Kentucky men’s golf opened up April at the Mason Rudolph Championship hosted by Vanderbilt at the Vanderbilt Legends Club.
This marked Kentucky’s third consecutive season competing in the three-round event and its seventh overall appearance. The Wildcats’ best finish came in 2008 with a runner-up placement, and their only individual champion came in the following season, when Ben Fuqua captured the title with a 15-under-par 198.
With one of the strongest fields of the season—featuring four teams ranked in the top 15 according to SCOREBOARD Powered by Clippd—head coach Gator Todd knew the Cats needed a fast start.
The field included:
- No. 1 Auburn
- No. 11 Vanderbilt
- No. 12 Tennessee
- No. 14 Ole Miss
- No. 21 Charlotte
- Ball State, Mississippi State, NC State, Princeton, Kentucky, Northern Illinois, Furman, Middle Tennessee State and, Western Kentucky
Kentucky entered the tournament averaging a first-round team total of 284, a 7.78-stroke gap compared to defending champion and No. 1 Auburn, which recently finished runner-up at the 2026 Valspar Collegiate.
Senior Jack Schoenberger made his eighth start of the season and is tied with Jacob Settles for Kentucky’s second-best scoring average at 71.80.
Freshman Cole Stockard, also made his eighth start, and leads the team with a 71.65 scoring average. The full lineup included Schoenberger, Stockard, Settles, Jacob Lang, and individual competitor Cameron Phillips, with Luke Coyle also competing individually.
On the course, Stockard led the Wildcats with a T18 finish at 1-over par, posting six birdies in the final round for a tournament-high 14 birdies total, and was one of just seven players under par on par-3s all weekend. Schoenberger delivered Kentucky’s strongest third round with a 1-under 70, climbing 14 spots to T32, highlighted by a 3-under back nine. Lang carded an even-par 71, marking his 11th round at par or better this season.
Other contributors included Settles (T48, 9-over), Coyle (T65, 13-over), and Phillips (T60, 12-over).
Despite early challenges, Kentucky showed steady improvement across three rounds and flashes of competitiveness against top-ranked teams, setting the stage for the Wildcats’ final regular-season tournament at home.
Kentucky men’s golf will return home to compete in the Bluegrass Collegiate Invitational at the University Club of Kentucky, slated for April 13-14.
