Men's Golf
April 21, 2021 - 05:34 PM

Jacob Cook in Top 10 Following Opening Round at SEC Championship

by Deb Moore

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The Kentucky men’s golf team was led by graduate student Jacob Cook who fired an opening-round 1-under-par 69 and is tied for 10th at the Southeastern Conference Championship. The Wildcats are in 12th after an 8-over-par scorecard, but nine teams are separated by just seven shots entering Thursday’s second round of stroke play.

The teams are vying for eight spots following 54-holes of stroke play to advance to the weekend’s match-play portion of the event which will ultimately determine the league’s champion on Sunday.

Kentucky will share the course with Missouri and Florida on Thursday with tee times beginning at 9 a.m. ET off of hole No. 10. Live stats are available via golfstat.com.

“Jacob Cook was our first out today for us and played a beautiful round of golf,” UK head coach Brian Craig said. “The other guys battled and played decent. Seaside was a strong test on the back nine once the wind picked up. It will likely be the same tomorrow and we will be up for the challenge.”
No. 10 Georgia leads the field through 18 holes at 5-under par. Tennessee is second at 3-under, while Arkansas is just one stroke off the Volunteers’ pace. LSU and Vanderbilt are tied at 1-over par to round out the top five.

Cook opened his round with a steady even par through the first six holes. He dropped a stroke at the seventh, but immediately rebounded with a birdie on the par-four eighth. The Frankfort, Kentucky, native made the turn at even par. Despite windy conditions, Cook played beautifully over his final nine holes. He did not drop a single stroke and picked up a birdie at the par-three 17th to finish the round at 1-under par. He is tied for 10th on the individual leaderboard after his ninth par-or-better score of the season.

Senior Allen Hamilton fired a 2-over-par 72 and is tied for 33rd overall. Hamilton combated four bogeys with a pair of birdies at the second and the 15th.

Graduate student Reid Bedell opened play at his first SEC Championship with a birdie on the first hole. He traded setbacks with birdies at the ninth, 15th and 16th for a 3-over 73. Bedell finished the day in a tie for 41st on the leaderboard.

Sophomores Alex Goff and Cooper Parks logged rounds of 74 and 78, respectively. Goff is tied for 48th and Parks is tied for 65th.

This marks the 20th year for the SEC Championship to be contested on the Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course. The SEC has conducted its annual championship on St. Simons Island since 2001. Since 1927, the Sea Island Golf Club has enjoyed a legacy as one of America’s premier golf clubs.

Rated No. 1 in the U.S. among the “World’s 50 Best Golf Hotels” by Golf Digest Index, Sea Island Golf Club offers three exceptional 18-hole championship courses. The Seaside Course, home to the PGA TOUR’s McGladrey Classic, is a links course graced by majestic ocean vistas in the tradition of St. Andrews.

Originally designed in 1929 by famed architects Harry S. Colt and Charles Alison, the Seaside Course was updated in 1999 by Tom Fazio – earning it a prominent place on Golf Digest’s list of “Top 100 Courses in the United States.”