Owensboro Catholic’s Jakob Wellman and Daviess County’s Grant Broughton had strong performances at the KGCA All State Championship, with both placing in the top-25.
Wellman finished with a 73 on day one and replicated this score on day two, earning an overall score of 146 to finish in a three-way tie for 20th.
The Ace wasn’t thrilled with his play during the weekend, but was glad to be able to still find success despite not having his greatest performance.
“I was disappointed with how I hit the ball given that it was a big tournament, but I was glad to still keep it under 75 both days without hitting it very well,” Wellman said.
Wellman said that it was his short game that allowed him to really shave some strokes off his game and place him in the middle of the pack amongst solid competition.
“I putted extremely well and I had to make a lot of putts to keep the scores down both days,” Wellman said. “That is something that is important to do when you don’t hit it well.”
Wellman knows he has some stuff to work on, but was able to walk away from the tournament with a positive mindset going forward.
“I’ll be working on trying to get the ball closer to the hole on approach shots to give myself the best opportunity to shoot lower scores,” Wellman said. “My biggest takeaway was that I was glad I could make some putts when needed and shoot two respectable rounds without hitting it well.”
Meanwhile, Broughton finished with a 75 on day one and improved by two strokes on day two to finish with an overall score of 148 to find himself in a six-way tie for 23rd.
“Overall I was pretty pleased with how I played,” Broughton said. “I felt like my putting has been getting a lot better and it showed this weekend. Usually putting is not one of my strengths.”
Broughton said in order for him to continually improve his score, he has to work on his chipping in order to help save some strokes.
“Something I need to improve is definitely my chipping,” Broughton said. “I lost a lot of shots throughout the tournament due to poor chips.”
The Panther said that this tournament has taught him that he must be patient when he plays, knowing that even if he gets off to a rough start, he has the skills to turn things around if he stays focused.
“My biggest takeaway is that you need to be patient during the round,” Broughton said. “Everyone on the team, including myself, got off to a bad start early in the round, but was able to straighten it out and even gain a few shots back on the finishing stretch.”
