April 7, 2015
Gastonia, N.C. – Freshman Cooper Musselman earned the best collegiate finish of his career and helped the Kentucky men’s golf team to a third place showing at the Gary Koch Invitational on Tuesday. Musselman placed third overall with a 6-under par total score and paced the Cats to their best finish of the season.
“Our team made tremendous progress this week led by Cooper Musselman,” UK coach Brian Craig said. “I have been saying for awhile now that Cooper was ready for a breakout week and he played brilliant golf this week.”
Musselman opened his week with a 3-under par, 69 before following that with a career-low round of 68 during the second round. Musselman’s previous best finish came in the opening tournament of the 2014-15 season with a team-best 14th place showing at The Ocean Course. His third place finish today marked the third top-five individual finish of the season for the Wildcats.
The Gary Koch Invitational wrapped up regular season action for the Wildcats who will return to the links at the SEC Championship, April 17-19.
“It was also great to co-host this event at Gastonia Country Club and let these boys experience some of the toughest greens around,” Craig said. “We now need to have the best week of preparation we have had all year and head down to the SEC Championship and continue to build on this momentum.”
In addition to Musselman’s impressive play, sophomore Stephen Stallings shot up the leaderboard on Tuesday with a final round of 2-under par. Stallings and junior David Snyder tied for 11th overall with a tournament score of 1-under par. Snyder was 1-under during the final round of play. Snyder has now finished in the top 20 during every spring tournament and in all but two tournaments on the season. Stallings’ finish was his second top 20 finish in his last three starts.
Kentucky captured its best finish of the season with a third place showing at the Gary Koch Invitational. Top-ranked Florida State won the tournament. No. 13 Auburn was second, and the Wildcats were a mere six shots off of the Tigers’ score. Charlotte and NC State finished in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Freshman Tyler `Chip’ McDaniel capped the week in a tie for 23rd and finished the tournament with back-to-back even-par rounds. Senior Will Bishop, the final member of UK’s lineup, placed 64th overall.
The Wildcats’ individuals were paced by freshman Cristian DiMarco. DiMarco tied his career-low round with a 2-over par, 74, during the final round of play. He ended the tournament in a tie for 47th. Freshman Chris Meuth placed in a tie for 55th, while junior Todd McDaniel was 77th.
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.
Gary Koch Invitational
April 6-7, Gaston Country Club Gastonia, N.C.
Par 72, 7,042 yards
3 — Kentucky — (-6) — (290-282-286-858)
3- Cooper Musselman — (-6) — (69-68-73-210)
T11 — David Snyder — (-1) — (76-68-71-215)
T11 — Stephen Stallings — (-1) — (71-74-70-215)
T23 — Tyler `Chip’ McDaniel –(+2) — (74-72-72-218)
64 — Will Bishop — (+13) — (79-75-75-229)
Individuals
T47 — Cristian DiMarco — (+9) — (74-77-74-225)
T55 — Chris Meuth – (+11) — (76-75-76-227)
77 — Todd McDaniel — (+21) — (80-78-79-237)
