Owensboro Catholic’s Jakob Wellman didn’t start Wednesday how he wanted but he still delivered a top-20 finish at the KHSAA State Boys’ Golf Tournament.
Wellman finished at 8-over for the tournament after firing a 72-80 over two days at Bowling Green Country Club. The Ace junior finished in a four-way tie for 17th place.
Marshall County’s Jay Nimmo won his second-straight state title as he finished at 3-under and beat Cooper’s Rylan Wotherspoon in a playoff.
Wellman said he felt good going into Wednesday but being in that moment made him feel a little differently.
“Being in that group was my first time being in the last group in such a big tournament,” he said. “The nerves were there for sure early. I just felt like I was trying to hit every shot too perfect and worrying about what the other kids were doing, even though I said I wasn’t going to, it just kind of crept up on me. It came back and punched me in the face.”
Wellman had several of the top golfers that weren’t on a team in his group, including the runner-up. He said the experience will help going forward.
“It’s something you can learn from,” he said. “I’ll just use it and try to remember it if there’s an instance I’m in another last group next time and I’ll realize if I’m pushing up against where I was, I’ll learn to reevaluate during the round and try to get back to the normal state of golf that I usually play.”
After his tee shot on the 18th went left, Wellman found himself among the trees but he saw a line toward the green. He delivered a bullet that found the greenside bunker but it was still a shot Wellman could build off of going into his next tournament in a few weeks.
“I’ll take what I learned today and hopefully be in the position after the first two days in three weeks and respond better,” he said. “It’s to have a learning experience like this. It’s hard to be in this position and succeed at first.”
Wednesday brought a gorgeous day to Bowling Green and it gave fans a chance to enjoy the course in the perfect environment.
Wellman’s gallery followed him from his tee shot to his final putt on 18.
“It was good just to see the support,” he said. “I knew that I had a lot of support around Owensboro but I didn’t really expect that so that was definitely good to see.
“When you’re hitting a bad shot and you see those people and you look up at them, they’re spending time out of their day to come here to watch. It definitely is good to see.”
Louisville Trinity won the team title as the Shamrocks finished +38, Taylor County finished just behind them with a +42.
Top Individuals
1. Jay Nimmo (Marshall County) -3 (Won State Championship in playoff)
2. Rylan Wotherspoon (Cooper) -3
T3. Peyton Purvis (St. Mary) -2
T3. Luke Coyle (Taylor County) -2
T5. Justin Gabbard (Highlands) -1
T5. Matthew Troutman (CAL) -1
7. Allan Lockwood (Central Hardin) E
T17. Jakob Wellman (Owensboro Catholic) +8
Top Teams
1. Louisville Trinity +38
2. Taylor County +42
3. Marshall County +46
4. Greenwood +57
5. Lexington Christian +58
