CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia – The Kentucky men’s golf team concluded the regular season with a seventh-place finish at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial Tuesday at Birdwood Golf Course. The Wildcats got off to a hot start, moving into a tie for sixth at 7-under early on their back nine but struggled down the stretch, carding a 2-over-par 286 to finish the tournament at 1-under overall.
Kentucky will now turn its attention to postseason play, taking part in the SEC Championship at the Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Georgia, April 19-23.
“We had it rolling today deep into the round and had a great chance to pass some quality teams,” UK head coach Brian Craig said. “Unfortunately, we had some slip-ups over the last four holes that cost us dearly. I’m very disappointed for this hard-working team but we have a great opportunity to finish off rounds like this next time out at the SEC Championship. We will prepare diligently for this next week and then go to St. Simons Island focused on playing great golf.”
Graduate student Garrett Wood got off to a hot start, making birdie on three of his first seven holes, but three back-nine bogeys dropped him to even-par for the day to earn a 12th-place finish at 5-under for the tournament. Wood now has 13 rounds of par or better on the year, including seven of his last nine, and his four top 20 finishes rank second on the team.
Senior Alex Goff posted the best Wildcat round of the day, a steady 1-under-par 70 that included a pair of birdies and a bogey, to tie for 26th at even-par for the tournament. The round marked Goff’s team-high 19th round of par or better for the season, including 13 of his last 15.
Graduate Dhaivat Pandya put together a roller-coaster round on his way to a 1-under 70 Tuesday and a tie for 45th at 5-over for the tournament. The Dayton, Ohio, native double-bogeyed the par-5 second hole, but used birdies at the third, 10th and 14th holes, sandwiched around eagles on the sixth and 12th, to move to 1-under on the day. Pandya followed with a bogey on 15 and a birdie on 16 but a double-bogey on 17 and 18 dropped him to 1-under, marking his second-consecutive round under par and sixth of the season.
Junior Campbell Kremer also struggled on the way in, finishing in a tie for 52nd at 7-over for the tournament after coming into the day at even-par. Kremer was even through his first 14 holes of the day but carded a triple-bogey on the par-5 15th and difficult par-3 17th before a bogey on 18 dropped him to 7-over on the day.
Freshman Kevin Watts rounded out the Wildcat lineup in a tie for 61st at 10-over for the tournament. He carded a pair of back-nine birdies on Tuesday but four bogeys and a double dropped him to a final-round 4-over 75.
Playing as an individual, redshirt freshman Andrew Clark finished 44th at 4-over for the week. Clark bounced back nicely from an opening-round 4-over 75 to card an even-par 71 in the afternoon Monday before posting three birdies against three bogeys for another even-par 71 in the final round. The Winter Park, Florida, native has six rounds of par or better on the year, including two under par and four at even.
As a team, Kentucky’s 170 pars tied for fourth-most in the field while Wood tied for fifth in par-3 scoring at even-par and Pandya’s two eagles tied for the most in the field for the event..
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