photo by: Sydney Allan/Kansas Athletics

The Kansas women's golf team poses for a photo after winning the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational in Lawrence on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.

The Kansas women’s golf team earned its first victory of the season on Tuesday by winning the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational at Lawrence Country Club for the third consecutive year.

The Jayhawks jumped out to a huge lead by shooting 8-under in the opening round on Monday as no opponent did better than 10-over, and they maintained a similar margin over the course of the rest of the event, ultimately finishing at 6-over with a 23-stroke lead over second-place Delaware.

“I’m very proud of these ladies,” KU coach Lindsay Kuhle said in a press release. “I think there’s a lot of pressure and expectations to host at home. Every year you have people and family from all over the world coming into town to watch you play, I think that adds some expectations and pressure but our ladies got off to a great start in the first round shooting eight under. I think they set the tone early.”

The Blue Hens did take home the individual title, with Rhianna Gooneratne at 2-under for the tournament, beating out KU junior Ebba Nordstedt, the reigning champion, by two strokes. But Nordstedt was one of four Jayhawks in the top six spots. Sophomore Kinslea Jones had led after two rounds and finished in a tie for third at 1-over. Fifth-year golfer Anna Wallin came in fifth at 4-over, and freshman Hannah Hall was sixth at 5-over.

The final member of the Jayhawks’ A team was senior Lyla Louderbaugh, who tied for 16th at 13-over. KU did manage to slip a member of its B team into the top 10, as freshman Elizabeth Wilson tied for 10th by shooting 11-over.

The KU B team was 64-over as a group and came in eighth, with Wilson followed by senior Zoe Pinillos (tied for 24th, 15-over), sophomore Marieke Ebens (tied for 39th, 19-over), freshman Lavanya Gupta (45th, 21-over) and sophomore Amanada Gyllner (50th, 24-over).

Behind Kansas A and Delaware were on the team leaderboard were, in order, Cal, UC Davis, Longwood, St. Thomas, Central Arkansas, Kansas B, New Mexico, San Francisco, Middle Tennessee, Creighton, Omaha and Northern Iowa.

The Jayhawks, who had finished fifth and eighth in their first two events of the season, will be in action next beginning on Oct. 16 at the Play for Her Stanford Invitational in Stanford, California.

“I think the trajectory of our program is going to continue to get better,” Kuhle said in the release. “We’re going to continue to attract the best players in the world and be a national championship contender. When you prove that at home and have players that want to win individually and win for their team, I think you’re only going to see the program improve. It’s super special and we work really hard and we prepare really hard to know hole locations and know every shot we can have out here. I believe it’s all in hard work and preparation.”