Kentucky mens golf finishes seventh at Lewis Chitengwa Memorial

Tyler+McDaniel+during+the+second+round+of+the+Southeastern+Conference+Championship+at+Sea+Island+Golf+Clubs+Seaside+Course+in+St.+Simons+Island%2C+Ga.%2C+on+Saturday%2C+April+16%2C+2016.

Tyler McDaniel during the second round of the Southeastern Conference Championship at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Ga., on Saturday, April 16, 2016.

Kelsey Carman, Reporter

The Kentucky mens golf team concluded the regular season with a seventh-place finish at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial on Tuesday. 

The Wildcats got off to a hot start at the Birdwood Golf Course, moving into a tie for sixth at 7-under early on their back nine, but struggled down the stretch. 

Carding a 2-over-par score of 286 to finish the tournament at 1-under overall. 

Graduate student Garrett Wood got off to a hot start making a birdie on three of his first seven holes. 

Three back-nine bogeys dropped him to even-par for the day to earn a 12th-place finish at 5-under for the tournament. 

Wood now has 13 rounds of par or better on the year, including seven of his last nine, and his four top 20 finishes rank second on the team. 

Senior Alex Goff posted the best Wildcat round of the day, a steady 1-under-par score of 70 that included a pair of birdies and a bogey, to tie for 26th at even-par for the tournament. 

The round marked Goff’s team-high 19th round of par or better for the season, including 13 of his last 15. 

Graduate student Dhaivat Pandya put together a roller-coaster round on his way to 1-under 70 Tuesday and a tie for 45th at 5-over for the tournament. 

The Dayton, Ohio native double-bogeyed the par-5 second hole, but used birdies at the third, 10th and 14th holes. 

Sandwiched around eagles on the sixth and 12th, to move to 1-under on the day, Pandya followed with a bogey on 15 and a birdie on 16 but a double-bogey on 17 and 18 dropped him to 1-under, marking his second-consecutive round under par and his sixth of the season. 

Freshman Kevin Watts rounded out the Wildcat lineup in a tie for 61st at 10-over for the tournament. 

He carded a pair of back-nine birdies on Tuesday, but four bogeys and a double dropped him to a final-round 4-over score of 75. 

Playing as an individual, redshirt freshman Andrew Clark finished 44th at 4-over for the week. 

Clark bounced back from an opening-round 4-over score of 75 to card an even-par score of 71 on Monday afternoon before posting three birdies against three bogeys for another even-par 71 in the final round. 

The Winter Park, Florida, native has six rounds of par or better on the year, including two under par and four at even. 

As a team, Kentucky’s 170 pars tied for fourth-most in the field while Wood tied for fifth in par-3 scoring at even-par and Pandya’s two eagles tied for the most in the field for the event.