March 21, 2015
STATESBORO, Ga. – All four players charted under-par rounds over the final 18 holes at the Schenkel Invitational as the Kentucky men’s golf team logged a season-low 278 to place fourth overall at the Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Ga. It is the best finish of the season for the Wildcats.
The final 36 holes were played on Saturday due to the threat of inclement weather being predicted for Sunday, and the Wildcats suffered a setback as junior Harrison Greenberry was forced to withdraw from the tournament with a wrist injury. With their backs against the wall, the Wildcats responded with the best showing of the 2014-15 season.
Junior David Snyder led the way with a ninth place finish. Snyder carded a 4-under par in the second round and a 3-under par in the final round to finish at 8-under par for the tournament. With the ninth-place finish, Snyder has now logged a top-20 finish in all three spring events and a total of four times this season. He also has a team-leading two top-10 finishes.
“This team grew up today,” UK coach Brian Craig said. “I could not be more proud of these boys. We had Harri (Greenberry) out with a wrist injury for all 36 holes and our backs were against the wall. They responded with guts, grit and mental toughness. This is something to build on going forward. The future is bright for these young boys.”
Freshman Tyler `Chip’ McDaniel carded the team-low round of a 6-under par, 66, in the final round. He concluded the tournament tied for 12th overall with a 7-under par score for the tournament. The career-low round for the freshman consisted of seven birdies on the day including on the 17th and 18th holes. McDaniel is tied with Snyder for the team-lead in top-20 finishes with four.
UK’s day one leader, sophomore Stephen Stallings, concluded his career-best tournament with a 33rd place finish and his first tournament finishing under par in his career. Stallings logged an even par 72 in the second round and was 2-over par over the final 18 to post a 2-under par score for the tournament.
Freshman Cooper Musselman shot a 1-over par for the tournament, but ended the weekend with a 3-under par 69 during the final 18 holes. It is his third round under par this season.
UK’s fourth place finish was the best finish at the Schenkel Invitational since finishing third in 2006. UK’s 278 in the final round is tied for the ninth-lowest score in the Craig era.
Kentucky finished higher on the leaderboard than eight teams ranked in the top 50 of the latest Golf Stat rankings. Eleventh-ranked Auburn won the tournament and was joined in the top three by No. 6 Vanderbilt followed by No. 48 Georgia Southern. All but three teams in the field of 15 finished with under par team scores.
The Wildcats will return to the links March 29-31 at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Invitational at the Bulls Bay Country Club in Awendaw, S.C.
For more information on the University of Kentucky men’s golf team please visit the team’s official website and follow us on Twitter @UKmensgolf.
Schenkel Invitational
Statesboro, Ga., March 20-21
Par: 72 Yardage: 6,962
4 – Kentucky (285, 283, 278, -18)
T9 – David Snyder (71, 68, 69, -8)
T12 – Tyler `Chip’ McDaniel (74, 69, 66, -7)
T33 – Stephen Stallings (68, 72, 74, -2)
T42 – Cooper Musselman (74, 74, 69, +1)
WD – Harrison Greenberry
