6A SPORTS
GOLF
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2009
Team in third place before final round
BY ANDREW WITUSZYNSKI
awituszynski@kansan.com
awituszynski@kansan.com
It was cold. It was windy. It was what the team wanted.
"When you're playing on your own home course that's exactly what you want," coach Kit Grove said. "You want the course to play as tough as possible."
Although the bad weather was perfect for the Jayhawks, they said they were not where they wanted to be after the first two rounds at the Kansas Invitational at Alvamar Monday. The team's goal at the beginning of the tournament was to win, but after 36 holes and with only 18 left to play, the Jayhawks are in third place. Kansas is five strokes behind second-place Oklahoma and seven strokes behind first-place Missouri.
"It was a disappointing first day for us," Dakota Dunes, S.D., junior Nate Baree said. "If we have a good day tomorrow, though, we can come back and win it."
Barbee shot one of the best rounds of the day, a 69 in round two, but said he was still disappointed. Barbee's dad walked over as Barbee was looking at the scoreboard to tell him that he was in second place individually and Barbee said, "I know, but I'm more worried about the team's score."
Barbee is one stroke back going into the final round tomorrow, and he will be paired with the overall leader.
"I would love to have him win it all." Grove said. "If he can stay in the hunt all the way until the last
few holes, he has a great shot."
Bryan Hackenberg, Denver,
Colo., senior, shot a 74 and a 76,
helping lead the team.
The play of Alex Gutesha, Greenwood Village, Colo., freshman, and Jeff Bell, Wichita freshman, was where the team took some hits. Bell is the reigning club champion at Alvamar and shot a 73 to start, but he shot an 81 in the second round.
"Jeff played really well this morning, but you never want to have to count an 81 as one of your four scores, but we had to and we'll have to live with it," Grove said.
Gutesha shot an 80 in the first round and an 86 in the second round. Gutesha shot rounds below par in each of the first two tournaments, but he was unable to do so in the first two rounds at Alvamar on Monday.
The Jayhawks tee off at 8:30 a.m. today and are still in the hunt with 18 holes to go.
"Alex has great firepower and we need him to show it tomorrow if we're going to win this. He just needs to eat something different tomorrow for breakfast than he did this morning." Grove said.
"We let it slip away from us a little bit, but we're not too far behind," assistant coach John Handrigan said. "We're still within striking distance."
Edited by Nick Gerik
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Freshman Alex Gutesha chips the ball onto the green during the Kansas Invitational at the Alamogar Golf Course. The Kansas invitational is a two-day event and began Monday.
suddenly fell silent after three weeks of impressive performances.
FOOTBALL (CONTINUED FROM 10A)
"They did that hurry up offense a lot and in the fourth quarter they weren't doing it so much," junior linebacker Drew Dudley said. "Not only that, but we got more used to their hurry up offense. We had more time to set up so everyone knew their responsibility."
Junior defensive end Jake Laptad, who had Kansas' only sack, said. "He was getting rid of the ball really quick. I was getting frustrated with not being able to get back there and get him down. And the whole d-line wasn't getting one."
Still, the Jayhawks expressed a sense of optimism with their defensive performance against the Golden Eagles.
Mangino and his players noted their shortcomings on the defensive side after the game. They said there was plenty of room for improvement and that the unit as a whole was still progressing each week.
"You can't stop every offense every time," junior cornerback Chris Harris said. "Fourth quarter, man, it's time to win. We had to win that game."
OFFENSIVE LINE PLAY NOT DISCOURAGING
Much of the post-game attention turned to Kansas' offensive line, a group that played well for the season's first three games. Against Southern Miss, the offensive line allowed five sacks.
But Mangino insisted that the Golden Eagles' defensive
schemes — not a poor performance from the line — were to blame for the pressure on senior quarterback Todd Reesing.
"They took some shots on some blitzes." Mangino said.
With three new starters — and with returning starter Jeremiah Hatch moving from tackle to center this season — the offensive line entered as an area of concern before Kansas' first game.
So far this season, though. Mangino has continually said that the line has played well, while continuing to improve with more game experience.
KICKOFF TIME SET FOR IOWA STATE
The Jayhawks don't play this Saturday because of a bye week, but Iowa State will play Kansas State this Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.
On Monday, it was announced that Kansas' Big 12 conference opener against Iowa State on Oct. 10 will kickoff at 11:30 a.m. The contest, which is Kansas' homecoming game, will be televised on Versus.
Iowa State is 3-1 this season. Last year, in their Big 12 opener, the Jayhawks trailed the Cyclones by 20 at halftime before putting together the third-largest comeback in school history for a 35-33 victory.
This marks the third consecutive pre-neon kickoff for Kansas this season.
