With all the hoopla surrounding National Signing Day today (and rightfully so), you best not miss the chance to meet some of the UK golfers. The season is just a few weeks away and this week we are taking a look at the sophomores that makeup the team. On Monday I introduced to you guys sophomore stud Will Bishop, and today we’ll take a look at two other PTPer’s as Dickie V would say, Todd McDaniel and David Snyder.

First, we’ll start with Todd McDaniel:

courtesy of UK athletics

Where’s he from? Like many players on the team, McDaniel is an in-state kid and grew up about 2 hours southeast of Lexington in Manchester, Kentucky where he attended Clay County High School. He is the son of Todd and Jennifer McDaniel, and the brother of Chip McDaniel. His dad, Todd, played basketball at Berea College.

How’d he get to UK? I’m beginning to notice a trend here with all of the players on this team. That trend is, that in high school, these guys were good, like better than me good (well, almost). In all seriousness, though, one word to describe McDaniel’s illustrious high school career is stud. I mean, he did it all, on and off the golf course. We’ll start with his on-the-course credentials. In 2009, McDaniel won both the Pepsi Tournament of Champions, and the Region X Championship, and in 2010 he won the Madison Southern Invitational. McDaniel also set the KHSAA state record by appearing in the event 6 times. Unless he failed a couple times in high school (which he definitely didn’t, I’ll get to that later), that means he appeared in the state event for the first time in 7th grade. Oh, and did I mention he can go low? He set the Big Hickory Golf Course record by carding a cool 62. Off the golf course, McDaniel was an all-district basketball and baseball player, and finished 4th (of 212) in his graduating class. I think I might have finished 4th in my beginner to guitar class senior year.

Freshman Season Results: McDaniel appeared in three matches as a freshman, where he had a stroke average of 76.73 in 8 total tournament rounds. McDaniel also made All-SEC Academic team.

Fall Season Results: McDaniel didn’t appear in any fall matches, but is expected to contribute some in the spring.

Now, like my boy Jay-Z says, we move on to the next one. And the next one is fellow sophomore David Snyder.

courtesy of UK athletics

Where’s he from? Like McDaniel, Snyder is another in-state kid and comes from Somerset, Kentucky where he went to Somerset High School. He is the son of Jeffrey and Angela Snyder, and the brother of Kyle and Dana Snyder.

How’d he get to UK? Before I even take a look at Snyder’s high school profile I’m just going to assume that he was really good. *Takes a break to read it.* Yep, he was. Snyder finished fifth at the KHSAA tournament in 2010, and was named to the all-state team in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons. On the AJGA tour (the nation’s premier junior golf tours), he had a couple of top-3 finishes, finishing third at Greenbrier with a 73-72-69, and finishing third at the Virginian with a 75-70-73.

Freshman Season Results: Snyder started for the ‘Cats in each of their final 8 matches, and saw some serious success. Snyder compiled two top ten finishes, including a second place finish the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate with a score of 4-under. Snyder also finished t-10th at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate.

Fall Season Results: Snyder was one of five Cats to participate in all four fall matches, where he competed at a high level and posted some solid results. At Wolf Run to kick the season off, he finished t-41st with a 226 (77-75-74). At two tough tracks in Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Club in Monterey, CA, Snyder garnered a top ten finish by firing 216 (74-70-72) to finish 8th. Snyder then finished t-28th at the Jack Nicklaus Invitational by shooting a 78-79 at Muirfield Village. To finish off his fall campaign, Snyder struggled a bit en rout to a 57th place finish in Cabo by shooting an 84.

Stay tuned next week when we ramp this bad boy up and I’ll introduce you to both the juniors and the seniors.

Peace.

@BWardKSR