The men’s golf team enters the final round of the Bill Ross Intercollegiate in fourth place today at Blue Hills Country Club in Kansas City, Mo. It’s the second-to-last tournament before the players put their clubs away for the winter.

The Jayhawks, coming off a three-week break with no competitive golf, seemed rusty with a 305-stroke total in the first round Monday. Then, in the second round, the Jayhawks recovered and shot a 293 to jump up from fifth place to fourth place.

This gives Kansas the chance to pull off another top-three finish this season. Nebraska is in third place, ahead of Kansas by one stroke. Wichita State is in second place and ahead of the Jayhawks by six strokes. Central Arkansas is running away with the lead, ahead of Kansas by 16 strokes.

With Central Arkansas out of reach, Coach Kit Grove’s biggest goal is to beat the Big 12 rival ahead.

“We absolutely have to beat Nebraska in my mind,” Grove said.

Nate Barbee, Dakota Dunes, S.D., junior, led the Jayhawks with a two-round total of 147 strokes, but he struggled early in the day.

“Nate had four three-putts this morning, which is very uncharacteristic of him,” Grove said.

Barbee improved on his morning performance of a 76 with a 71 in the afternoon.

“I putted a little better in the second round, but I still have some issues on the green,” Barbee said.

Grove attributed the team’s “poor” start to just the last few holes of the morning.

“We were on pace to finish with a nice 295 score or so, but then everyone blew up down the stretch,” Grove said.

The team has been able to stay away from those blow-up scores at the ends of rounds in the last few tournaments, but Grove said the team is not completely immune to it.

Five players compete in the tournament but only the best four scores count toward the team’s total. On Monday, walk-on Jeff Bell, Wichita freshman, shot the high round and his score didn’t count. However, Bell rebounded in the second round and tied for the best score on the team, a 71.

“I was really proud of Jeff today,” Grove said.

Alex Gutesha, Greenwood Village, Colo., freshman, was right behind Barbee with a total of 149. He said he would like to beat Nebraska, but didn’t want to stop with that.

“We’re only a stroke behind Nebraska, so I’m not worried about them,” Gutesha said. “I want us to beat Wichita State, and if we all play like we’re capable of playing, we’ll pass them.”

— Edited by Sarah Kelly