Who are Central Kentucky’s top high school golfers heading into the postseason?
High school golf’s top-flight tune-up for the postseason tees off Saturday at the University Club of Kentucky with last year’s Miss Kentucky Golf Kylah Lunsford of Henry Clay and first team all-stater Charlie Spiller of Lexington Catholic among the top contenders.
The Kentucky Golf Coaches Association’s All State Championships bring together the state’s top 15 boys and girls teams and top 21 players outside of those teams to the U Club’s Big Blue and Wildcat courses for two days of competition. The boys and girls golfers will play each course on alternating days.
Lunsford, a senior, won last year’s Region 9 girls tournament championship and finished sixth at the KHSAA state championship. She enters this weekend’s All State competition in a tie for fifth place in the KGCA’s individual All State points standings.
Spiller, also a senior, finished third at last year’s Region 9 boys championship and tied for 28th at the KHSAA state tournament. He enters the All State event tied for fourth in the points standings.
All State points are awarded at KGCA sanctioned tournaments during the regular season and postseason based on individual and team finishes. Lunsford topped the girls All State points standings at the end of last season to earn Miss Golf honors. The points are used to determine final postseason All State recognition for both boys and girls.
Going into this weekend, Cooper’s Reagan Ramage tops the girls individual standings, while Pikeville’s Cam Roberts is No. 1 on the boys list.
Region 9 has two boys teams competing in the All State Championships — Madison Central and George Rogers Clark. The girls competition has four Region 9 teams — Madison Central, Lexington Christian, Franklin County and Lexington Catholic. By contrast only two teams from each region can advance to the KHSAA state tournaments.
Two-time defending KHSAA state boys team champion Madison Central comes into this weekend in a four-way tie for first place in the KGCA team standings along with McCracken County, St. Xavier and Trinity, despite returning only two starters from last year’s squad in junior Seth Barker and senior Reece Keeton.
The Indians finished a disappointing fifth at last year’s All State event, but used that result as fuel to later fire their wins at the region and KHSAA state tournaments.
“It was an eye-opener,” Madison Central coach Kyle Congleton said last year. “We knew we had some work to do more than anything.”
Madison Central tops the KGCA girls team standings as well along with defending girls KHSAA state team champion Sacred Heart. The Lady Indians missed last year’s KHSAA state tournament after finishing third in the regional, but have three top 10 golfers this season led by junior Mollie Neeley, who is tied with Lunsford in the individual standings.
This year, for the first time, All State Championship golfers will get a week off to prepare for next week’s high-pressure one-day region tournaments. Previously, some of the state’s top golfers had their region events just hours after leaving the All State in Lexington.
Top region finishers will qualify for the KHSAA’s State First Round events Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at various sites. The State Final Round boys and girls tournaments will be held at Bowling Green Country Club beginning Oct. 7.
Here’s a look at the top boys and girls golfers from Central Kentucky’s region going into the postseason who qualified for the All State Championship. Players are listed with their overall All State points ranking.
Top Region 9 Boys
Golfer, Class, School, points, statewide ranking
Charlie Spiller, sr., Lexington Catholic, 660, T4.
Bradford Lacefield, jr., Woodford County, 630, 7.
Tucker Jones, jr., Madison Central, 610, 8.
Evan Taylor, sr., George Rogers Clark, 520, T20.
Jake Feldhaus, jr., Madison Central, 500, T24.
Carson Nicholas, so., Henry Clay, 465, T30.
Clay Noble, jr,. Lafayette, 420, 40.
Seth Barker, jr., Madison Central, 405, 45.
Brady Parker, jr., Great Crossing, 400, 47.
Brayden Carlisle, jr., Madison Central, 390, 51.
Top Region 9 Girls
Golfer, Class, School, points, statewide ranking
Kylah Lunsford, sr., Henry Clay, 580, T5.
Mollie Neeley, jr., Madison Central, 580, T5.
Channing Hagen, sr., Lexington Catholic, 555, T11.
Abigail Caine, so., Woodford County, 475, 18.
Mackenzie Federspiel, jr., Madison Central, 470, 19.
Haley Federspiel, jr., Madison Central, 410, 24.
Piper Dunn, 7th, Lexington Christian, 400, 26.
Grace Soale, so., Lexington Christian, 390, T27.
Georgia Scott, jr., Lexington Catholic, 370, 32.
Emerson Bowling, fr., Franklin County, 365, 34.
KGCA All State Championship
▪ Sept. 14-15 at the University Club of Kentucky (boys and girls).
Girls Region 9 Tournament
▪ Sept. 24 at the University Club at Arlington in Richmond.
Boys Region 9 Tournament
▪ Sept. 25 at Gibson Bay Golf Course in Richmond.
Golf State Championships
First round at Eagles Nest Country Club in Somerset
▪ Boys: Sept. 30.
▪ Girls: Oct. 1.
Final round at Bowling Green Country Club
▪ Boys: Oct. 7-9.
▪ Girls: Oct. 10-12.
