(UK Athletics photo)
Former Lyon County High School standout Cullan Brown is one of three Kentucky Wildcats in the Top 10 after two rounds at the Southeastern Conference Golf Championship.
Seniors Lukas Euler and Max Mehles and freshman 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.
“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.”
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.
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.
Brown continues to perform admirably as a true freshman at his first postseason event. The Eddyville 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.
(Information from UKAthletics.com)
