Eagle! Girls’ golfers end up in playoff again for another title.
Another week, another playoff for Lexington Christian’s Laney Frye. But this time it was with the girls’ Region 9 high school golf title on the line, and she closed the deal.
Frye eagled the first playoff hole, a converted par 5 on No. 9 at Keene Run Golf Course after a blistered drive on a scorching day that pitted some of the best teams and golfers in the state for a lone team bid and seven individual bids to next week’s state tournament in Bowling Green.
“I hit a nice drive. I think I had some adrenaline pumping and I took it right over the bunker,” Frye, a senior who won the region title for the second time in three years and will defend her state title next week. “And then I hit a wedge into the green, which is always nice on a par 5. I had that putt in the round (the first time), and I three-putted it. So, I learned from it and knew how to make it.”
Both Frye and Madison Central’s Mattie Neeley shot 2-under 71s on what observers described as an especially tough course given the heat and how fast the ball was bouncing in the fairways and on the greens. Players also had to deal with a gusting wind much of the day.
Last week at the inaugural All-State Championship, it was Neeley coming out on top of a four-way playoff that included Frye and Monday’s third-place finisher Rylea Marcum of Great Crossing.
“I told her on the tee box, ‘Didn’t we just do this last week?’” Neeley said. “We’re all just playing crazy good golf right now. I can’t wait to see what happens next week.”
Frye will be taking her LCA team with her as Region 9 winners. The Eagles finished 10 strokes ahead of Madison Central for the lone state tournament spot. In previous years, the top two region teams advanced to state with LCA winning the state title as a region runner-up last year. This year, with a change to the state format by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, the stakes for the region title were higher than ever.
“It put a ton of pressure on me, I don’t know how much pressure it put on them,” said LCA Coach William Frye, who said this will be his last season with the Eagles as his daughter is set to graduate. “They didn’t seem to play any different than normal. I think the scores were a little high today because the greens were really firm and fast. Other than that, they handled it awesome.”
Seven individual golfers outside the LCA team also advance to the state tournament and the last spot also came down to a playoff.
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Maddie Cecil, who won last year’s region title, thought she had missed her chance to return to Bowling Green as she struggled the final few holes.
“My goal today was not to push a lot, … but when it came down to it I did push and I got myself in some really bad situations,” Cecil said. “I’m glad I got it down to a playoff.”
After hitting the ball out of bounds on the tee of the playoff hole on No. 9, she straightened her third shot down the middle of the fairway and was able to finish with a bogey. Madison Central’s Elizabeth Eberle, who also finished regulation play with and 81, found the fairway bunker and then the greenside bunker on the playoff hole.
Frye looked to have the title wrapped up with a two-shot lead going into 18, but she double-bogeyed the final hole to let Neeley back in it. Last week, it was Neeley who struggled down the stretch and let slip a two-shot lead on the final day.
“I wasn’t sure if someone else in the clubhouse posted a good round, but I figured it was most likely me, Mattie and Rylea,” Frye said. “Yeah, I was bummed to double that hole, but I got to fight back.”
Region 9 girls’ golf
At Keene Run Golf Course, Nicholasville, par 73
Top individual finishers: Laney Frye, Lexington Christian, 71 (won on first playoff hole); Mattie Neeley, Madison Central, 71; Rylea Marcum, Great Crossing, 72; Casey Powell, Paul Laurence Dunbar, 73; Mary Keene Marrs, Lexington Christian, 80; Hannah Curreri, Clark County, 80; Delia Gibbs, Lexington Christian, 81; Emma Spencer, Great Crossing, 81; Reagan Clark, Madison Central, 81; Emily Sparks, Lexington Christian, 82; Maddie Cecil, Dunbar, 82; Elizabeth Eberle, Madison Central, 82; Grace Lawler, Great Crossing, 83.
Team results: Lexington Christian, 314; Madison Central, 324; Great Crossing, 330; Paul Laurence Dunbar, 332; Lexington Catholic, 353; Clark County, 359; Henry Clay, 366; Model, 386; Lafayette, 391; Bryan Station, 408; Sayre, 447; Franklin County, 419; Frederick Douglass, 501.
This story was originally published September 30, 2019 at 6:40 PM.
