

/news/2009/apr/20/mens_golf/

Sports Brief: October 26, 2007

Here's what's happening in sports for October 26, 2007

/news/2007/oct/26/sports_brief_october_26_2007/

Jayhawks have home course advantage

The team has won three of the last four Kansas Invitationals, hope ...

/news/2008/sep/15/golfpreview/

Barbee named Big 12 Golfer of the ...

Senior Nate Barbee won the Bill Ross Intercollegiate and had a top-ten ...

/news/2010/nov/03/barbee-named-big-12-golfer-month/

Men’s golf team places 10th in Cajun ...

Kansas, which scored 862 in the Louisiana tournament, competes March 21-23 in ...

/news/2008/mar/14/golf/

Men’s golf team heads south for Baylor ...

Sophomore Nate Barbee will lead the squad, which is ranked fourth in ...

/news/2008/oct/27/mensgolf/

Golf team heads into championship territory

It’s been nine years since the team has won a Big 12 ...

/news/2008/apr/25/mens_golf/

Golf team hopes to rally

Recent poor play has coach Grove looking for improvement.

/news/2009/apr/10/golf/

Junior leads golf team with high hopes

The future of KU men’s golf rests on the new team’s shoulders.

/news/2009/aug/24/junior_leads_team/

Kansas places last in Big 12 tournament

After a long weekend in Trinity, Texas, the golf team looks forward ...

/news/2010/apr/27/kansas-places-last-big-12-tournament/

Men’s golf heads to North Carolina

The tournament is the last competition for Kansas before the Big 12 ...

/news/2008/apr/11/golf/

Men’s golf seeking top-three finish

Team is currently in fourth place, only one stroke behind Nebraska.

/news/2009/oct/20/mens-golf-seeking-top-finish/

Men's Golf

/news/2008/sep/08/mens_golf/

Kansas in third place after first day

Men’s golf hopes to rebound in final round of Kansas Invitational at ...

/news/2009/sep/29/kansas_third_place/

Men’s golf team travels to Hutchinson this ...

Jayhawks will shoot for No. 10 seed

/news/2009/apr/27/mens_golf/

Both golf teams predict strong returns

Women's team returns all last season's starters, men's team returns key players

/news/2009/aug/18/golf_teams/

Men’s golf place 12th in tournament

The Jayhawks had a three-round score of 868 - 23 strokes behind ...

/news/2008/mar/26/mens_golf_place_12th_tournament/

Jayhawks wrap up fall season in Dallas

Team turns in a 10th place finish as it battles the elements

/news/2008/oct/30/jayhawks_wrap_fall_season_dallas/

Jayhawks have high hopes for Invitational

The men’s golf team looks to improve rankings after Turner Stone-Tiger Intercollegiate ...

/news/2010/sep/12/invitational/

Men’s golf heads to New Mexico to ...

The team will play its last tournament of the season after placing ...

/news/2010/oct/24/mens-golf-heads-new-mexico-finish-season/

Breckunitch: Golfing as a team sport

Kelly explores the value in collegiate golf being a team endeavor.

/news/2009/feb/13/breckunitch_golfing/

Tournament lends outdoor play to weather-restricted team

The men’s golf team competes in the Cajun Classic today and Tuesday.

/news/2008/mar/10/mens_golf/

Sports briefs

A brief look at some of Jayhawk sports notes from the weekend.

/news/2008/feb/25/sports_briefs/

Men’s golf takes third in Manhattan

Walk-on Bell impresses takes fifth individually in his first collegiate meet.

/news/2009/sep/24/mens_golf_takes_third_manhattan/

Golf takes fourth in Diet Pepsi Shocker ...

Despite a slow start this spring, Hackenberg helps lead Kansas to a ...

/news/2010/apr/07/golf-takes-fourth-diet-pepsi-shocker-classic/

Men's gold has tough time at Windon ...

Loss is the worst outing this year for the team.

/news/2007/oct/09/golf/

Team starts season with new coach, young ...

Senior Joey Mundy, four freshmen and a transfer hope to gain experience ...

/news/2007/aug/22/golf/

Women’s golf to play Oklahoma tournament

The Jayhawks will face Big 12 competition this weekend.

/news/2009/apr/03/oklahoma_tournament/

Team prepares for season’s biggest test

Kansas' swim team competing in Invitational to prepare for training.

/news/2009/dec/03/swimming-invitational/

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Sign in to comment

Or login with:

OpenID