Spring break wasn’t quite as relaxing for the men’s golf team as for others. The golfers spent their spring break in Arizona and Louisiana for some tournament play.

“All in all it was a very successful spring break,” head coach Kit Grove said.

In the first tournament, the Jayhawks returned to Louisiana to try and redeem themselves for the 15th place finish out of 16 teams they had two weeks ago. At the Squire Creek Invitational, Kansas improved eight spots and finished 7th.

“I would have liked to have done a little better in this one,” Grove said.

That would have been tough to do because the Jayhawks gave away nine strokes over the last four holes on day one. It was an uphill battle from there.

“The guys just get a little ahead of themselves and they start to worry too much about a number,” Grove said. “They just need to simplify things and stay focused.”

All week, Kansas was led by the stellar play of junior Nate Barbee. In the first tournament, Barbee recorded two rounds of under par golf including a 69 in the final round to pull in to a tie for second place.

“Nate just plays his game and gets better every time we go out on the course,” Grove said.

Freshly inserted into the Jayhawk’s five-man rotation, freshman Dan Waite was the second best scorer for the Jayhawks. Waite, with two rounds of 78 and a 79, totaled 235 stokes for the tournament.

“He had a little bit of a rough start,” Grove said. “But I was able to talk to him during team meetings and he improved from there.”

With a promising performance under its belt, Kansas then moved on to the Desert Shootout in Goodyear, Ariz. This was a different course, but for Barbee it was the same story. He shot three straight rounds of under par with a 68, 67 and 70. Barbee for the second straight tournament came in second place.

The Jayhawks stood in third place going into the final round, but came back from six strokes down to pull into a tie for first place at the end of the tournament. The comeback forced a playoff between Kansas and Wichita State.

In the playoff, Wichita State knocked off Kansas’ hopes of what would have been their first number-one finish of the year.

“Just getting to that playoff with Wichita State was really cool for the guys,” Grove said. “It was a one hole sudden-death playoff and we just weren’t quite able to pull it off.”

For the second straight tournament since earning a spot in the rotation, Waite put together solid rounds and was once again the second best scorer for Kansas. Waite shot a 67 in the second round and a 71 in the final round to help the Jayhawks pick up the second place finish. His total score for the three rounds was 215.

Just behind Waite was fellow freshman Alex Gutesha with a 216. Gutesha’s top round was a 68 and he also recorded two 74s.

Freshman Chris Gilbert ended up with a final score of 220. For the first time this season, senior Bryan Hackenberg played as an individual and also scored a total of 220 strokes.

Freshman Jeff Bell totaled 227 strokes. Bell will return home the next time the Jayhawks tee-off for the Diet Pepsi Classic in Wichita on April 5-6.

Kansas is making a push toward Regionals. This is something that seemed out of reach after finishing in 15th place two weeks ago, but with their performance during the past week, Kansas is back in the hunt.

“The nice thing is that making Regionals is an option again,” Grove said. “We are still a long ways away, but we may move up 20-25 spots with this second place finish.”

According to Grove, the Jayhawks need to finish in the top three in the next two events, but with three top three finishes already this season that type of performance is not out of the question.

“I’m just really proud of the way the guys played this week, especially after the last few tournaments,” Grove said.

— Edited by Drew Anderson