Apollo girls golf is sending three individuals to state, while Holly Holton led Daviess County to second place and Owensoboro’s Alexa Salamah placed in the top-10 at the Second Region Tournament.
For the E-gals, Mary Ann Lyons finished with an 81 to grab sixth place while Macey Brown followed suit with an 81 to earn seventh place individually.
Head Coach Jarrod Carter said that Lyons stepped up and brought her a-game to the course, putting together a complete game.
“Mary Ann probably played the best round she had all season by about 10 strokes,” Carter said. “We saw that coming. She had been really working hard and practicing hard. We told her it was all there, she just had to put it together and she did today.”
Carter said that they’ve been focusing on her touch on the course to shave some strokes off of her game and it showed in today’s result.
“Mary Ann is a strong girl and [we’ve] been working on tempo and trying to get out of her head that she doesn’t have to beat the ball around the golf course,” Carter said. “Just swing the golf club. She’s much better rotating through the ball instead of trying to whip at it… She’s controlling the ball better.”
Lyons felt that she felt really good driving the ball today, but that her short game is what really took her to the next level.
“I want to say probably my driver,” Lyons said. “My drives were definitely something that helped me. Putting was also something that was one of my strengths, which it’s been a long time since I could say that’s been one of my strengths.”
Brown wasn’t exactly pleased with her play during the tournament, but was happy to see that despite struggling she still earned a top-10 score.
“Normally off the tee is one of my strong suits,” Brown said. “Today it was not and I finally had to put up my driver and just go with it. I was not hitting the ball and I was not putting the ball good. Nothing was really in my favor today, but I grinded through and got out [ok]. It’s bad for me, but across the board it’s a decent score.”
Meanwhile, Apollo’s Claire Reynolds also put herself in position to place for state, but had to compete in a playoff in order to do so.
Reynolds won the playoff, securing her spot at state with an 89 and giving her a top-10 finish in the Second Region Tournament as an eighth grader.
Reynolds felt like she didn’t have a very good round going into the playoff so she was nervous, but was excited to earn her place amongst the best in the Second Region.
“That was one of my goals this year, [to make it to state],” Reynolds said. “So the hard work that I put in paid off.”
Brown is thrilled to be joined by her counterparts in her fourth straight year going to state, saying that despite them all playing individually they feel like a close-knit team.
“Normally it’s just me,” Brown said. “So it’s really good to be able to see. I mean Mary went last year. But it’s really good to see all three of our people on our team go. It just feels like more of a team aspect [this year].”
For Daviess County they finished with an overall score of 372 to be the runner-up to Madisonville-North Hopkins, with Holton earning fourth place with an overall score of 80.
Kirsten Henderson was second on the Lady Panthers with a 92, Addison Heady was third with a 95, while Annalee Yager and Baylie Billingsley both finished with a 105 to round out their team score.
Despite not having great practice rounds at Madisonville Country Club prior to the tournament, Holton came back and cut off 10 strokes and was able to place in the top-ten.
Holton had hoped to try and break some records like she had in her freshman and sophomore year, but she was pleased that she came close.
“My strength today was probably my short game,” Holton said. “Chipping [was] a lot of it. Just being able to get greens in regulation and being able to chip it really close to the hole to where I can make one-putts if I didn’t do too great on my long game.”
Head Coach Logan Clark said he was proud of Holton, saying that she stepped up and executed the things that they had talked about coming into the tournament.
“Her consistency,” Clark said. “She’s so consistent. Off the tee she was consistent and her short game was really dialed in today. She was able to throw some good shots in there on the green and took advantage of opportunities that she set herself up for.”
As far as the team’s overall performance goes, Clark said that the course got the best of some of them, but was thrilled with their result and knows that it’s huge for the program going forward with the majority of the team graduating.
“It’s not a win per say, but it means we’re second in the region and that’s a big deal,” Clark said. “We get some hardware to take back to Daviess County High and it’s a confidence booster for these young girls… They have something to build off of next year to talk to the newcomers about.”
Salamah placed eighth with an overall score of 86, leading Owensboro and earning her spot in state.
Salamah said that she had a very balanced round of golf, not making many mistakes and limiting weaknesses that could cause her to lose strokes.
“I think it was everything,” Salamah said. “I think my biggest strength was that I didn’t really have any part of my game bringing me down. My putting was pretty good, so was my drives and my irons.”
Salamah has had a strong season as an eighth grader and is thrilled that the countless hours spent on the golf course have paid off.
“It means so much to me,” Salamah said. “This day has been an amazing experience. It definitely feels amazing to know all this hard work is paying off and I’m going to state.”
With the Second Region Tournament coming to a close, Apollo, Holton and Salamah will all take the rest of the week to prepare for the KHSAA State Golf Championships in Bowling Green that will start on Oct. 4.
