‘I was so nervous.’ Friendly rivals settle region title in early-morning playoff
In the chill of a late September early morning, two of the best girls’ high school golfers in the state staged an epic playoff for the Region 9 Championship.
Casey Powell of Paul Laurence Dunbar finished out a two-putt par on the third playoff hole at Kearney Hill Golf Links on Wednesday after having to birdie the first two to survive against her friend, Mary Keene Marrs of Lexington Christian, and win the tournament’s individual crown. Marrs and her LCA team won the team championship on Tuesday.
“I was so nervous standing over that first shot in the fairway on 18,” Powell said of her start on the first playoff hole Wednesday after play was suspended due to a storm after their drives off the 18th tee Tuesday evening. “I thought I pushed it into the sand.”
Both players chipped within about 12 feet on their first playoff hole and sank birdie putts like they would back when they played together this summer at Greenbrier Golf and Country Club.
The second playoff hole was Kearney’s No. 1, where Marrs stuck her approach within 5 feet of the flag. But Powell calmly walked in a downhill 15-foot double-breaker to match her again for birdie.
“I was looking at it and saying ‘this is going to break twice.’ Just say a quick prayer before I putt it,” Powell said.
Both drove into the rough coming back up 18 on their third playoff drive, but Marrs’ ball found the tall grass of Kearney’s nature area, forcing her to punch out and leaving her with two shots to the green while Powell got on in regulation.
“It was really just an honor to be here,” Powell said. “Mary Keene’s always been one of my really good friends, and I’m proud of her and I’m proud of myself. There’s nobody else I’d rather go into a playoff with.”
Marrs smiled as the two walked off the 18th green, happy for Powell and still pleased with the back-to-back birdies to stay in the match.
“The last hole could have been better, but it was fun,” Marrs said.
Both Marrs and Powell had short birdie putts toward the end of their regulation rounds that could have pushed their score to 2-under par and perhaps won it then. Powell pulled a 5-footer slightly on 18 that would have made the one-hour wait for the rest of the field to come in a lot easier. In the final grouping of the day, Marrs had a similar birdie putt on 17 that she also pulled slightly.
LCA Coach Ford Lankford praised the way Marrs has been leading the team this season after being the only LCA varsity underclassman last year.
“I think Mary Keene over the last couple of tournaments has just shown her experience, her positive, natural personality, and I think that carries her,” Lankford said. “She’s just so positive and so mature. She’s just a joy to have on a golf team.”
LCA dominant
For folks who thought Lexington Christian might slip in 2020 after graduating four seniors off back-to-back state title teams, the Eagles have some news.
They’re back.
And they won this year’s Region 9 Championships, their second in a row, by an even larger margin than last year despite having no senior leadership, whatsoever.
“Most teams were thinking that we weren’t going to have a very good team this year, but we came out and showed them what we are capable of — being as good, with a young team too,” said Marrs, the team’s elder stateswoman as a junior.
Tuesday, the four LCA golfers who count toward the team total all finished in the top 10 with Marrs, a junior, in the tie for first (71), Christy Ann Carter, a freshman, fourth (75), Maryssa Phillips, a sophomore, tied for eighth (80) with Carter Lankford, a seventh-grader and the coach’s daughter. Their No. 5 golfer, seventh-grader Izzy Newsom, turned in a 101, and that was better than a quarter of the field.
“We were just fortunate to have some girls who, while they didn’t have a lot of high school golf experience, they had a lot of golf experience,” said Coach Lankford, who is in his first-year inheriting the LCA juggernaut. “They were good golfers, they just hadn’t had a chance to play high school golf.”
To win a third straight state title however, they will face some stiff competition at Bowling Green Country Club, including a Marshall County team that bested the rest of the state’s best by 32 strokes at last week’s All State Championships at the University Club of Kentucky.
“I have a lot of confidence,” Marrs said. “I believe we can go out there and play really well. It’s going to be really exciting to see how it goes.”
Madison Central gets 3 in
Madison Central finished 22 strokes behind LCA for team honors, but advanced three golfers to the state tournament as individual qualifiers.
Claira Beth Ramsey, a sophomore, earned the seventh and final qualifying spot with an 8-over par 80, but didn’t make it easy for herself on the final holes, especially the 18th.
“My drive went into a hole and I just played it wrong,” Ramsey said of a second shot that only advanced about 50 yards. “It was really bad, and then I didn’t hit a solid second shot that could have got me on (the green).”
But Ramsey made the up-and-down for par and avoided a potential playoff for the spot.
“Honestly I didn’t know (where she stood),” Ramsey said. “I knew I would have been a lot better off if I hadn’t bogeyed the last three out of five holes. … I’m just glad I’m there.”
Teammates Elizabeth Eberle (78) and Lydia Harrel (79) will join her after they tied for fifth and seventh, respectively.
Dream season
It wasn’t too long ago that Bryan Station senior Taylor Brennan was the Bryan Station golf program. It didn’t exist when she began playing the sport in middle school.
Now, she’s a two-time state qualifier and has a teammate going with her to Bowling Green to boot.
The friend she roped into playing for the Defenders, junior Morgan Shown, finished third with a 2-over-par 74. Taylor came in a tie for fifth with a 6-over-par 78.
“I hadn’t played well in a while, and I’m glad it all came together,” Shown said.
Brian Station Coach Dion Sanders called Brennan the “heart and soul” of the program. Starting from scratch, the girls’ team now has six players and finished fifth in the regional Tuesday. His four-player boys’ team finished 14th out of 20 teams on Monday.
“Between her attitude and the way she carries herself in just everyday life on and off the golf course, she is just a great leader and I am happy that she finished off her year with such a great round, because it is a perfect ending for her season,” Sanders said.
Brennan and Shown can’t wait for one more high school golf trip together.
“The past few years have kind of been a struggle in golf,” said Brennan, who made state as a sophomore but “blew up” at regionals last year and missed the cut. “We’ve been dreaming of going together since freshman year. So, literally, this is a dream.”
Girls’ Region 9 Championships
Top teams: x-Lexington Christian, 306; Madison Central, 328, Lexington Catholic, 343, Henry Clay, 347, Bryan Station, 356, Paul Laurence Dunbar, 356.
x-Advances to state tournament.
State qualifiers: y-Casey Powell (Paul Laurence Dunbar), 71; Mary Keene Marrs (Lexington Christian), 71; Morgan Shown (Bryan Station), 74; Christy Ann Carter (Lexington Christian), 75; Taylor Brennan (Bryan Station), 78; Elizabeth Eberle (Madison Central), 78; Lydia Harrel (Madison Central), 79; Sarah Tackett (Lafayette), 80; Maryssa Phillips (Lexington Christian), 80; Carter Lankford (Lexington Christian), 80; Claira Beth Ramsey (Madison Central), 80.
y-Won playoff for individual title.
Complete results online: https://bit.ly/30ipjn5
This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 10:14 AM.
