Kansas Jayhawks women’s golf team headed to NCAAs for 3rd time in program history
For the first time since 2014 and third time in school history, the University of Kansas’ women’s golf team is headed to the NCAA Championships.
Led by Buffalo, Missouri native Lyla Louderbaugh, who became the first KU golfer to earn medalist honors at an NCAA regional, the Jayhawks captured the NCAA Columbus, Ohio regional title Wednesday at OSU Golf Club.
It’s the first NCAA regional championship win in program history for KU.
Battling cold and rainy conditions, the Jayhawks secured the team title over Arkansas by three shots.
The tournament win marked the first collegiate individual title for Louderbaugh, who fired a final round, career-low 65 (-7) to win the event by eight shots.
After a bogey on the second hole, Louderbaugh had eight birdies the rest of the way during Wednesday’s final round. She posted rounds of 69-70-65 to finish at -12 with a career-low 54-hole total of 204.
In Wednesday’s final round, the Jayhawks fired a tournament-low score of 276 (-12) to jump two spots and win the event by three strokes. Kansas had team scores of 289-293-276 — or 6-under 858.
KU also advanced to the NCAA championships in 1990 and 2014. This week’s performance marked the second time Kansas has advanced through regional qualifying, as NCAA regionals were first introduced in 1993.
In 1990, the Jayhawks claimed a spot at the NCAA championship by winning the Big Eight Tournament and received an invitation to participate in the championship event.
KU senior Johanna Ebner, a. native of Villach, Austria, fired a final round 5-under 67 that included seven birdies. Ebner placed in a tie for 12th, finishing the tournament at 1-over par.
In her NCAA regional debut, freshman Ebba Nordstedt, a native of Gantofta, Sweden, tied for 21st with rounds of 77-74-70, good for 5-over-par 221. Her final round featured four birdies.
Senior Lauren Clark also tied for 21st, finishing 5-over with rounds of 72-75-74, including a final-round 74 (+2). Clark is from Orlando, Florida. Junior Amy DeKock, a native of Palm Desert, Florida, shot a final-round 74 (+2). She tied for 38th at +10 overall after rounds of 72-80-74.
“What a day. I am so incredibly proud of the way we showed up the last two days,” coach Lindsay Kuhle said. “We have been visualizing this all year and I think a lot of it is us believing we could do this.
“We have depth on this team where any player can win. To have six team wins and five individual wins on the year is incredible. Hats off to Lyla shooting 65, with Johanna (Ebner) and Ebba (Nordstedt) coming through with big time performances on a championship course.”
She added: “Everyone contributed and made a difference this week. Our finish at the Big 12 championship (10th of 14 teams) was a huge motivator for us. We had a competitive week of practice that prepared our ladies for this moment. I’m so grateful for this group and how much they care about each other. We’re so fortunate to have this opportunity to compete for KU at the highest level.”
In all, five teams qualified for NCAA competition: KU at -6, Arkansas (-3), Ohio State (+1), UNLV (+4) and LSU (+18). Other scores: Houston (+22), Kent State (+25), SMU (+26), Illinois (+27), Xavier (+29), Illinois State (+58), Oakland (+78).
Individual champ Louderbaugh was part of three Missouri state championship teams at Springfield Catholic High School. The 2024 Kansas women’s amateur champion holds the Missouri high school record with a round of 63 (-7), recorded on Sept. 26, 2022.
The NCAA Championships will be held May 16-21 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Kansas Jayhawks women’s golf team headed to NCAAs for 3rd time in program history."
