Kentucky men’s golf kicked off its season with a ninth-place finish at the Folds of Honor Collegiate in Grand Haven, Michigan.

The Wildcats’ struggles on day one of the three day tournament set the tone for the rest of their time in Michigan. Despite their great play over the next two days, the Wildcats still landed at 28-over-par for the tournament.

The Wildcats started off slower than they would have liked, ending the day in ninth place with a 14-over-par finish.

Senior Jansen Preston’s day one individually saw him tying for 36th but, notably, Preston birdied twice on the back nine.

With the conclusion of the event, Preston has now teed off for 11 events in his collegiate career while one other Wildcat introduced himself at his first collegiate event on day one.

Gavin Clutts was the first of Kentucky’s four freshmen to play in the new year and he finished tied for 44th after struggling on his back nine, even shooting a quadruple bogey on hole 18.

The rough end to the day came seemingly out of nowhere following Clutts’ hot start shooting par-35 on the front nine.

Other hot starts on day one came from Jack Schoenberger, who birdied his first hole of the day and shot par the next eight holes.

Schoenberger, a junior transfer from Belmont, had Kentucky’s best statistical performance of the day, tying for 18th at two-over-par.

Kentucky’s second best performer of day one was Solomon Petrie. The Ohio native finished three-over-par, tying for 27th.

Rounding out Kentucky’s five, graduate student Jackson Klutznick ended the day in 72nd place, shooting a disappointing 11-over-par in his debut for the Wildcats. Before Kentucky, Klutznick excelled for Emory, a Division-III golf school.

Day two saw nearly every Wildcat move on the leaderboard in what would turn out to be a momentum builder for UK.

Preston put his experience on his back and moved up a staggering 13 spots on the leaderboard, shooting par on day two of golfing in Michigan.

Schoenberger, on the other hand, showed his consistency, keeping his same spot tied for 18th place. The Wildcats’ only junior on the roster fought hard for that placing, too, with a birdie on holes five, six and eight.

A higher spot on the leaderboard was likely waiting on Schoenberger if not for the two bogeys on holes three and thirteen and an unfortunate double bogey on hole sixteen.

Speaking of climbing higher spots, Klutznick cleaned up his play in the second round of golf, going from 72nd place to tied for 65th.

The last Wildcat to move up the leaderboard on day two was Clutts, who moved up seven spots to tie for 37th place at two-over-par.

Although Kentucky’s golfers played well individually, the team’s spot at ninth place did not move. 

Once it was all said and done and the final golfer sunk their final putt, UK finished the tournament in ninth place.

Both Preston and Schoenberger finished in the top 20 for the Wildcats as Preston finished tied for 16th and Schoenberger tied for 19th. As a team, the Wildcats scored a  combined 880 during the three day event, landing them at 28-over-par.

Kentucky’s 28-over could not compare to Alabama’s 12-under that secured the Tide the win at the Folds of Honor.

Kentucky’s next chance at a victory will come in the Bearcat Invitational in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Coldstream Country Club.

There, the Wildcats will face off from Sept. 16-17 against 17 other schools, the University of Cincinnati and Louisville included.