Lexington Catholic senior helps lead team to final round of girls’ state golf tournament
Lexington Catholic senior Bella Brooks shot the low round of the day, a 2-over-par 74 capped by a birdie on the 18th hole, to help the Knights top the team standings by three shots over Madison Central on Tuesday at the Winchester site of Kentucky’s first-ever State First Round Girls’ Golf Tournament.
The Knights and Indians will be joined by third-place Mason County at next week’s Leachman-Buick-GMC-Cadillac/KHSAA State Golf Final Round Girls’ Golf Tournament at Bowling Green County Club, Oct. 6-8.
Rowan County’s Athena Singh shot a 3-over 75 to put herself atop the 15 individual Final Round qualifiers from Regions 9-12 who also played the Winchester Country Clubs’ 5,649-yard, par 72 layout. Out of Lexington, Henry Clay’s Kylah Lunsford (78) and Channing Hagen (87), Lexington Christian’s Carter Lankford (80) and Lafayette’s Ashlynn Prater (82) advanced as well.
The 15th and final individual qualifying spot went down to a playoff among LCA’s C.A. Carter, Madison Southern’s Kasey Cameron and Estill County’s Maddi Benton. Cameron claimed the spot on the second sudden-death playoff hole.
LexCath’s 41-over par total of 329 topped Madison Central’s 332 in the team standings. For competing teams, the top four scores out of five players on the course contribute to the team total. Lexington Catholic’s 329 combined Brooks’ 74 with Kariann Campbell (83), Macy Cecil (83) and Georgia Scott (89) with Mary Claire Harris’ 96 thrown out. Madison Central was led by individual region champ Elizabeth Eberle (78), who combined with Mollie Neeley (83), Abi Buchanan (85) and Lydia Harrell (86) with Claira Beth Ramsey’s 89 thrown out.
Mason County’s round of 96-over (384) edged out Wayne County’s 390 for the final team spot in Bowling Green.
The State First Round was held at three sites across Kentucky on Tuesday with three teams and 15 individual qualifiers from each site advancing to next week’s State Final Round at Bowling Green Country Club.
None of Tuesday’s scores carry over to next week. This is the first year the KHSAA has split its boys’ and girls’ state golf tournaments into two stages over multiple sites. The boys played their first round on Monday.
From Heritage Hill Golf Club in Shepherdsville, Cooper (324), Sacred Heart (330) and Owen County (334) advanced from Regions 5-8. From Owensboro Country Club, Marshall County (318), South Warren (355) and Bowling Green (365) advanced from Regions 1-4.
State First Round Girls’ Golf Tournament
Here are Tuesday’s State First Round team results and State Final Round individual qualifiers from Winchester. Team qualifiers in bold.
At Winchester Country Club
Team scores: 1. Lexington Catholic +41; 2. Madison Central +44; 3. Mason County +96; 4. Wayne County +102; 5. Clay County +109; 6. Boyd County +149; 7. Owsley County +196; 8. Floyd Central +219.
Individual qualifiers: 1. Athena Singh, Rowan County +3—75; 2. Kylah Lunsford, Henry Clay +6—78; 3. Carter Lankford, Lexington Christian +8—80; 4. Izzy Christie, Paintsville +9—81; 5. Anna New, Pulaski County +10—82; 6. Darcy Lawson, Powell County +10—82; 7. Abigail Caine, Woodford County +10—82; 8. Savannah Salchli, Franklin County +10—82; 9. Ashlynn Prater, Lafayette +10—82; 10. Morgan Kennedy, Boyd County +10—82; 11. Avery Janutolo, Clay County +14—86; 12. Sophie Lester, Woodford County +15—87; 13. Channing Hagen, Henry Clay +15—87; 14. Emily Ledford, East Carter +15—87; 15. Kasey Cameron, Madison Southern +16—88*.
*Won playoff
Complete results, including other final-round qualifiers online: kyjuniorgolf.org.
This story was originally published September 27, 2022 at 7:58 PM.
