The men’s golf team enters the final round at the Louisiana Classics tournament in 15th place today at the Oakborn Country Club in Lafayette, L.A.

On Monday, the Jayhawks had high hopes for a second straight top five finish. Now, their goal is just to move up a few spots and move on.

“Today was very disappointing for us,” coach Kit Grove said. “We played well enough to be at least 12 strokes better, but we didn’t finish either round the way we wanted to.”

The Louisiana Classics tournament is full of southern golf schools, such as LSU, UAB and Houston, that have had the weather to play a lot of golf this winter. These teams are all in the top five. Kansas, on the other hand, has not had the warm-weather luxury, but Grove doesn’t blame the weather for this one.

“Its only one factor and by no means is it a good excuse,” Grove said. “There were perfect scoring conditions today and we just gave away too many shots down the stretch.”

Alex Gutesha, a freshman from Greenwood Village, Colo., turned in the best score for the Jayhawks with rounds of 71 and 75. Gutesha is tied for 24th after the first two rounds and will look to jump up some spots today to earn his third top-20 finish this year.

The usual sharp shooter for the Jayhawks, Nate Barbee, a junior from Dakota Dunes, S.D., is tied for 39th place with a total score of 149. Barbee has five top-five finishes this year in just six events with a scoring average of 71.82.

Jeff Bell, a freshman from Wichita, recorded a total of 150 strokes and is still optimistic about the rest of the tournament.

“I think everyone out there wasted one or two shots coming in, and, if not for that, we’d be right where we want to be,” Bell said Monday. “We’ll just have to make them up tomorrow.”

Chris Gilbert, a freshman from Simi Valley, Calif., totaled 160 strokes and Bryan Hackenberg, a senior from Denver, followed him closely with 161.

With only one round of 18 holes left to play, Kansas won’t be making a push for 1st place, but the Jayhawks need to score well to improve their chances of making regionals.

“Every round is important going into April,” Grove said.

Kansas must stay competitive and not let its 15th place damper the team’s spirits.

“We’re still going to go out there tomorrow and try to shoot a good number,” Grove said. “We have to regain some momentum going towards the next tournament.”

— Edited by Sarah Bluvas