Bowling captures Kentucky Open title

By Mike Fields - mfields@herald-leader.com

LOUISVILLE — Husbands and wives might have trouble hanging wallpaper together, but Trey and Shellie Bowling proved that spouses can hang on to win a big golf tournament together.

Trey Bowling built a five-shot lead with six holes to go, and with wife/caddy Shellie helping to keep him steady, he held on to win the 89th Kentucky Open by two shots at Audubon Country Club on Thursday.

KENTUCKY OPEN

At Louisville

6,720-yard, par-72 Audubon C.C.

Trey Bowling, Manchester 69-66-71—206

Andrew Stephens, Union 74-66-68—208
Ted Schulz, Louisville 71-67-71—209
Austin Meyer, Louisville 70-71-69—210
Cameron Carrico, Owensboro 72-68-70—210
Cory Kaufman, Louisville 66-71-73—210
Justin Thomas, Goshen 67-70-73—210
Philip Hendrickson, Danville 71-69-70—210
Robby Shaw, Louisville 68-69-73—210
Ben Fuqua, Danville 70-71-70—211
Kent Bulle, Glasgow 70-70-71—211
Troy Hawkins, Elizabethtown 68-67-78—213
Grover Justice, Lexington 78-65-71—214
Shaun McConnell, Richmond 72-72-70—214
Bryan Conway, Frankfort 71-73-71—215
Tyler Wilson, Lexington 74-70-71—215
Alex Volpenhein, Edgewood 71-69-76—216
Cale Barr, Versailles 70-72-74—216
Clay Ballard, Winchester 70-72-74—216
Jordan Blann, Bowling Green 71-73-72—216
Keith Ohr, Louisville 74-70-72—216
Russ Johnson, Lagrange 72-73-71—216
Zachary Wilson, Russell Springs 70-74-72—216
Brett Munson, Louisville 74-71-72—217
Brian Fister, Lexington 70-73-74—217
Karsten Clements, Prospect 71-74-72—217
Steven Clark, Lexington 74-69-74—217
Willis Ring, Whitesburg 73-70-74—217
Chad Stocker, Louisville 70-72-76—218
Charlie Cornette, Greenville 74-70-74—218
Kyle Ramey, Paducah 74-72-72—218
Taylor Wisniewski, Nicholasville 70-73-75—218
Thomas Reddick, Bardstown 72-73-73—218
Kyle Litter, Morehead 73-74-72—219
Lee Chaney, Morehead 73-71-75—219
Ryan Britt, Louisville 72-72-75—219
Aaron McDowell, Lexington 75-73-72—220
Chris Morris, Maysville 72-73-75—220
Daryl Fathauer, Louisville 73-73-74—220
Jared Wolfe, Louisville 73-73-74—220
Jerry Price, Louisville 74-72-74—220
Mitchell Moore, Hopkinsville 75-72-73—220
Nicholas Sweeney, Louisville 74-73-73—220
Andrew Heiser, London 72-74-75—221
Andy Roberts, Owensboro 72-74-75—221
Brandon Berry, Lagrange 75-67-79—221
Buddy Bryant, Lexington 70-75-76—221
John Bachman, Louisville 73-71-77—221
Kevin Main, Borden, Ind. 73-74-74—221
Marshall Butler, Louisville 73-73-75—221
Nick Johnston, Louisville 76-70-75—221
Bradley Ruch, Louisville 74-73-75—222
Bruce Oldendick, Pikeville 72-75-75—222
Eddie Mudd, Louisville 72-71-79—222
Hunter Ford, Paducah 73-72-77—222
Joseph Barr, Versailles 71-74-77—222
Joshua Rhodes, Paducah 72-75-75—222
Justin Moore, Somerset 72-69-81—222
Steven Conley, Georgetown 73-72-77—222
Dan DePasquale, Louisville 73-72-78—223
Davis Boland, Louisville 72-75-76—223
Michael Woodson, Louisville 73-75-75—223
Shawn Tipton, Clay City 72-76-75—223
Dave Snyder, Somerset 74-72-78—224
Kelly Maxwell, Louisville 68-76-80—224
Patrick Vadden, Louisville 71-76-77—224
Casey Combs, Louisville 74-74-77—225
Daniel Kmetz, Louisville 73-74-78—225
James Maxam, Winchester 79-69-77—225
Logan Edelen, Bardstown 74-71-80—225
Ted Beckmann, Crestwood 75-73-77—225
Erik Davis, Smithfield 74-74-78—226
Nathan White, Manchester 71-72-83—226
Phillip Blythe, Louisville 75-71-80—226
Terrance Hyland, Louisville 75-72-81—228
Tom Campbell, Danville 72-76-82—230
Tyler Sharpe, Greensburg 70-78-83—231

Bowling, a Clay County native and a senior at Eastern Kentucky, finished the three-day tournament 10 under (69-66-71—206).

Former University of Kentucky golfer Andrew Stephens was runner-up at 74-66-68—208, and earned $10,000 as low pro. Former PGA Tour player Ted Schulz was third at 71-67-71—209.

Phil Hendrickson, who swept the State Amateur and Kentucky Open last summer before his senior season at EKU, tied for fourth.

Bowling watched Hendrickson's heroics last year and was tickled to follow him to the winner's circle.

“After seeing my teammate win last year, ‘Go, Colonels!' is all I can say.”

Bowling began the final round tied for the lead with former Western Kentucky golfer Troy Hawkins. But Hawkins four-putted the first hole for a double-bogey, and Bowling had the lead to himself the rest of the day.

He rolled in birdie putts on the second and fourth holes to take command.

Play was interrupted for more than an hour by rain, but it didn't bother Bowling.

He appeared to have put it away on the par-5 12th when he rifled his second shot — a hybrid from 225 yards — to within 6 feet and made eagle.

But he followed that up with a pair of three-putt bogeys.

“That's golf,” he said. “You stick one in tight from 225 and make eagle, then you three-putt from 20 feet. It happens.”

He also bogeyed No. 16 to see his lead shrink to two, but he finished with solid pars.

Bowling credited Shellie, a former EKU golfer who is an assistant pro at Andover Golf & Country Club in Lexington, for helping him in more ways than one.

“She's a very good greens-reader, and she keeps me comfortable out there,” he said. “After I had those two three-putts, she joked with me and kept things light. She told me, ‘No more of those.' ”

Stephens, who graduated from UK in 2007, was the only one to keep any kind of heat on Bowling.

That Stephens was in the mix was a tribute to his tenacity. He was 4-over par after 10 holes in the first round before scrambling back for a 74. He fired a 66 on Wednesday to get back into contention.

Trey Bowling, meanwhile, won over his wife all over again.

She opened the pro shop at Andover at 7 a.m. Thursday morning before her boss told her to “go caddy for your husband.”

She's glad she did.

“This is amazing,” Shellie said as she watched her husband accept congratulations after the biggest victory of his life. “Trey was very confident he could do it. He just doesn't get very nervous. That's what I love about him.

“Last night he was like, ‘You know, babe, I've got a chance to win this.' It's awesome that he did it.”