Cats Come Home: Kentucky Hosts the Cullan Brown Collegiate at Lexington Country Club

The essentials

Kentucky hosts the third annual Cullan Brown Collegiate on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 5-6, at Lexington Country Club in Lexington. It is a 54-hole college event with team and individual titles, and each team counts its best four of five scores each round. Rounds 1 and 2 are Monday, Oct. 5, with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. The final round is Tuesday, Oct. 6, also with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. There are no individual tee times.

Kentucky's five starters play with Cincinnati, Mississippi State and Tennessee, starting on holes 1 to 4. Kentucky's three individuals start on holes 16 to 18. Pairings are on Clippd at scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/245027/scoring/tee-times.

Kentucky's lineup: Cole Stockard, Jacob Lang, Gabriel Hull, Cameron Phillips and Jacob Settles. Gavin Clutts, Luke Coyle and Bradford Lacefield play as individuals.

The team field is 15 teams, and 88 golfers are entered in all. Vanderbilt did not enter a team; it has individual entrants. An early Clippd listing that showed Vanderbilt among the teams was preliminary, and the Kentucky and Penn State previews list the same 15 teams.

The tournament honors Cullan Brown, an Eddyville native who played for Kentucky from 2018 to 2020. He was named to the 2019 All-SEC Freshman Team after a season with a 72.42 scoring average and four top-20 finishes. He died in 2020 after a battle with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer.

Momentum from the Windon

In the final round of the Windon Memorial Classic at Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest, Ill., on Sept. 29, the Cats posted a season-best team score of 6-under par. That was the second-best team round of the day and lifted UK three spots to a tie for ninth among 16 teams. For the first time this season, all four counting scores were at par or better.

"I thought today was the best round we've played so far this fall," head coach Gator Todd said afterward.

Players to watch

Jacob Lang. The junior from Alvaton, Ky., tied for sixth at the Windon at 3-under par (72-67-68). He led the field in par-3 scoring, made 12 birdies over 54 holes, tied for fourth most in the field, and earned the third top-10 finish of his college career. It was his best result this season.

Cameron Phillips. The sophomore from Portsmouth, Ohio, closed the Windon with a 67, matching the lowest round of his college career. Playing as an individual last fall, he tied for 14th at the Cullan Brown, then his best college finish.

Cole Stockard. The sophomore from Dalton, Ga., shot 69 in the Windon's final round, his sixth under-par round of the season. He is also the defending Cullan Brown champion. Last October, in just his third college start, Stockard won at 6-under par over a rain-shortened 36 holes, birdieing his final hole to finish one shot clear of the field.

The course

Lexington Country Club sits at 2550 Paris Pike. The club describes its course as an 18-hole, par-72 layout designed by Tom Bendelow, playing from 6,004 to 7,103 yards. Bendelow laid out the course in 1912. Pete Dye (1961) and Benjamin Wihry (1975) are among the designers who reworked it later, according to Golf Course Architecture magazine.

Fans will see a recently rebuilt course. Architect Kevin Hargrave's renovation of all 18 holes finished in December 2023: fairways were widened, at least 300 trees came out, bunkers were renovated and creek work reshaped the 11th and 12th holes. The club reopened in April 2024.

Tournament numbers differ from the club's listing. UK listed the course at par 71 and 7,280 yards for the 2024 event, and par 71 and 7,255 yards last year. Cincinnati, Tennessee and Penn State previews for this year's event also list Lexington Country Club at 7,255 yards, par 71.

Kentucky's "A" team finished third at the inaugural event in 2024 and runner-up last year, one shot behind Mississippi State. "It's always special playing at home in front of family and friends, especially at a place like Lexington Country Club," Todd said after the 2025 event.

How to follow

Live scoring and pairings: scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/245027 (tee times: /scoring/tee-times). Admission is free.

Both days start with a 9 a.m. shotgun. Kentucky's starters begin on holes 1 to 4 and its individuals on holes 16 to 18. Watch ukathletics.com/sports/mgolf/schedule/ and ukathletics.com/sports/mgolf/news/ for UK's results.