Chael, Rose Lead UK Women’s Golf at Mercedes-Benz Championship

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Junior Jordan Chael continued a strong start to her Kentucky career while sophomore Grace Rose roared back into competition with a solid second-round back nine as the UK women’s golf team completed its first day of competition in the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

Chael is in the hunt for her second straight top-10 finish with a score of 4-over par through the first two rounds of the 54-hole tournament at the Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville, Tenn. She’s tied for 20th.

Meanwhile, Rose, who was sitting at 9-over par through 27 holes, got herself back into the individual mix with a 3-under back nine – the best nine holes of the season – in the second round, including an eagle.

Overall, the Wildcats sit in 13th place with a team score of 35-over par and 18 more holes to play Tuesday. UK’s second-round 297 was its best 18 holes of the season.

Iowa State leads the field at 5-under par. Kent State, at 4-under par, and host Tennessee, at 1-under par, are also in red numbers. 

Chael, who tied for 10th in her Kentucky debut at the Minnesota Invitational last week after transferring from Nebraska, continued her consistent play in the early part of the season. After opening Monday with a score of 4-over par, Chael got things together in the afternoon an even-par second round.

The junior from Overland Park, Kan., started the second round with a birdie on the second hole before recording nine straight pars. Chael dropped three shots with a bogey and double bogey on the 12th and 13th holes, respectively, but she closed out her day powerfully with back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16.

Chael is 10 shots back of individual leader Taylor Kim of Kent State.

Rose played a consistent first round with 13 pars and five bogeys, but she provided the signature moment of her young collegiate career on the back nine of the second round with an eagle on the par-5 15th hole. The Nicholasville, Ky., native followed that with a birdie on No. 17 for a 3-under round on the final nine holes of the day and a 1-over-par second round. She’s tied for 37th with a score of 6-over par overall.

Sophomore Isabelle Johansson is tied with Grace after rounds of 4-over par and 2-over par on Monday. She recorded only eight bogeys through two rounds but only had two birdies to show for it. 

Freshman Anna Hack made her Kentucky debut with three birdies in his first collegiate round. The Paducah, Ky., product is at 19-over par heading into Tuesday, tied for 74th.

Junior Megan Kinney is in 77th place at 24-over par.

Hosted by the University of Tennessee, the 19th annual Mercedes-Benz Championship features 14 teams, four of which (No. 15 Tennessee, No. 21 Ohio State, No. 24 North Carolina State and No. 29 UNLV) were ranked in Golfweek’s preseason top 30. Eight of the 14-team field made the NCAA regional field in 2015, including Kentucky. 

The tournament will conclude Tuesday at the Donald Ross-designed Cherokee Country Club at 8:30 a.m.

Fans can follow along with live scoring of the Mercedes-Benz Championship at golfstat.com.

As always, fans can follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com, for the latest Kentucky women’s golf information.

Mercedes-Benz Championship

Cherokee Country Club

Knoxville, Tenn.

Sept. 21-22

Par: 71

Yardage: 5,870