Daviess County senior Daniel Love has been named The Owensboro Times Boys’ Golf Player of the Year.
Love capped off an outstanding career with the Panthers with his best overall season, leading the team in every sense of the way.
Already the top golfer on the team heading into the season, Love improved his own game and averaged under par up until the state tournament.
“I started off hot, really playing well,” Love said. “The thing that surprised me the most this year is my scoring average all the way up until state. Before that my highest score was 74, which is exactly where I needed to be, exactly where I wanted to be. That’s probably my biggest takeaway from the year.”
Love finally captured the individual region title — something that had eluded him for six years — leading the Panthers to a repeat team championship and another appearance in the state tournament.
He also finished runner-up in the city-county tournament and finished below par in the high-profile KIT as well as the Marshall County Invitational.
Head coach Lars King said he thought Love looked more at ease this year after putting in a lot of work in the offseason.
“It seemed like everything came easy for him,” King said. “He practiced really hard, he put the time in. It seemed like everything just kind of flowed for him and he made a lot better decisions off the tee box. He just showed maturity in his game in general.”
Love said as his senior campaign drew near, he wanted to make sure he enjoyed his final season with DC.
“I was hitting it pretty hard all year since probably March, just doing summer and individual stuff,” he said. “High school season came around and I was looking for a little more laid back, a little more easy going but still competitive golf. I just had a lot of fun this year. I think that played a big part in some of my success.”
King said Love also worked with the younger players on the team, leading rounds outside of the normal practices.
“He took on the seniors and the guys who don’t play a ton of golf and wanted them to perform at their best,” King said. “He pushed them to be a little bit better as well in their game just by showing them how hard he practices.”
Love will continue his golfing career at Middle Tennessee State University, but he’s not sure just how far he’ll go beyond that.
“First thing’s first is to get a good education,” he said. “I’m hoping to travel with the team as much as I can freshman year, and then we’ll see where it goes.”
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