photo by: AP Photo/Matt York

Gunnar Broin waves after making a putt on the seventh hole during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament Saturday, June 15, 2024, in Pinehurst, N.C.

Despite losing to its final two opponents at Big 12 match play, which concluded on Wednesday, the Kansas men’s golf team still managed to finish fourth of 14 participating schools.

KU knocked off second-seeded Oklahoma State in a thrilling finish on Tuesday to briefly advance to 2-0-1, as the Jayhawks had already beaten Kansas State and tied UCF. Graduate senior Gunnar Broin overcame a late one-stroke deficit and beat OSU’s Etahn Fang outright to clinch that 3-2 result.

However, the Jayhawks ran into eventual match play champion BYU later on Tuesday and lost 3-1-1, then had to face top-seeded Arizona State in a third-place matchup on Wednesday.

Broin and junior transfer Luke Honner beat their opponents to advance to 3-2 and 2-1-2 on the week, respectively, but Noah Holtzman (1-3-1), Max Jelinek (1-3-1) and Will King (3-2) lost, allowing ASU to claim third place at 3-2.

“I thought we played fairly solid today but couldn’t get a third point,” KU coach Jamie Bermel said in a press release. “Gunnar and Luke won today and controlled their matches from start to finish.”

KU exceeded its No. 7 seed entering the competition by three places. Sixth-seeded BYU and No. 13 Baylor ended up taking the top two spots.

“Overall, it was a solid performance this week with a fourth-place finish,” Bermel said. “Match play is a different style of golf and we handled it fairly well. A lot of golf in four days, but our guys played hard every day.”

The Jayhawks will be back in action at the Fallen Oak Invitational in Biloxi, Mississippi, beginning Oct. 19.