The girls’ and boys’ region golf tournaments will be played early this week, and local teams and individuals are among the favorites in both fields.
First up will be the girls’ tournament, which will be held Monday in Central City. The boys play Tuesday at Owensboro Country Club.
The Daviess County boys have a strong chance to defend their region title, while the girls competition will likely be a three-team race that features DC, Catholic and Madisonville-North Hopkins.
Both 2018 individual champions also return to the field, with sophomore Jakob Wellman and senior Emma Payne — both of Catholic — hoping to repeat their feat from a year ago.
This postseason will look different than years past in terms of advancing to the state tournament. Only the winning team from the region tournament will qualify to move on, with the next seven best individual finishers not on that team also advancing.
GIRLS
Both Owensboro Catholic and Daviess County have legitimate chances to win the title this year, but it will depend which versions of their team shows up. Both squads have had strong tournaments, but they’ve also struggled at times.
“It’s been kind of a rocky season for us,” said Daviess County head coach Logan Clark. “We had some high hopes. We’ve done some good things, but we had some ups and downs. Honestly they’re coming into their game at the right time. They’ve been playing well recently. Mentally I know they’re all in the right place.”
Catholic head coach Stacey Johnson also said the mental game will be big factor.
“Our goal is to just keep our heads on straight at this point,” she said. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves, but we can’t get disappointed either. We could either come out shooting really well or we could blow up. Keeping a level head is key.”
Even if neither team advances as a unit out of the region, both coaches expect to have individuals qualify for state.
DC’s most likely candidate is Holly Holton, though Addison Heady, Kirsten Henderson and Emilee Clark could wind up in the top seven.
“As a team, I think we’re at least top three,” Clark said. “I think there’s a big opportunity for at least a couple of our girls to make it on to state as an individual if we can’t get that team spot. I’m trying to get them mentally prepared for one or the other.”
Johnson thinks three of her golfers could move on, starting with Payne. Maddi Roberts and Abby Bahnick have also been steady this season and have a strong chance to finish in the top seven.
“Emma won last year, so the chances of her not making the top seven is highly unlikely,” Johnson said. “I also expect big things out of Maddi and Abby.”
Apollo will also field one of the individual favorites in Macey Brown, a sophomore who has put together a stellar season after advancing to the second round of the state tournament last year.
“I hope Macey is in the right frame of mind to do her best,” said head coach Jarrod Carter. “If she does, I think she can pull off a victory. As a team, I think we’re going to play the best golf we have all year. I think the course sets up good for us as a team.”
Owensboro’s girls are not competing in this year’s tournament.
BOYS
The Panthers are heavy favorites to come away with another region championship, so head coach Lars King said his guys need to just focus on their own game and the results will come out in their favor.
“You just have to tell them to go out and play how they have all year, which is tough because they’ve played so well,” he said. “We want to break 310, and if we do that we shouldn’t have any problems.”
Their depth has been the key to success for DC. They are led by senior Daniel Love, who has averaged just under par this season. Chris Salamah also has the potential to shoot near par, and Nick Johnson has been steady with rounds near 80. Brady Huckleberry and Braden Whistle round out the top five, and each has shown potential to shoot in the upper 70s.
“A few teams have really strong players at one and two, but at the end of the day it comes down to four guys playing good golf,” King said. “Right now I think we’re the deepest team in the region as far as five guys go.”
Catholic has a pair of golfers with a shot at the individual trophy, starting with defending champ Wellman — who beat DC’s Love by one stroke this season in the city-county tournament. Reece Higdon is also capable of a top-seven finish for the Aces.
“Jakob and Reece are plenty capable of being within those top seven spots, especially being on their home course,” said Catholic head coach Bretnea Turner. “It’s a huge advantage, but it also brings pressure to play well. Hopefully they keep a cool head and keep their shots in the fairway.”
Owensboro’s top golfer is Jack Lashbrook, and while his average isn’t quite as low as Love or Wellman, the senior Red Devil has proven to be one of the top guys in the region this year. Head coach Pat Hume is hoping Lashbrook and the team finish the year out strong.
“Jack Lashbrook has high expectations,” Hume said. “He’s a senior and it’s his home course, so I think he’ll have a good round. We’d love to shoot the best team score we have all year long. We have realistic expectations, but we’d love to peak and finish near the top.”
With Apollo unlikely to claim an individual spot, head coach David Lyons is just looking for more progress from his team.
“I expect our team to play better than they played through the season,” he said. “We’ve worked on our short game. I thought if we did that we could improve our scores, and they’ve done that steadily throughout the year.”
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2019 golf coverage is presented by The Pearl Club at The Summit.
