Florida
Takeaways from Kentucky’s brutal loss to Florida on the road
The Kentucky Wildcats went down to Gainesville on Saturday to take on the Florida Gators in what was a must-win to not dig theirselves a deeper hole. That didn’t work out to great, as the Wildcats were essentially manhandled all night and ended up falling by a score of 48-20. A night full of more discipline issues, it wasn’t just the offense who had a lot of issues. Kentucky’s defense allowed numerous explosive plays to Florida QB DJ Lagway, and that was one of the many faults for the Wildcats in the game.
Let’s take a look at some of the takeaways with the Wildcats sitting in a tough position just over halfway through the season.
On Saturday night, the Wildcats desperately needed their offense to get it in gear, as all season, they have struggled to get points on the board, especially against SEC foes. Aside from the Barion Brown kickoff return for a touchdown, the offense itself couldn’t find much rhythm. Kentucky converted just 4 of their 13 plays on 3rd downs, which is a struggling stat. The Wildcats found theirselves in multiple down situations a lot, and before you knew it, it was 3rd down. You can’t win unless you capitalize on offense.
In what is usually the insurance for the offense’s struggles, the defense wasn’t their self on Saturday. It was probably their worst performance of the year, and the secondary felt most of that. Kentucky allowed some really big explosive plays to Florida QB DJ Lagway. He only completed 7 passes, but threw for 259 yards, connecting to Elijhah Badger a lot, who had a game-high 148 receiving yards. It wasn’t just the passing game either. Florida also was really effective in the run game, not only Lagway scrambling (46 yards), But also running back Jadan Baugh who had all of Florida’s 5 touchdowns. It wasn’t a pretty night.
This is something that has been an issue all season, mostly last week against Vandy and week 2 against South Carolina. It rared its head again on Saturday in The Swamp. On one play, the Wildcats couldn’t capitalize on an interception by Kristian Story that got them inside the 5 yard line in the redzone. Instead, a hands to the face penalty backed the Wildcats up, and from there, they managed to come up with zero points in great field position after failing to convert on 4th down. Kentucky had 3 penalties for 30 yards. Credit where it’s due though. The Wildcats didn’t have a penalty after the opening quarter.
Kentucky now sits at 3-4 on the season, and now will welcome Auburn to Kroger Field next Saturday. That one will kickoff at 7:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network. It doesn’t get any easier from here, and the Wildcats have a lot to clean up just over halfway through the season.
Austin Smotherman will carry a three-stroke lead into the weekend at the Cognizant Classic at The Palm Beaches.
Smotherman followed his opening 62 with a 2-under-par 69 on Friday at PGA National’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. That brought him to 11 under, comfortably clear of Taylor Moore, who is in second after his second straight 4-under 67.
Cognizant Classic scoreboard
“Yeah, leading a PGA Tour event, come on, pretty awesome,” Smotherman said.
Smotherman, 31, is in fine position for his first win on the PGA Tour since turning pro a decade ago. He has won three times on the Korn Ferry Tour, including last June.
Afterwards, he credited himself with playing “Austin Smotherman golf.” When asked what that meant, he responded, “as boring and simple as it can be.
“That’s what I want to do out there. I feel like I ball strike it good enough to have that kind of boring golf, a bunch of fairways ideally,” he said.
He suffered three bogeys Friday after a bogey-free opening round, but the key stretch for him after starting on the back nine was between Nos. 17 and 3. He birdied four holes in that stretch, starting with a 54-foot bomb at the par-3 17th hole.
“Anything under par I thought would have been (good) following up a round like yesterday, which was a special one,” he said, “and try not to get too far ahead of myself thinking I’m going to make every long putt I’m looking at, like kind of was the feeling yesterday, and then today I still make a 55-footer on 17.”
Moore overcame a bogey in each half of his round with three birdies on either nine, more than counterbalancing the rough patches to earn his second straight solid score.
“I think very different 67s,” Moore said when comparing his rounds. “I didn’t hit many fairways yesterday, kind of grinded a lot, had a couple chip-ins, which obviously helps. I thought I struck the ball much better today. Drove it in the fairways on the par-5s, I felt like. Yeah, still had a few up-and- downs, obviously, with the tough windy conditions this afternoon, but overall I thought it was solid.”
Canadian A.J. Ewart had the round of the day, a 64 that powered him to 7 under for the week. He’s tied with Colombia’s Nico Echavarria (72), and Joel Dahmen is in fifth at 6 under after a second consecutive 68.
Ewart, who played for nearby Barry University in college, came in with some familiarity.
“We used to come and watch this tournament when I was at school. I think I came up here twice, maybe three times and watched,” Ewart said. “I had never actually played the golf course, but I felt like I knew it just from watching it.”
Irishman Shane Lowry, one of the most recognizable players in the field, is in a large knot for sixth at 5 under after posting a 67. Defending champion Joe Highsmith made the cut on the number at even par.
Notable players who missed the cut included Webb Simpson (1 over), Gary Woodland (2 over), Matt Kuchar (2 over) and Canada’s Adam Hadwin (3 over).
Kim maintains narrow lead in Singapore
Auston Kim maintained a narrow lead over three seasoned competitors with a 3-under-par 69 on Friday at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Kim carded five birdies and a double-bogey at the par-5 16th hole at Sentosa Golf Club to move to 9-under par, one shot ahead of major champions Minjee Lee of Australia (64 on Friday) and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn (67) and three- time LPGA Tour winner Haeran Ryu of South Korea (68).
Lurking two shots back at 7-under in the no-cut event are Australia’s Hannah Green (66), Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen (68), Sweden’s Linn Grant (69) and England’s Mimi Rhodes (69).
Kim, an LPGA Tour member since 2024, has been knocking on the door of her first tour win. The American has eight finishes in the top 10 and was the runner-up at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship last season.
“I think just sticking to my process. I’m trying to earn each shot and win each shot and win each day,” Kim, 25, said of her strategy heading into the weekend. “I can put a hundred percent of my focus into every single shot and try my best to execute each time, I’ll do well.”
Lee soared into contention with an eagle at the par-4 second hole and six birdies in a bogey-free round.
“I think just I holed a few more putts out there,” Lee said of the difference between Friday’s play and her opening-round of 72. “I holed a few long ones and I also holed out for eagle on the second. That always helps the score.”
Jutanugarn had six birdies, including three straight from holes Nos. 5-7, and one bogey.
Ryu collected four birdies in a round free of bogeys, but not free from pain.
“Today, my neck was so bad and I cannot turn it around, it’s so hard, my neck,” Ryu said. “But yeah, golf is not perfect. I just think about it, just hit the fairway and the green. Yeah, that’s good for me. There’s a lot of birdies, and yeah, I’m so happy.”
Angel Yin matched Lee for the low round of the day with a 64 to move into a tie for ninth at 6-under.
Defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand (72) remained a 2-under posting four birdies and four bogeys.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand is tied for 33rd at 1-under after a round of 70.
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