LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s golf team continues its spring schedule Sunday at The Hootie at Bulls Bay at Bulls Bay Golf Club in Awendaw, South Carolina. The 15-team field will play 18 holes Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
The UK lineup will consist of Alex Goff, Garrett Wood, Kevin Watts, Campbell Kremer and Jackson LaLonde with Dhaivat Pandya participating as an individual.
“We have played in every Hootie at Bulls Bay since the first one in 2005,” Kentucky head coach Brian Craig said. “Bulls Bay is a unique and special course that we know well and have an excellent gameplan for. Our goal is simple this week: focus on one shot at a time and control what we can control like mindset and making aggressive swings at conservative targets.”
The tournament is the second-to-last regular-season event for the Cats prior to the SEC Championship at the Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Georgia, in mid-April.
NOTEWORTHY
Tournament History: The Cats are teeing it up at The Hootie at Bulls Bay for the 18th time, playing the event every time it has been held since winning the inaugural tournament in 2005. That 2005 Kentucky squad picked up its fourth of six wins in the 2004-05 campaign, including an SEC championship, that ended in a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Kentucky finished seventh last year when Alex Goff, Campbell Kremer and Garrett Wood each tied for 33rd at 1-under-par.
The Course: Bulls Bay Golf Club, designed by Mike Strantz, is set against the Atlantic Ocean in the South Carolina Lowcountry. A firm, sandy course with wind always coming into play off the ocean, Bulls Bay will play as a par-72 at 7,349 yards.
The Field: Along with the Wildcats and host South Carolina, College of Charleston, East Tennessee State, Eastern Kentucky, Furman, Kent State, Missouri, New Mexico, N.C. State, Purdue, South Carolina, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin will participate in the event.
Last Time Out: Kentucky finished fifth in the 14-team Schenkel Invitational March 17-19 at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Georgia. Goff and Wood each were under-par all three rounds, finishing in a tie for third and fifth, respectively.
The Numbers So Far: With two regular-season tournaments to play, Goff paces the Wildcats with a 71.57 scoring average and six top 20 finishes. Wood follows with a 72.81 scoring average with Campbell Kremer in third at 73.86. Wood has a team-high three top 10 finishes, including a second-place standing at the Hamptons Intercollegiate. Pandya has a pair of top 20 finishes while Kremer and Watts have one apiece.
Goff leads the Wildcats with 14 rounds of par-or-better, including 12 under par, while Wood has notched nine rounds of par-or-better and Kremer, Pandya and Watts have tallied five. All but one of Wood’s 21 rounds have counted toward the team tally while Kremer’s career-low 4-under-par 66 in the final round at SEC Match Play marked the best by a Wildcats in the 2022-23 campaign.
Cats Return Seven: The Wildcats return seven players from the 2021-22 roster. Combined, the returners earned four top-10 finishes, 11 top-20 finishes and three of UK’s five starters from its Southeastern Championship and NCAA Regional squad return.
Wood, Goff, Kremer Highlight Returners: Wood, UK’s leader in stroke average a year ago, highlights the returning core. He charted a 71.55 average and amassed five top-20 finishes. Goff posted a 71.97 average with four top-20 finishes, while Kremer had a pair of top-20 finishes and totaled a 72.89 stroke average.
Career Par-or-Better Rounds (in 2022-23):
Alex Goff – 48 (14)
Garrett Wood – 48 (9)
Dhaivat Pandya – 25 (5)
Campbell Kremer – 18 (4)
Cooper Parks – 9 (1)
Andrew Clark – 4 (4)
Jackson LaLonde – 4 (2)
Kevin Watts – 5 (5)
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