Men’s Golf Set for Schenkel Invitational
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the 16th consecutive season, the Kentucky men’s golf team will be a part of the Schenkel Invitational when it tees off on Friday at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Georgia. UK has finished in the top five in each of the last five years the event was held.
“We have played in the Schenkel every year since 2006 and it is one of our favorite events of the year,” UK head coach Brian Craig said. “We have tremendous relationships with the folks who run the event and we can’t wait to get down there and play again.
“This week’s event will be particularly special for all of us,” Craig said. “Last season, we were in the middle of our practice round on this very course when the rest of the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, we are particularly excited to get back out on the course in Statesboro this week.”
Action begins at 10 a.m. ET on Friday.
This week’s event will mark the third of five regular-season tournaments during the spring portion of the team’s schedule. UK is coming off an 11th-place finish at a loaded LSU Invitational that featured six teams ranked in the top 25. Reid Bedell and Alex Goff paced UK’s individual performances as they each tied for 24th.
The Lineup
This week’s lineup consists of sophomores Goff and Cooper Parks, graduate students Bedell and Jacob Cook, and junior Zach Norris. Norris is the lone Wildcat who has played the Forest Heights course. He finished in a tie for 52nd as an individual during his freshman season.
Goff leads the squad with a 71.31 stroke average for the season. All 12 rounds he’s appeared in this season in the starting lineup have counted towards UK’s score. He has produced six rounds of par or better and five have been sub-70 scores. The Kings Mountain, North Carolina, native has generated four top-10 finishes in his career, including a victory in the team’s opening event of the 2020-21 season at The Blessings Collegiate.
Bedell is making his third-consecutive start for the Wildcats and has finished among the team’s top-two finishers in both previous events. His best finish of the season was a tie for 10th at the Kiawah Invitational where he shot a combined 6-under par. The Fair Haven, New Jersey, native is posting a 72.17 scoring average for the season and has a pair of par-or-better rounds.
Cook has started all six events this season for the Wildcats. He owns a career-low 72.60 stroke average this year and earned his first-career top-20 finish with a tie for 16th at Kiawah. The Frankfort, Kentucky, native has registered a career-low round (68) and career-low tournament score (212) this season. Cook has 13 counted team scores this season and six par-or-better rounds.
Parks is making his fifth start of the season and the ninth of his two-year career. The Campbellsville, Kentucky, native has earned 9.5 counted rounds and three par-or-better scores on the season. He owns a 75.33 stroke average and played 1-under par at the Kiawah Invitational to highlight his season.
Norris is starting his fourth-consecutive event. He owns a career-low 72.89 stroke average on the season and has four par-or-better rounds. The McKee, Kentucky, native earned his career-best finish with a tie for sixth at the Kiawah Invitational. He also fired two of his career-best rounds (68, 69) and totaled a career-low (208) tournament score at that event.
The Wildcats will also have three players among the individuals in the field. Freshmen Hugo Archer and Campbell Kremer will compete this week, along with senior Allen Hamilton.
The Tournament
The field consists of 14 teams with 11 of the squads ranking in the top 100 of the most recent Golf Stat rankings. Teams will compete over three days and 54 holes.
Kentucky is joined in the field by Army, Campbell, Cincinnati, College of Charleston, East Tennessee State, Florida Gulf Coast, Furman, Georgia Southern, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, NC State, Rutgers and Troy.
Live scoring will be provided by golfstat.com.
The Course
Forest Heights is recognized as one of the finest in the Southeast. The course measures out to 6,962 yards from the championship tees. Although the tee shots are relatively forgiving, the players face their biggest challenges when they reach the undulating greens. The greens feature subtle breaks that make it difficult to read and making scoring low a tough task.
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