Up Next for Men’s Golf is the Legends Collegiate Invitational
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – The Kentucky men’s golf team returns to the course this week for the second of its three fall tournaments. UK, along with the other 13 members of the Southeastern Conference, will comprise the field at the Legends Collegiate Invitational played on the home course of the Vanderbilt Commodores. The three-day, 54-hole event is slated to begin with the opening round on Sunday.
“We get another great opportunity to compete against an all-SEC field again this week,” UK head coach Brian Craig said. “The boys are excited and ready to go. A huge thank you again to Mitch Barnhart and Commissioner Sankey for fighting for these student-athletes. With all that is going on, we are thankful to be competing again and representing the Big Blue Nation.”
Kentucky begins action at 10 a.m. ET off the first tee on Sunday.
The Wildcats are coming off an eighth-place finish at The Blessings Collegiate Invitational. Sophomore Alex Goff captured the individual crown powered by a career-best round of 65 during the second round.
The Lineup
Goff will make his eighth career start and second straight in the No. 1 position for the Wildcats. The Kings Mountain, North Carolina, native is coming off the best performance of his career as the winner of The Blessings Collegiate Invitational. Two of his career-low rounds came at the Fayetteville, Arkansas, course and his combined 210 score also marked a career best. In his career, he has 18 team counted scores of a possible 19 played. Goff also has five top-20 finishes in eight career events.
Graduate student Jacob Cook returns to the lineup after tying for 23rd at The Blessings. Cook carded a career-low round of 69 during the second round of the team’s opening tournament in 2020-21 en route to his second career top-25 individual finish. He has appeared in 14 career events and this week’s event will mark his fifth career start. He entered his season having the most productive summer of his career with two individual tournament wins and two tournaments in which he finished as the low amateur.
Senior Allen Hamilton is slated to make his second start of the season and the 11th of his career. He tied for 37th overall at The Blessings. The Louisville, Kentucky, native was the team’s lowest scorer in 2019-20 with a 72.88 average. He has a pair of top-20 career finishes with a low of fourth place at the Bearcat Invitational in October of 2019. For his career, Hamilton has produced 20 team-counted scores and 10 par-or-better rounds.
Freshman Campbell Kremer will make his second career start after finishing in a tie for 55th at The Blessings in his first collegiate event. Kremer opened his college career with an even-par 72. A top-20 player as rated by the Junior Golf Scoreboard and a two-time all-state selection, Kremer is capable producing sub-par scores and generated nine straight at one point during his Saint Xavier high school career.
Sophomore Jackson LaLonde is set to make his first career start and appear in his third collegiate event this week. The Lexington, Kentucky, native was poised to have a breakthrough spring season before the COVID-19 pandemic halted the schedule. He logged a career-low round of 73 at the Dorado Beach Collegiate in Puerto Rico in the team’s first spring event and was positioned to make his first start at the Schenkel Invitational in March prior to the cancelation of the season. An all-state performer at Lexington Christian Academy, he led the Eagles to a team championship and was named 11th Region Player of the Year.
The Tournament
The three-day, 54-hole event will be held Sunday-Tuesday at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tennessee, the home course of the Commodores. All 14 SEC teams are scheduled to be in attendance.
Fans are not permitted to attend the event due to on-going safety measures surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike the opening tournament, the teams will be paired with other SEC opponents. At the Blessings, the Wildcats all competed in the same group. UK is paired with LSU and Mississippi State to begin the Legends Collegiate.
Live stats will be provided by golfstat.com.
The Course
Since opening in 1992, the Vanderbilt Legends Club has received national recognition. The par 72 North Course, stretching 7,190 yards from the championship tees, was designed by Hall of Fame golfer Tom Kite and architect Bob Cupp. The greens are well undulated with multiple hole locations and the bunkers are large and boldly shaped. The course path provides an inspired variety of holes through lush fields and around lakes and streams.
Kentucky has played the course most recently as a part of the Mason Rudolph Invitational in 2019 where the Cats finished in a tie for fourth.
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