Edited by Meqan Morriss
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chicago White Sox's Bret Lillibridge (18) beats the throw to Cleveland Indians first baseman Andy Martine for an infield single during the seventh inning Monday in Cleveland
Danks earns victory in Sox-Indians game
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CLEVELAND — Gordon Beckham drove in three runs to help John Danks earn his first victory in more than a month and the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 6-1 on Monday night.
Danks' first career complete game gave Chicago its third victory in four games following a stretch of seven losses in eight games.
Cleveland came in one-half game ahead of lastplace Kansas City in the AL Central after sweeping a three-game series from Baltimore.
The Indians, trying to avoid a last-place finish for the first time since going a franchise-worst 75-101 in 1991, are 6-20 in September.
A year ago, they went 32-17 down the stretch to finish at .500 — giving hope to Cleveland fans that the Indians could return to contention after winning the division in 2007.
Danks (13-10) allowed three hits and one run, striking out seven in his first complete game at any level since being drafted in 2003 by Texas.
Shin-Soo Choo hit his 19th homer leading off the seventh to break up the left-hander's bid for his first career shutout.
Dallas Cowboys running back back Felix Jones (28) sprints away from Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers (90) and comeback Richard Marshall (31) in the second half for a long run on Augustin in Arlington. The Cowboys outpace 21-7.
NFL
Cowboys defense shuts down Panthers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARLINGTON, Texas — Terence Newman dived into the end zone, threw the ball into the air and exhaled. The Dallas Cowboys were headed to victory and their maligned defense was the main reason for it.
Newman returned an interception 27 yards for a touchdown with 5:07 left, cracking open a tight game and sending the Cowboys to a 21-7 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Monday night.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dallas (2-1) came into this game without a takeaway or a sack, the latter number an especially sorry stat for last year's NFL leaders. But the Cowboys harassed Jake Delhomme into three sacks, two interceptions and a fumble — and, most importantly, forced him and the Panthers (0-3) into four straight three-and-outs to start the second half. Two sacks and the fumble came on Carolina's final drive.
Tony Romo moved the ball well all night, but struggled to turn deep drives into points.
Teammates mobbed him in celebration while a loud crowd of 90.588 savored the likelihood of the Cowboys' first victory in their new $1.15 billion home, a week after a last-second loss to the New York Giants.
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Dallas was leading only 13-7 when Newman picked off a ball intended for Steve Smith and zipped toward the right corner of the end zone, hurting in as he was caught from behind.
"You're always frustrated and disappointed when you don't play to what you feel like you're capable of. That was me last week," Romo said. "There's a lot of adversity you have to go through at different times, and if you keep plugging away, playing hard and just
Romo bounced back from an ugly three-interception outing by playing very carefully. He was 22 of 33 for 255 yards with no touchdowns — but also no turnovers. He didn't throw deep, too often and rarely into traffic. He had a chance to give Dallas a 10-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, but missed on short lobs into the end zone to Roy Williams and Martellus Bennett, which gave Carolina hope.
Delhomme blew it with the interception to Newman on the ensuing possession, and now his season and Carolina's are going to face some heavy scruaty.
to try to get better, it'll come out the right way. ... This week was all about trying to execute better so we could come out and get a win"
The Panthers have gone from 12-4 division champs to their worst start since 1998, when they started 0-7. Delhomme has 15 turnovers in his past 16 quarters, and Carolina is going into a bye week, meaning more time to stew over it all.
Delhomme's numbers weren't terrible: 22 of 33 for 220 yards. But his six second-half drives ended with four punts, an interception and a fumble.
Cowboys running back Marion Barber sat out with a thigh problem, and second-year backs Felix Jones and Tashard Choice picked up the slack.
Jay Rattliff had Dallas' first sack and Mike Jenkins had the first pickoff. Rookie Victor Butler had the last two sacks, both on Carolina's final drive, and he forced the fumble on the final one.
Jones had plays of 16, 18 and 20 yards on the first two drives, but Dallas didn't have any points to show for it. He finished with 94 yards on only eight carries, and another 20 yards on a pass. He left with a knee injury in the third quarter, leaving Choice to handle the load. He finished with 82 yards on 18 carries, including a touchdown.
Dallas' Nick Folk ended a streak of 16 straight field goals by missing a 40-yarder on the opening drive. He made a 24-yarder at the start of the second half, then Choice scored on a 5-yard run to put the Cowboys up 10-7 on their next drive. Folk made a 19-yarder to nudge the lead to 13-7 after the incompletions to Williams and Bennett.
Carolina went ahead 7-0 with a 90-yard drive just before halftime. Delhomme completed three passes for 58 yards to Dante Rosario, who caught three passes for 31 yards in the first two games. Rosario scored on a 25-yard reception.
Jason Witten caught nine passes for 77 yards, and Roy Williams caught four for 75.
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