When the Go Junior Golf Series hits Owensboro Country Club Monday for its Northern Series Championship, it could be the biggest final tournament in the program’s history.
Mark Price, founder and director of the Go Junior Golf Series, said they could have a record-setting day on the course.
“If we have over 100, it’ll be the largest ever for our tour championship,” he said.
For Thursday’s Southern Series Championship in Hopkinsville, Price said he estimates around 70 golfers.
Price said this summer was an unknown for them in the middle of the pandemic.
“When you shut down soccer and shut down baseball, kids are going to try and find an outlet,” he said. “We’ve had quite a few kids do that. It could have gone both ways. There could have been some kids that were afraid to come out so we had no idea how many kids were going to be able to play.”
The Go Junior Series teed off in late May, and Price said they got the confidence to go on as scheduled when another golf program — the Hurricane Tour — made a stop in Lexington around that time.
“When they pulled their tournament off and they were able to go and there’s no issues, I thought ‘if they can do it, we can do it,’” he said. “We were able to go from there.”
When the season started, Price said there were a few differences, including just being more mindful of their surroundings.
“It just constantly always being aware of where you’re standing,” he said.
When the KHSAA Board of Control made the decision Friday to continue the high school golf season as scheduled, Price said it was good knowing they did things the right way.
“I was shocked the KHSAA did that,” he said. “Happy, but shocked.”
Price had a busy weekend ahead of this week’s tour championships but said he and his wife talked a lot about the events of the summer.
“It’s helped me understand to not be so stressed out about it,” he said. “The tournament will go great. I think the weather is supposed to be fine so I’ve just got to keep that in mind and do the best you can to put off a good tour championship for the kids.”
The Go Junior Golf Series has been around a while now and Price has been there since the beginning. With that, Price has built a bond with many of the players, and he said it was nice to see them back on the course.
“It was great, it was great to have the opportunity that we could get some sense of normalcy back in doing what we’ve done the last 14 years,” he said. “This is our 15th year. It was just great to be able to get back to a routine that we’ve done in the past.”
The Northern Series Championship is Monday at Owensboro Country Club, with the Southern Series Championship teeing off Thursday at Hopkinsville Golf & Country Club.
