March 17, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. — After finishing in the top three in two of its last three tournaments, the University of Kentucky men’s golf team looks to keep its momentum rolling this weekend when it competes in the 32nd annual Schenkel Invitational at Forest Heights Golf Club in Statesboro, Ga., on Friday. The tournament will be played at the par-72, with a yardage of 6,962.
Kentucky will be making its sixth consecutive appearance in the tournament and its 11th overall. The Wildcats have performed well at the event since head coach Brian Craig took over the reins of the program, scoring two top-5 finishes at the tournament. Last year, Kentucky finished 14th.
UK will send a young rotation to this year’s event, featuring three sophomores in Chase Parker, Seth Blann and Joseph Barr and two freshmen in Cody Martin and Stephen Powers. Parker and Barr have paced the Wildcats so far this season with Parker earning a team-low season stroke average of 73.37 with one top-10 finish, while Barr has a season stroke average of 74.21 with two top-10 finishes.
Redshirt freshman Cody Martin has performed well for UK this fall, finishing tied for fourth at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate and tied for 21st at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate. The native of Union, Ky., has a season stroke average of 76.57.
Blann and Powers will wrap up the UK lineup along with junior Mads Kristensen, who is playing in the event as an individual. Blann has played in every tournament this season for UK, scoring a season stroke average of 76.05 with one top-20 finish. Powers, a native of Naperville, Ill., has played in four tournaments this season with his best finish coming at the Hummingbird Intercollegiate, where he finished tied for 27th. Kristensen has played in two tournaments this year with a season stroke average of 74.80.
The Schenkel Invitational, dubbed by Golf World as the “Collegiate Championship of the East,” features another championship-caliber field from across the country. Including Kentucky, the 2011 field includes Auburn, Florida, Georgia Southern, LSU, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, North Carolina, N.C. State, North Florida, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Virginia.
Florida leads the field in the current Golfweek/Sargarin poll in fifth place. Auburn, the 2010 winner, ranks ninth with LSU in 12th place. Virginia and N.C. State round out the teams in the top 25, ranked 19th and 20th place, respectively. Georgia Southern, North Florida and Tennessee join Florida, Auburn and Virginia as participants in last year’s NCAA Championship.
Live scoring of the Schenkel Invitational is available at www.golfstat.com. Fans may also follow the Schenkel Invitational at twitter.com/SchenkelInvite.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s golf team, visit UKathletics.com or follow “UKmensgolf” on Twitter.
