Men’s Golf Looks to Impress at 2024 SEC Championships
SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The postseason begins for Kentucky men’s golf as the Wildcats tee it up at the 2024 Southeastern Conference Championship at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course (par 70, 7,005 yards), beginning on Wednesday.
The tournament will feature three rounds of stroke play, Wednesday-Friday, before a cut is made to the top eight teams for match play. Quarterfinal and semifinal matches will take place on Saturday, with the final two teams standing going head-to-head for the title on Sunday. The conference’s individual champion will be crowned following the conclusion of the stroke play portion of the event.
Kentucky will be paired with South Carolina for round one with tee times off hole No. 1 from 9:40 – 10:20 p.m. Second and third round tee times will be based on the leaderboard and will span from 8 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. The Wildcats’ starting five features two SEC Championship veterans and three players making their conference tournament debut.
Leading the charge is graduate Alex Goff, a three-time SEC Championship participant who finished as the individual runner up last season with an 8-under par total for 54 holes. The native of Kings Mountain, N.C. has improved his placement at SECs each of his three years in the field. Prior to his second place showing in 2023, Goff finished T28 his sophomore season in 2021 and was T18 his junior year in 2022. During the 2024 campaign, Goff has amassed a 70.32 scoring average, the best in program history since at least 1993-94. He has six top-10s and eight top-15s across nine starts, while leading the team with 18 rounds of par or better.
Senior Campbell Kremer is the other Wildcat with SEC Championship experience teeing it up this week. The Louisville, Kentucky native has made two SEC Championship starts, finishing T42 in 2022 and T62 in 2023. Kremer had his best collegiate finish earlier this spring when he placed T4 at the Battle at Briar’s Creek with a 2-under par total.
Jansen Preston, Oakley Gee and Solomon Petrie complete the UK starting lineup, all three set to make their debuts at the conference tournament.
Preston, a transfer from Vanderbilt, has enjoyed a strong spring with the second-best scoring average on the roster at 72.3 strokes per round. The native of Lexington, Kentucky posted his best career finish his last time on the course, when he placed T19 at the Mason Rudolph Championship.
Gee, a redshirt freshman from Carmi, Illinois, has emerged as one of the team’s top scorers this season with a 73.37 stroke average and five rounds at par or better. He fired a career-low round of 68 at the Gators Invitational back in February where he finished T40.
In the five spot for the Wildcats will be redshirt freshman Solomon Petrie, who is set to make his first start of the spring season. Petrie played three events this past fall, tallying a 73.63 scoring average across eight rounds.
True freshman Michael Hake will serve as the Cats’ substitute this week.
All 14 SEC schools will be in the field, vying for the title. Entering the event, five schools are ranked inside the top-10 in the latest Scoreboard powered by CLIPPD national rankings including Auburn (No. 1), Vanderbilt (No, 2), Ole Miss (No. 5), Tennessee (No. 7) and Alabama (No. 9). Arkansas (No. 11), Florida (No. 15), Texas A&M (No. 22) and Georgia (No. 23) also reside in the top-25.
Michael La Sasso of Ole Miss (No. 4), Jackson Koivun (No. 5) and Brendan Valdes (No. 9) of Auburn and Gordan Sargent of Vanderbilt (No. 7) are among the top individuals from the Scoreboard powered by CLIPPD individual rankings expected to compete.
Kentucky won the SEC Championship as a team in 2005. John Owens is the program’s lone individual conference champion, winning the title back in 1950. The Cats were 13th in 2023 at 14-over par as a team. The program last qualified for match play at the event in 2019, reaching the semifinals.
Fans can follow along all weekend with live scoring on Golfstat. Saturday’s semifinals will be broadcast live on SECN+, while Sunday’s Championship match will air linearly on SEC Network.
Kentucky Lineup:
- Alex Goff: Graduate Student, Kings Mountain, N.C.
- Jansen Preston: Junior, Lexington, Ky.
- Campbell Kremer: Senior, Louisville, Ky.
- Oakley Gee: Redshirt Freshman, Carmi, Ill.
- Solomon Petrie: Redshirt Freshman, Akron, Ohio
Substitute: Michael Hake: Freshman, Brentwood, Tenn.
For the latest on UK Men’s Golf follow the Wildcats on X and Instagram @UKmensgolf, and online at ukathletics.com.
