Kentucky Wesleyan Men's Golf Secures Second Place at Bill Crabtree Invitational

Panthers Secure Best Fall Finish at Bill Crabtree Invitational

Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s golf closed out its fall schedule with a strong runner-up finish at the Bill Crabtree Invitational, hosted October 24-25 at The Pearl Club in Owensboro. The 54-hole tournament honors the legacy of Bill Crabtree, a former Wesleyan assistant coach and alumnus who passed away in 2019 at the age of 72.

The 12-team field featured approximately 80 individual competitors across nine schools, including Thomas More, Brescia, Young Harris, Kentucky State, Missouri S&T, McKendree, LeMoyne-Owen, and Malone. McKendree captured the team title at 10-under par, while the host Panthers finished second at 10-over par, marking Wesleyan’s best finish in the tournament since 2018.

Jackson and Loiars Lead the Charge for Wesleyan

Junior Cohen Jackson paced the Panthers with a third-place individual finish at 1-under par. Jackson opened with a 1-over-par round on Saturday before carding back-to-back 1-under rounds. He totaled seven birdies and a team-high 41 pars to maintain a steady position near the top of the leaderboard. At their previous event, where Kentucky Wesleyan finished eighth by shooting 28-over par, Jackson had tied for 16th at 3-over par with a team-high nine birdies.

Teammate Ryan Loiars followed closely in fourth place at even par. Loiars recovered from an opening round of 2-over par by firing a 2-under-par second round and an even-par finish on Sunday. Over 54 holes, Loiars notched one eagle and a team-high 10 birdies, rebounding sharply after carding six bogeys on his opening nine holes.

Tanner Kight tied for eighth at 4-over par, bouncing back from an opening 5-over round with six birdies and just four bogeys over the final two rounds. Parker Deutschman rounded out the top-10 finishes for Kentucky Wesleyan by tying for 10th at 5-over par. Thomas Scott placed 19th at 10-over par, Wille Carlsson tied for 26th at 12-over par, Kolby Crook tied for 29th at 13-over par, and Jonathan Kaminski tied for 37th at 14-over par. At the team’s prior tournament, the top three performers had been Jackson, Jonathan Kaminski who tied for 20th at 5-over par, and freshman Wille Carlsson who placed 29th at 8-over par.

Records Fall as Fall Slate Concludes

While the Panthers secured second place in the team standings—finishing 20 strokes behind champion McKendree—individual brilliance highlighted the weekend’s final round. McKendree’s Matthew Delanty fired a single-round 63 (9-under par), setting a tournament record for a single round. McKendree also tied the tournament record for the lowest team round in history by shooting a 269 (-19) on Sunday.

Young Harris golfer Samuel Ankelstam claimed individual medalist honors at 4-under par, with McKendree’s Simon Meiby finishing second at 2-under par. Meanwhile, Kentucky Wesleyan’s B team finished eighth at 47-over par, featuring appearances from RJ Farrell tying for 46th at 17-over par, Kyle Hodoval and Garrett Haywood both tying for 51st at 20-over par, Andrew Noble tying for 57th at 22-over par, Maddux O’Guinn finishing 61st at 24-over par, Aidan Bartos placing 69th at 34-over par, and Kingston Lovelady finishing 74th at 42-over par.

Throughout the years, this event has had several great partners, but first and foremost, the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau here in Owensboro-Daviess County has done a fantastic job of elevating this event to what it is right now, Badylak said.