Kentucky Fires Lowest Round of the Season on Final Day of Hootie
AWENDAW, S.C. – Head coach Brian Craig predicted his team was on the verge of a breakthrough round and on Tuesday, the Wildcats produced in a big way.
Tuesday’s final round of the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate saw four of Kentucky’s five starters play under par and the squad generated the third-lowest team round of the day with a 7-under 281. That score also marked the lowest round of the 2018-19 season for the Kentucky men’s golf team.
“We got off to a slow start this week, but got better each day,” Craig said. “Today was a huge round for our postseason work. This is an excellent field and we needed to move up the leaderboard. I am really proud of Max (Mehles) and Fred Allen (Meyer). They played solidly and kept us competitive.”
The field at the Bulls Bay Golf Club featured 13 teams ranked inside of the top 75 of the latest Golfstat rankings. Kentucky’s final day push helped the Wildcats move past No. 41 West Virginia, No. 4 Duke, No. 55 Purdue, No. 58 Virginia and No. 48 Ole Miss on the leaderboard. South Carolina captured the win with Kansas and the College of Charleston rounding out the top three.
As Craig indicated, the Wildcats final round was headlined by their two top finishers in seniors Max Mehles and Fred Allen Meyer.
Mehles and Meyer, along with classmate Lukas Euler all capped the tournament with a round of 2-under par. Mehles was the team’s top finisher with a tie for 16th, marking his third tournament of the spring slate finishing among the top 20. Meyer tied for 22nd following back-to-back rounds of 70.
Euler finished in a tie for 34th alongside freshman Cullan Brown who was 1-under for the day. Junior Matt Liston placed in a tie for 46th.
Kentucky concluded the tournament off the No. 10 tee. Meyer and Mehles both got their rounds off to a positive start by birding their opening hole.
Mehles actually had four birdies over his first nine holes. He made the turn at 3-under par. He finished the round with seven straight pars. Meyer was 1-under heading into the turn. Birdies at the par-five second and the par-five sixth pushed his round to 2-under after suffering a bogey at the par-four first.
Euler played the back nine at 3-under par, capping the week with an eagle at the par-four ninth. Brown had an eagle at the par-five fourth and birdied the ninth to get to under par for the day.
Kentucky returns to action at the Mason Rudolph Championship hosted by Vanderbilt April 5-7.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s golf team, follow @UKMensGolf on Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.
