The RoundHouse | 7/1/2020 2:05:00 PM

 

 
Sure, golf is a little weird with pool noodles and no high fives. In a pandemic world, a sport made for social distancing is one that can continue without too many alterations.
 
"Golf has been pretty lucky, especially in Kansas," said Madison Slayton, who will be a freshman at Wichita State this fall. "For the most part, it's been really normal. We've been able to get outside and forget about all the weirdness."
 
Slayton is one of several Shocker women's golfers active this summer. On Saturday, she begins play in the North & South Junior Championship at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort. She won the Kansas Junior Golf Association Invitational in early June in Emporia and tied for 12^thin the Kansas Junior Amateur Championship in Salina. 
 
Also in June,sophomore Sarah Lawson advanced to the quarterfinals of KC Match Play Championship. Kenni Henson and Megan Lucas played in the tournament.
 
On Wednesday, Henson, a transfer from UMKC, defeated Oklahoma State's Emma Whitaker in the City Match Play Championship to advance to Thursday's semifinal at Wichita Country Club.
 
Slayton won the Kansas Class 4A title as a freshman at Trinity Academy and finished second in Class 5A for Andover as a senior. Golf, she said, is more enjoyable this summer with the pressure of playing for a college scholarship relieved. She signed with Wichita State last fall after considering schools such as Southern Mississippi, Missouri and Kansas.
 
"I'm signed and ready to go – now I'm just playing to have fun," she said. "Before, stepping into a tournament, it was always at the front of my mind – 'Where am I going to end up in college?'"
 
NCAA rules prohibit women's coach Tom McCurdy from attending tournaments during the summer. Most of the Shockers will work with personal coaches. It has been easier for those in the United States to play in tournaments than for his golfers from abroad.
 
"I want them to keep their hands on their clubs and stay competitive," he said. "Our domestic kids have all been playing in tournaments - pretty much normal. It's not a contact sport and you can stay 10 feet away from anybody all day long."
 
Lucas stays sharp by practicing and working with junior golfers at Topeka Country Club. She plans on playing three or four more tournaments this summer. While golfers can't high five or touch the flag – and the pool noodles are meant to allow them to retrieve the ball without touching the hole – she finds the sport proceeding fairly normally. 
 
"Golf was a familiar thing I could turn to and rely on," she said. 
 
Lucas, also a transfer from UMKC, looked at several schools after UMKC dropped the program. Gary Lucas, her father, played golf for the Shockers from 1985-87 and was a member of the 1986 Missouri Valley Conference champions.
 
Henson, from Derby, joined the Shockers first. That made the decision even more comfortable for Lucas.
 
"It felt like staying closer to home was the right choice," Lucas said.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.