Kentucky Begins Spring Season at Kiawah Invitational
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The spring slate for the Kentucky men’s golf team tees off this week at the Kiawah Invitational Feb. 14-16. The three-day, 54-hole event encompasses a field of 14 squads taking on the Oak Point course of the Kiawah Island Resort. The course plays at a par of 72 over 6,701 yards.
“We have a great spring schedule line up,” UK head coach Brian Craig said. “It starts Sunday with the Kiawah Invitational. The guys have had a very productive break and our practices this winter have been solid. Let’s compete.”
Action begins at 8:30 a.m. ET on Sunday off both the No. 1 and No. 10 tees.
This marks the first of five regular-season spring events for the Wildcats. UK competed in three fall tournaments, highlighted by an eighth-place finish at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational Oct. 5-7.
In addition to the action at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, sophomore Alex Goff will compete at the annual Genesis Open Collegiate Showcase at The Riveria Country Club in Palisades, California on Monday. Goff will play for the opportunity to qualify for the PGA Tour’s Genesis Open on the same course beginning on Thursday. The low amateur from Monday’s round of 18 receives an automatic exemption to compete alongside the game’s best players.
Goff concluded the fall season with a pair of top-three finishes, including his first career win at The Blessings. He has five par-or-better rounds over nine rounds played this season. In 10 career events, he’s placed in the top 10 on four occasions and in the top 20 six times.
The Lineup
Graduate student Jacob Cook headlines the lineup at Kiawah and is making his seventh career start and the fourth this season. He tied for 23rd at The Blessings and placed in a tie for 35th at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate in the fall. His 212 scorecard at Jerry Pate marked the lowest tournament score of his career. He also carded a career-low round of 69 during the second round at the Blessings. Cook has appeared in 16 career events and has generated 12 par-or-better rounds. He entered his season having the most productive summer of his career with two individual tournament wins and two tournaments in which he finished as the low amateur.
Graduate student Reid Bedell will enter the lineup for the first time as a Wildcat. Bedell comes to the Wildcats after a solid two-year career at USC Upstate. The Fair Haven, New Jersey, native has competed in 37 career events and owns a 73.82 stroke average. A season ago, Bedell was ranked No. 78 nationally and earned a spot on the PING All-Southeast Region Team. He was a two-time Big South Golfer of the Week and led the conference with a 70.31 scoring average which set a USC Upstate program record.
Sophomore Cooper Parks will make his third start of the season and the eighth of his career. He finished in a tie for 55th at the Blessings to open the season. The Campbellsville, Kentucky, native has produced 15 team counted rounds in 19 career opportunities. Parks has logged four par-or-better rounds and his career-low finish is a tie for 18th in the opening event of his collegiate career. Parks fired a career-low round of 70 at the Bearcat Invitational and boasted a career-low score of 218 at that event.
Senior Allen Hamilton is slated to make his fourth start of the season and the 13th of his career this week. He tied for 37th overall at The Blessings and tied for 53rd at the Legends. His 215 score at the Legends marked the second lowest of his career. The Louisville, Kentucky, native was the team’s lowest scorer in 2019-20 with a 72.88 average. He has a pair of top-20 career finishes with a low of fourth place at the Bearcat Invitational in October of 2019. For his career, Hamilton has produced 23 team-counted scores and 11 par-or-better rounds.
Junior Zach Norris will make his second start of the 2020-21 season this week. He scored a tie for 44th at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate in his one appearance this fall. He opened with a round of 69, a career-low tally, and his score was second on the team. For his career, the McKee, Kentucky, native has 21 team counted rounds and 11 par-or-better rounds. Twice he has earned a top-20 finish, including a tie for 12th at the Seminole Invitational Feb. 23-24, 2019.
The Wildcats will also have three individuals in the field this week. Freshman Hugo Archer will make his collegiate debut. The Rennes, France, native reached as high as No. 277 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking according to the United States Golf Association and he generated 10 top-10 finishes in 18 counting events on the amateur tour.
Sophomore Jay Kirchdorfer will play in his fourth career event and the first of the season. The Louisville, Kentucky, native tied for 19th at the Steelwood Collegiate Invitational a season ago to highlight his career thus far. Sophomore Jackson LaLonde makes his fourth career appearance and second of the year. He logged a career-low 72 in the opening round of the Legends Collegiate Invitational this fall to get off to a fast start at that tournament.
The Tournament
The three-day, 54-hole event will be held Sunday-Tuesday at the Oak Point course at the Kiawah Island Resort in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. In addition to the Wildcats, the field consists of Clemson, College of Charleston, East Carolina, East Tennessee State, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers, UNC-Wilmington, Wake Forest and Wisconsin.
It will mark the first event of the season that is not comprised entirely of Southeastern Conference foes for UK. All three fall events only consisted of the league’s 14 member institutions.
This is the first time the event has been played in the spring season and the first at the Oak Point course.
Live scoring will be provided by golfstat.com.
The Course
Oak Point delivers superior playing surface with its regressing in paspalum. The refreshed design provides a greater strategic challenge. Originally crafted by Clyden Johnson, it lies along the Kiawah River and Haulover Creek which is surrounded by maritime forest. The greens embody subtle breaks which are hard to read along with undulating fairways.
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