COLUMBIA, Mo. – The same lineup that competed for third place in a ranked field two weeks ago at the Folds of Honor Collegiate will take the golf course again this week, competing at the 17th annual The Johnie Imes Invitational at The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Missouri, on Monday and Tuesday.
Kentucky will be paired with host Missouri and Cincinnati for the first and second rounds, which will be played on Monday in a shotgun format beginning at 9 a.m. ET. The final round also will be a shotgun start on Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET.
The par-72 golf course at The Club at Old Hawthorne, which is on zoysia grass, measures 6,342 yards in length.
The Wildcats will compete against 13 other teams in The Johnie Imes Invitational field but none that they have met this season. Those teams include Missouri, Cincinnati, South Dakota State, UAB, Howard, Murray State, North Alabama, Omaha, Missouri State, Morehead State, South Dakota, Wichita State and East Texas A&M.
UK is coming off a strong showing in its season debut at the Folds of Honor Collegiate in Grand Havens, Michigan, less than two weeks ago. The squad earned third place out of 12 teams, finishing ahead of seven teams ranked or receiving votes in the Women’s Golf Coaches Association preseason rankings.
UK hung around the top five for most of the event, but a 286 (-2) in the final round, which was the lowest 18-hole team round recorded that week, allowed the young team to finish bronze, while even flirting with second place.
Anastasia Hekkonen won the event on a career-best, 7-under-par 209 , in part thanks to her bogey-free, 6-under in the first round. In fact, she recorded just four bogeys across the 54 holes, helping the sophomore lead the prestigious tournament wire-to-wire.
She won Southeastern Conference Golfer of the Week for her efforts, the first of her college career.
Meanwhile, Cathryn Brown, a junior from Eddyville, Kentucky, charged up the individual leaderboard day after day. Beginning the event with a 73 (+1), she followed up the first round with a 71 (-1) and a 69 (-3) – and even chipped in on her final hole of the tournament – to tie for second place, which, like Hekkonen, became her best finish.
The Wildcats will sport the same lineup this week as their season debut, consisting of Hekkonen and Brown in the first and second spots, respectively, followed by a trio of sophomores in Karlie Campbell, C.A. Carter and Raleygh Simpson.
Both Campbell and Carter came in clutch down the stretch at the Folds of Honor, turning in a pair of 73s (+1) each.
Together, that fivesome boats a 292.3 (+4.3) scoring average across three rounds.
Big Blue Nation can track scoring across the two days of competition at The Johnie Imes Invitational here: scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/239265/scoring/team.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on X, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
