With 18 holes remaining the Kentucky men’s golf team sits in a tie for sixth following two rounds of action at the 2019 Southeastern Conference Championship at Sea Island Golf Club. The top eight teams following 54-holes of stroke play move on to match play which tees off on Saturday.
Kentucky charted a round of even par on Thursday to remain in the hunt for one of the coveted eight spots. Seven teams are within seven strokes of one another setting the stage for what will surely be an entertaining final round.
“Lukas (Euler), Max (Mehles) and Cullan (Brown) are keeping us in this event,” UK head coach Brian Craig said. “Really solid play by all three of those guys in the first two rounds. I like our position but there is still a ton of golf left.
“We just need to keep focusing on what we can control and not force the issue. Trying too hard never works in competitive golf. We need to be loose, free and just play.”
Seniors Lukas Euler and Max Mehles and freshman Cullan Brown are all tied for ninth on the individual leaderboard at 4-under par for the tournament. Euler paced the Wildcats during Thursday’s second round with a 3-under 67, while Mehles and Brown both carded 1-under rounds.
Auburn is the clubhouse leader at 19-under par, but the story heading into Friday’s round will be the seven teams within seven strokes of one another. Georgia, in third place, is 9-under par. The Bulldogs are followed by Tennessee and Texas A&M who are tied at 6-under. Arkansas and Kentucky are next at 5-under. South Carolina is 4-under and Ole Miss enters Friday’s final round at 2-under par.
Kentucky will have the opportunity to press the issue as one of three teams on the course first with a 7:30 a.m. ET tee time. The Cats will be joined by South Carolina and Ole Miss off the No. 1 tee.
Euler was simply sensational on Thursday. The senior from Dieburg, Germany, played a bogey-free 3-under round to match a career-low score of 67. He picked up his first birdie at the par-three sixth. He then had back-to-back red numbers at the par-four 14th and the par-five 15th. He’s logged a team-best 17 par-or-better rounds this season and he has 54 for his career. He’s vying for his seventh career top-10 finish and the first at the SEC Championship. Euler’s 30 pars over 36 holes leads this week’s field of 70 players.
Brown continues to perform admirably as a true freshman at his first postseason event. The Eddyville, Kentucky, native opened his round with a birdie at the first which was quickly negated with a bogey at the second. He righted the ship and parred each of the next six holes before picking up another birdie at the par-four ninth to make the turn at 1-under. He gained another stroke with a birdie at the par-four 13th before suffering consecutive bogeys at the 14th and 15th. All the freshman did was answer with his fourth birdie of the round at the par-four 16th to get to his 1-under score. Brown has played par or better in each of his last three rounds and in six of his last 10. Through 36 holes of play, Brown leads the field with 11 combined birdies.
Mehles matched Brown with a 1-under 69. He birdied the par-four second and made the turn at 1-under. Bogeys at the 10th and 12th were combated with birdies at the 11th and the 17th. He’s in line for the fourth top-10 finish of his career and the first this season. Mehles has generated 12 rounds of par or better this season, including five rounds at sub-70. Mehles has seven birdies for the week and tied for third in the field with a 3-under score on par 4s.
Senior Fred Allen Meyer shot a 75, while junior Matt Liston carded a round of 78. The duo is tied for 58th and 66th, respectively.
This marks the 19th year for the SEC Championship to be contested on the Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course. The SEC has conducted its annual championship on St. Simons Island since 2001. Since 1927, the Sea Island Golf Club has enjoyed a legacy as one of America’s premier golf clubs.
Rated No. 1 in the U.S. among the “World’s 50 Best Golf Hotels” by Golf Digest Index, Sea Island Golf Club offers three exceptional 18-hole championship courses. The Seaside Course, home to the PGA TOUR’s McGladrey Classic, is a links course graced by majestic ocean vistas in the tradition of St. Andrews.
Originally designed in 1929 by famed architects Harry S. Colt and Charles Alison, the Seaside Course was updated in 1999 by Tom Fazio – earning it a prominent place on Golf Digest’s list of “Top 100 Courses in the United States.”
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s golf team, follow @UKMensGolf on Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.
‑ GO CATS –
For more information contact:
Deb Moore