Kansas rule forces prep golfers to choose between HS & national events. What to know
A Kansas High School Activities Association rule bars golfers from playing in American Junior Golf Association events during the high school season, forcing the state’s top players to choose between defending state titles and chasing college recruiting exposure.
The debate has intensified as elite Kansas golfers increasingly skip high school competition for the national circuit.
FULL STORY: Kansas’ top prep golfers face an impossible choice. Is a rule hurting the sport?
Here are key takeaways:
- Defending Class 5A champion Colt Farrow, a Colorado signee, skipped this year’s state tournament to play in the Team TaylorMade Invitational in Florida, where he tied for 16th in a 72-player field.
- KSHSAA amended the rule in 2022 to allow one approved outside competition during the season, but the list includes only Central Links Golf and USGA events — not AJGA tournaments that drive national rankings and college recruiting.
- Wichita Collegiate’s Lunden Esterline gave up high school golf after winning the Class 3A title as a freshman in 2024. He went on to win the Junior PGA Championship, join Team USA for the Junior Ryder Cup and commit to Auburn.
- Four top-50 nationally ranked junior golfers living in Andover — Farrow, Esterline and sisters Emerie and Avery Schartz — are not playing Kansas high school golf because of the rule.
- Oklahoma and Texas allow high school golfers to play outside events during the school season, and KSHSAA’s Jeremy Holaday said another review of the rule could come this summer.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.
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Taylor Eldridge
The Wichita Eagle