March 29, 2010
AWENDAW, S.C. — Four members of the University of Kentucky men’s golf team improved on their scores from the opening round, helping UK post its second lowest round of the season with a 1-under-par team score Monday at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate.
Kentucky (299-283-582) currently sits 11th on the team leaderboard with a two-day total of 582, sitting at 14-over-par for the tournament. The Wildcats shot a 283 in the second round, only strokes off the lowest team-round score of the season of 279 which was scored in the Hummingbird Intercollegiate opening round. Kentucky went on the finish tied for second at the Hummingbird Intercollegiate for its best finish of the season so far.
UK improved a dramatic 16 strokes as a team from the opening round. The improvement was one of the best of the tournament and puts the Wildcats in a position to claim a top-10 finish against a tough tournament field. Of the 15 teams in the tournament 12 are ranked in the top 50 with Kentucky being the only team not ranked to sit in the top 13.
Kentucky was paced Tuesday by senior Jordan Blann (73-70-143) and freshman Chase Parker (79-70-149) who each carded 1-under-par scores. Blann, who was leading the Wildcats heading into the second round, posted three birdies to sit in a tie for 18th. The native of Bowling Green, Ky., Blann scored two birdies on the front-nine to make the turn at 1-under-par. The Kentucky Golf Association Amateur Player of the Year fell to even-par after bogeying the 13th hole, but responded three holes later by birdying the par-4 No. 16 hole. Blann, who scored a rare eagle in the opening round, stands at 1-over-par for the tournament.
Parker, a native of Augusta, Ga., jumped eight spots up the leaderboard Tuesday by matching Blann’s team-low 1-under-par score. Parker improved his score by nine strokes on day two, using three birdies and an impressive 1-under-par total on the back-nine to make the impressive improvements. The freshman sits in a tie for 51st with sophomore Mads Kristensen (73-76-149) heading into the final round. Kristensen posted two birdies in the second round on his way to a 5-over-par finish. Both players are 7-over-par for the tournament.
Senior Ben Fuqua (77-71-148) and junior Brian Belden (76-72-148) also made improvements from their first round scores with Fuqua scoring an even-par 71 and Belden a 1-over-par 72. Both players sit tied for 46th after the first two days. Fuqua posted a team-low 2-under-par on the back-nine with the help of two birdies on the final nine holes. A native of Danville, Ky., Fuqua improved his score by six strokes Tuesday and sits at 6-over-par for the tournament.
Belden, a native of Emmaus, Pa., parred every hole on the front-nine and carded one birdie on the back nine for the four-stroke improvement from day one. The junior parred 15 holes in the second round, the most on the team.
LSU (288-278-566) leads the tournament, sitting at 2-over-par after the first two rounds while North Carolina State’s Matt Hill (68-67-135) is on top of the individual leaderboard at 7-under-par.
The third and final round will be played Tuesday with Kentucky’s tee times starting at 8 a.m. ET. Live stats will be available on ukathletics.com through golfstat.com.
