Third place has been a common finish for coach Kit Grove and his men’s golf team in his three years at Kansas. That changed on Tuesday afternoon when the Jayhawks jumped over Illinois State and finished in second place at the Jim Colbert Intercollegiate in Manhattan. The second place finish is the best so far in Grove’s tenure at Kansas.

Not only did Coach Grove and the Jayhawks set a new team high, but Barbee had his best career finish as well coming in third place individually.

The host school for the tournament, Kansas State, came in first place.

“They played really well on their home track and we just couldn’t catch them,” Nate Barbee, Dakota Dunes, S.D. junior, said.

“Like I say every week, Nate is our rock,” Grove said.

Barbee, who chalked up a first round score of 69, was in first place after day one. The second day Barbee dropped a few spots, shooting a 73. Barbee missed second place by one stroke and missed first-place by just two strokes.

“Nate is frustrated because he is so close. He keeps knocking on the door though,” Grove said.

First place was not far from Barbee’s reach, with just three holes left Barbee was tied for the lead, but a drive into the trees on hole 16 put him in a tough position to recover from.

“It was a disappointing finish, but also it is something that I can learn from,” Barbee said. Coach Grove said he could feel Barbee’s first win coming.

“That door is going to open soon,” Grove said. “He is going to get a win for us.”

Walk-on player and the newest addition to the team Jeff Bell, Wichita freshman, did not crack the official five man rotation, but he did play as an individual. Bell shot the low round on Tuesday for the entire field with a score of 69.

“As a walk-on, what more could you ask for?” Grove said about Bell’s play.

Bell just made the team as a walk-on a few weeks back by getting through a grueling six-day tryout. Now, all of his paper work is in, he has been practicing with the team and he is ready to compete.

“I was expecting to play well, probably nobody else was though,” Bell said.

Coach Grove said he was impressed with Bell’s play.

“That was a surprise for us,” Grove said. “But now I think he has a chance get in the lineup and help the team.”

Barbee echoed Grove’s sentiments about Bell’s performance.

“He did a great job and hopefully he can build on that from here,” Barbee said.

This was Bell’s first collegiate action and he finished fifth individually.

“I need to keep in mind that it is not going to be that easy all the time. I can’t expect to finish top-five in every tournament; however, that is the goal,” Bell said.

For most schools and for most college sports walk-ons are just practice players to fill out the roster. That is not the case here.

“I wasn’t just trying to make the team,” Bell said. “If I’m going to be a part of this team, I want to play in tournaments. Being a walk-on means nothing once you’re on the course.”

Barbee said Bell’s performance meant he would get more opportunities to compete.

“After that finish, you can’t really keep him out of the lineup,” Barbee said.

The Jayhawks will get a chance to play on their own home course Monday and Tuesday at the Kansas Invitational at Alvamar.

“We’ll have a nice home course advantage and we want to do a better job of defending it than we did last year,” Grove said. “This time, I really like our chances to win.”

— —Edited by Tim Burgess