‘No better way to social distance.’ High school golf returns in Kentucky.
A near-perfect July day greeted the first high school sporting event to tee off in Central Kentucky since the coronavirus pandemic shutdown months ago.
An even 100 varsity players and 20 teams, including two-time defending state boys’ golf champions Taylor County and top contenders including Trinity, St. Xavier, Covington Catholic, Clay County and Madison Central, joined host Lafayette and the rest of Lexington’s local teams for the Lafayette Five Star General Invitational at Gay Brewer Jr. Golf Course at Picadome on Friday.
Though rain occasionally threatened, the temperature reached only 80 degrees on a day that was much cooler than most of the month.
“Man, it feels great,” said Taylor County Coach Todd Polston, whose Cardinals won the team title Friday. “I think it’s going to be a little bit of a different season with the COVID, but I’m happy to be back. It’s awesome. It feels good to see some sports that are live. And there’s no better way to social distance than playing golf.”
The event was one of six boys’ and two girls’ events held across the state Friday as the first high school competitions to take place since the Mingua Beef Jerky/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 basketball tournament came to an abrupt halt by measures taken to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in early March.
“There’s some great golfers right here from all over the state,” said Lexington Catholic Coach Brendon Woody, whose team finished 10th. “There’s no question the field’s stacked. We’ve got some of the top middle school guys all the way up through seniors.”
COVID-19 safety measures meant that a three-way tie at 3-under par atop the individual leaderboard had to be split by USGA scorecard rules rather than a playoff.
That gave Trinity’s Dylan McGrath the top spot as he went 4-under par on the back nine, two shots better than runner up Clay Pendergrass of Madison Central over that same span. Pendergrass edged out Taylor County’s Seth Smith for runner up by getting one of his two back-nine birdies later in the round than Smith did.
Arcane tie-breaker rules aside, everyone was just happy to be competing.
“It got hot towards the end, but it was a lot of fun out there,” said McGrath, a senior who started the day with back-to-back bogeys before rallying with birdies on the seventh, 10th, 13th, 16th and 17th holes. “The course was pretty nice. It was a fun day.”
Pendergrass, just a sophomore, hit 17 greens in regulation but struggled putting as he carded five birdies, two bogeys and 11 pars.
“If I can keep hitting the ball like that, I think I’ll have a good year,” he said. “It just feels good to be back with your team and on the road and just playing in a team sport again. We’ve been playing individual golf all summer, but it just feels good to finally play for something other than yourself.”
Taylor County’s Smith, also a sophomore, had an up-and-down front nine, but he birdied Picadome’s ninth hole despite its treacherous, almost comically sloped green to get to 1-under par and followed that up with birdies on 10 and 13.
“He’s got all the talent in the world,” Polston said of Smith. “Most of his stuff is just mental. If he gets going, it’s real good.”
Taylor County won the team title by six strokes over Trinity thanks also to a 1-under par 70 from senior Hayes Mason, an even-par 71 from sophomore Luke Coyle and 4-over 75 from senior Adam Kehoe, who had an eagle putt just slide by on the 18th hole after an incredible second shot from the left rough around the giant, guarding tree obstructing his sight of the green. The Cardinals were the only team in red figures.
“Honestly man, I couldn’t be more happy being under par the first tournament,” Polston said. “I thought we played very well and I thought we could play a lot better. I do believe that, but I’m thrilled.”
Host Lafayette’s Kooper Grange finished strong and came home in fifth place with a 1-under par 71 capped by a birdie on 17 and an eagle on the 531-yard, par-5 18th hole.
Dozens of boys’ and girls’ golf tournaments are scheduled to continue through the scheduled state championships in October even though many schools are delaying in-class instruction because of the pandemic. Golf, along with youth baseball and softball, was among the first sports to be cleared for competitive play by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear back on June 29.
There has been disagreement in high school golf circles about whether playing traditional foursomes with competitors from four different teams is the safest way to play during the pandemic, but Polston and other coaches praised Lafayette’s handling of the event under COVID restrictions.
Players got their temperatures checked as they arrived and were limited to 30 minutes on the practice green before teeing off in their groups of four, spaced 15 minutes apart, a bit longer than normal. Pins had to remain in the holes. Players were limited to two spectators each.
“We’re following all the KHSAA, the FCPS (Fayette County Public Schools), the KGCA (Kentucky Golf Coaches Association) protocols with everything that we’ve done,” said Lafayette Coach Derek Wyman, who said he also consulted with Lexington-Fayette County Health Department about the event. “The coaches have been great with enforcing everything with all their players and maintaining all the social distance requirements so far today. It’s been helpful that everyone’s been on the same page with everything that’s going on.”
Madison Central Coach Kyle Congleton didn’t envy Wyman having to organize one of the first events on the calendar.
“I sure wouldn’t want to be the first program running a high school tournament because you really don’t know how it’s going to go and you do want to do the best you can,” Congleton said. “But at the same time there’s only so much you can do. But I think they did it — between the parents and the golf coaches — I think they did a great job over here today.”
Taylor County was scheduled to host their own event on Saturday.
“Hopefully the weather will hold off,” he said. “You know, I’ve gained some good stuff here. I think everybody’s going to do a great job social distancing on the course.”
Lafayette Five Star General Invitational
At par-72 Gay Brewer Jr. Golf Course at Picadome
Top individuals: 1. Dylan McGrath, Trinity-69*; 2. Clay Pendergrass, Madison Central-69; 3. Seth Smith, Taylor County-69; 4. Hayes Mason, Taylor County-70; 5. Kooper Grange, Lafayette-71; 6. Warren Thomis, Madison Central-71; 7. Luke Coyle, Taylor County-71; 8. Jackson Finney, St. Xavier-72; 9. Matthew Troutman, Christian Academy-Louisville-72; 10. Andrew Bennett, DeSales-72.
Teams: 1. Taylor County-285; 2. Trinity-291; 3. Madison Central-296; 4. St. Xavier-301; 5. Christian Academy-Louisville-312; 6. Sayre-317; 7. Clay County-317; 8. Covington Catholic-325; 9. Clark County-326; 10. Lexington Catholic-328.
*won tie-breaker based on scoring of last nine holes.
This story was originally published August 1, 2020 at 10:38 AM.
