Men’s Golf Places 11th in Fall Finale
WILMINGTON, N.C. – Kentucky men’s golf concluded play at The Williams Cup with its best score of the week, turning in a 293 (+5) team total at Eagle Point Golf Club (par 72, 7353 yards) on Tuesday to wrap up the tournament in 11th place at 25-over par total.
The Wildcats improved each day of the three-day tournament, bouncing back from a 302 (+14) in round one with a 294 (+6) on Monday and a 293 (+5) in the final round.
“I’m really proud of how our guys fought the final two rounds after the start we had,” head coach Gator Todd said. “Unfortunately, we dug ourselves too deep of a hole after round one, but I think it shows the resiliency of this group to bounce back the way they did.”
The 14-team field (plus a North Carolina “B” Team) featured nine schools ranked inside the top 30 in the first rankings of the season from Scoreboard Powered by Clippd. Florida won the team title in runaway fashion at 15-under par total.
“Playing in this tournament against this field is really going to help us down the road,” Todd said. “We will be better because of this week.”
Jack Schoenberger had the low score of the day for Kentucky with a 1-under par effort of 71. Starting on hole No. 10, the senior captain was 3-over through his first seven holes before registering seven birdies over an eight-hole stretch to reach red figures. Schoenberger made five consecutive birdies on No. 18 (par 5, 580 yards), No. 1 (par 4, 442 yards), No. 2 (par 3, 161 yards), No. 3 (par 4, 386 yards) and No. 4 (par 5, 640 yards). He then bogeyed the par-3 fifth hole before responding with two more birdies on No. 6 (par 5, 549 yards) and No. 7 (par 4, 333 yards).
Schoenberger’s final round vaulted the native of Dalton, Ga. into a tie for 22nd place on the leaderboard, finishing the week at 4-over par. It was the best finish for Schoenberger of the fall.
Sophomore Gavin Clutts also had his best day of the tournament on Tuesday, carding an even-par score of 72 while making three birdies. Clutts finished T-32 at 6-over par overall in his first starting lineup appearance of the season.
Cullan Brown Collegiate Champion Cole Stockard closed his week with a card of 76 (+4), bringing him to 7-over par for the week and placing the freshman in a tie for 37th.
Jacob Lang made four birdies on Tuesday on his way to a 74 (+2). He finished T-51 at 9-over par. Luke Coyle was T-72 at 14-over for the week.
The Wildcats ended the week with 41 birdies as a team, tied for the fourth most in the field.
The Williams Cup serves as the final tournament on the fall slate for the Wildcats. The team will return to action for the Watersound Invitational, Feb. 16-18, at Shark’s Tooth Golf Club in Panama City Beach, Fla.
Leaderboard:
T22: Jack Schoenberger (74-75-71)
T32: Gavin Clutts (75-75-72)
T37: Cole Stockard (76-71-76)
T51: Jacob Lang (78-73-74)
T72: Luke Coyle (77-76-77)
Bold = Counting Score
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