Kentucky Concludes Regular-Season Action at Gary Koch
2017-18 Season Stats
LEXINGTON, Ky. – With an already-impressive résumé, the Kentucky men’s golf team will look to put an exclamation point on one of the most prolific regular seasons under head coach Brian Craig with its final regular-season competition beginning on Monday. The Wildcats will compete for the final time prior to this month’s Southeastern Conference Championship with a 54-hole, two-day event at the Gary Koch Invitational in Gastonia, North Carolina.
The loaded field will play 36 holes on Monday, before wrapping up play with the final 18 on Tuesday.
Kentucky has garnered seven top-five finishes on the year and has placed in the top five in each of its last three events, including a spring-best third-place finish at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate in late March. It’s the most top-five finishes in the regular season since 2003-04 when it finished in the top five eight times.
Junior Lukas Euler and freshman Max Mehles led the way for the Wildcats at the Hootie at Bulls Bay with top-10 finishes. Euler placed second overall behind three under-par rounds. It marked the third top-10 and sixth top-20 finish of the season for the Dieburg, Germany, native. Mehles earned the lowest score of his career and capped the tournament with his best finish of the year in a tie for sixth. He had three rounds of par-or-better, including consecutive rounds of 3-under par.
This is the 12th time under Craig that the Wildcats will play in the Gary Koch. The field includes five top-five teams and seven who rank inside of the top 75 according to Golfstat’s rankings as of April 4.
Coach Craig’s Takeaway
“The Gary Koch Invitational at Gaston Country Club is our next tournament. We co-host this event with Auburn University. Having grown up on Gaston and learning the game there, it is a very special place to me. We have an excellent field coming, but our biggest challenge will be the greens’ complexity. They are simply fabulous with lightning-quick greens. We have a team full of excellent putters and our boys will be ready.”
Lineup Profiles
Lukas Euler: Euler is playing the best golf of his career for the Wildcats during his junior campaign. He owns a squad-best 71.46 stroke average with six top-20 finishes and 17 par-or-better rounds on the year. During the spring slate, Euler has posted a par-or-better score in 10 of 15 rounds, including each of the last six.
Cooper Musselman: Musselman has started in all nine events for the Wildcats this season with four top-10 finishes, including his first-ever collegiate win at the Crooked Stick Invitational. He has 15 par-or-better rounds with seven of his last nine coming in that fashion. For the year, he’s averaging a 72.17 stroke average with five top-20 finishes.
Chip McDaniel: McDaniel is averaging 72.75 strokes a round and will make his ninth start of the season and the 42nd of his career. He has earned one individual tournament victory this season and has carded five top-20 finishes. McDaniel has totaled 12 par-or-better rounds, including four of his last six played.
Max Mehles: Mehles will make his third-career start this week at the Gary Koch Invitational after the best performance of his career at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate. Mehles has appeared in five tournaments during his redshirt-freshman season and is logging a 73.47 stroke average with two top-10 finishes in his last three appearances.
Fred Allen Meyer: Meyer will make his seventh start of the season and third consecutive. For the season, Meyer is averaging 73.19 strokes per round with seven coming in at par or better. Meyer has posted five top-20 finishes in his career, including a tie for 11th at the Bearcat Invitational earlier this season.
Individuals
Matt Liston: Liston will make his seventh appearance of the season and the second as an individual. He tied for fifth at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate in his best performance of his career. He is averaging a career-low 74.56 stroke average with three par-or-better rounds.
Evan Cox: Cox will appear in his fourth event of the season already owning one top-10 finish with a tie for seventh at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate. He is logging a 74.92 stroke average, a low for his two-year career at UK.
Fadhli Soetarso: Soetarso will make his second appearance on the year. He placed fifth at the individual tournament at the Puerto Rico Classic with rounds of 76-72-74.
The Tournament Setup
Teams: Auburn, Coastal Carolina, Florida State, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville, Jacksonville State, Kentucky, Lamar, Louisiana-Monroe, Ole Miss, Virginia, Western Carolina
Course Details: The 18-hole “Gaston” course at the Gaston Country Club facility in Gastonia, North Carolina features 7,042 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 72. The course rating is 74.4 and it has a slope rating of 135 on Bermuda grass. Designed by Ellis Maples, the Gaston golf course opened in 1958.
Format: Two-day, 54-hole event. Count top four scores each day.
Schedule of Play: Players will play 36 holes on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday
Live Look: Live stats are available via golfstat.com.
Forecast: Monday (80% chance of showers; high of 58); Tuesday (partly cloudy and a high of 68)
History at Gary Koch Invitational
Years Participated: 11 (2017, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001)
Best Finish: First (2004)
Returning Player Finishes From 2017: Chip McDaniel (T9); Lukas Euler (T23); Cooper Musselman (T29); Evan Cox (T39); Matt Liston (T55); Fadhli Soetarso (T58); Fred Allen Meyer (T60)
Noteworthy: Chip McDaniel fired a career-low 7-under-par, 65, in the final round to surge into the top 10 on the individual leaderboard.
Upcoming Schedule
April 26-29 SEC Championships St. Simons Island, Ga.
Agate
Kentucky
1 – Lukas Euler
2 – Cooper Musselman
3 – Chip McDaniel
4 – Max Mehles
5 – Fred Allen Meyer
Individuals
Matt Liston
Evan Cox
Fadhli Soetarso
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s golf team, follow @UKMensGolf on Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.
