Musselman and Euler Earn Top 20 Individual Finishes at SECs
Round Three Results
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Paced by top-20 individual finishes from senior Cooper Musselman and junior Lukas Euler, the Kentucky men’s golf team wrapped up play at the Southeastern Conference Championship on Friday.
Musselman carded the lowest round of any UK player for the week with a 2-under, 68, to move inside the top 20 on the individual leaderboard to highlight Friday’s round. Euler matched Musselman with a tie for 16th following a final round of 72. The Wildcats finished 10th overall and just five strokes of a top-eight finish to advance to match play.
“We did not have it today,” UK head coach Brian Craig said. “We competed hard, but were simply off. You cannot be off in this league and advance to match play. The good news is we are just starting our postseason run. We will regroup and come back strong and see if we can make some noise.”
Kentucky is in terrific position to earn a third straight postseason berth to the NCAA Championship with a current GolfStat ranking of No. 20 in the country. The NCAA selection show will air live on the Golf Channel at 6 p.m. ET on May 2. The field is comprised of 81 teams and 45 individuals and will compete in six regional sites, May 14-16 (13 teams and 10 individuals at three regionals and 14 teams and five individuals at three regionals). Thirty teams and six individuals will advance from regional sites to the National Championship to be played May 25-30 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
The six regional sites include Raleigh, North Carolina: Lonnie Poole Golf Course; Bryan, Texas: Traditions Club; Columbus, Ohio: Scarlet Course/Ohio State Golf Course; Kissimmee, Florida: Reunion Resort; Norman, Oklahoma: Jimmie Austin Oklahoma University Golf Club; and Stockton, California: The Reserve at Spanos Park.
Musselman’s day was one to remember as his final round on the Seaside Course at St. Simons Island after starting for the Wildcats in the league championship in each of his four seasons. He began the round with four straight pars before a birdie at the par-four fifth jumpstarted his round. A bogey on the seventh was immediately offset with another birdie on the par-four eighth. He pushed his score to 2-under with another red number this one coming at the par-four 10th. The Louisville, Kentucky, native would play flawlessly the rest of the way to finish with a 68. He was UK’s biggest mover on the leaderboard as he advanced 10 positions over the final round of play.
Euler started his round with four straight bogeys. He was steady the rest of the way, playing his final 14 holes at 2-under par. The Dieburg, Germany, native scored birdies on the 14th and the 18th to conclude the tournament in a tie for 16th with a combined 1-over-par score. It secured his team-leading eighth top-20 finish in 10 tournaments on the season.
Freshman Max Mehles tied for 26th overall with a 4-over score for the tournament. Mehles shot a 1-over-par 71 during round three. Mehles’ round included birdies on the par-five seventh and the par-four 10th. He is averaging a 71.2 stroke average over his last 15 rounds of action.
Senior Chip McDaniel tied for 52nd, while junior Fred Allen Meyer placed 70th on the individual leaderboard. The duo carded rounds of 76 and 78, respectively, on the final day of play.
LSU finished atop the standings following 54-holes of stroke play. They’ll be joined in match play by Florida, Vanderbilt, Auburn, Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. Twelve of the 14 teams in the conference are ranked inside the top 50 among GolfStat’s rankings.
Agate
10– Kentucky (286, 283, 287 – 856, +16)
T16 – Lukas Euler (70, 69, 72 – 211, +1)
T16 – Cooper Musselman (71, 72, 68 – 211, +1)
T26 – Max Mehles (74, 69, 71 – 214, +4)
T52 – Chip McDaniel (71, 74, 76 – 221, +11)
70 – Fred Allen Meyer (77, 73, 78 – 228, +18)
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s golf team, follow @UKMensGolf on Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.
