After day one at the Rice Intercollegiate in Houston Monday, the Kansas Jayhawks were frustrated and disappointed, but they were also optimistic about the final round.

That optimism helped the Jayhawks jump from eighth place Monday, all the way to a fourth place finish Tuesday afternoon.

“If they had buried their heads and given up that could have really hurt us,” coach Kit Grove said, “But the team stayed positive and played well today.”

Leading the way was Nate Barbee, a junior from Dakota Dunes, SD, and Bryan Hackenberg, a senior from Denver, Colo.

Barbee, for the 10th time this season, shot an under-par round with a score of 71 and Hackenberg was right behind him finishing with an even-par score of 72.

“Nate and Hack really came through for us,” Grove said, “This is a big finish for the team to start off the spring.”

Grove had two goals for the final round. The first: get in to the top-five on the team leaderboard. The second: surpass Big 12 rival, Nebraska.

Kansas pulled off both of those feats in just 18 holes of golf.

With the fourth place finish, the Jayhawks earned their fourth top-five finish as a team this season in just six events.

Perhaps more importantly, they got even with Nebraska for beating Kansas this past fall.

“This was really good for us to beat Nebraska, it took a lot of team work for us to pull that off and we’re excited about it,” Hackenberg said.

Barbee’s one-under day and third place result secured his 10th top 10 finish in his career.

“I’ll take it considering all the weather conditions and it being the first tournament of the spring,” Barbee said.

Barbee’s two goals after Monday were to get into the top five as a team and individually, and Barbee helped make both of those goals a reality Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Grove walked with Barbee during the final round — each coach is allowed to walk with one player during each round.

Typically, Grove walks with one of the freshman players, but since the end of Barbee’s freshman year, Grove has chosen to walk with Barbee throughout the final round.

“I always walk with Nate in the last round and I think it gives him a little bit of a comfort zone,” Grove said.

For a player, having a coach to walk with and give advice during a round can be beneficial.

“It’s nice to have an extra eye out there on all the putts,” Barbee said, “It gives me a lot of confidence when standing over the ball.”

Chris Gilbert, a freshman from Simi Valley, Calif., recorded a final round of 76 and Alex Gutesha, a freshman from Greenwood Village, Colo., shot a 77.

“Chris and Alex really pulled it together, which was great, because we needed somebody else to step up,” Hackenberg said, “Putting really made the difference today for all of us.”

Kansas surpassed Grove’s expectations, coming in fourth place, and he said he was proud of the team.

“The boys were ready to go today, but not as nervous and amped up as they were yesterday,” Grove said, “Rarely do you play good golf when you’re not relaxed.”

Now that the Jayhawks have their first tournament of the spring behind them they can surely relax a little more.

“We took a step towards becoming postseason eligible today, and we need to use this tournament to build some more confidence,” Grove said. “This result will definitely help our ranking.”

— Edited by Kate Larrabee

— Edited by Kate Larrabee