Daviess County was runner-up at the Second Region Boys Golf Tournament with top-10 finishes from Grant Broughton and Braden Whistle, while Jakob Wellman of Owensboro Catholic also finished in the top-10 to qualify for state.
The Panthers shot a 343 to fall right behind Madisonville-North Hopkins 339, led by Broughton’s 79 to finish second overall individually.
Braden Whistle finished fifth overall with an 82, while Dawson Lamb (86) and Grayson Powers (96) rounded out the team’s score.
Owensboro Catholic was led by Wellman’s 81, while Houston Danzer (86), Hayden Crabtree (88) and JT Payne (91) rounded out their team score of 346 to grab third overall.
Apollo’s Trevor Cecil nearly qualified for state with an 84 and they finished with a 398 as a team, while Owensboro with a 375 led by Will Hume’s 88.
As a team Head Coach Lars King said that they were in position to grab first place, but they were unable to finish strong.
“They set the course up as tough as they possibly could’ve set it up today and we held it together for 14 holes,” King said. “If we finished the last four at even one or two over as a team we would’ve won. I knew that at the time and I really thought we were in a good spot and then it came unraveled pretty quickly.”
Regardless of the score not being in their favor on a tough course, King was pleased with their effort and was thrilled to see Broughton and Whistle advance.
Broughton feels that he has to work on his putting and chipping going forward, but said that his irons really helped him find success today.
“I think I hit my irons really well,” Broughton said. “I don’t know how many greens I hit, but the greens out here were tough so it was hard to put yourself in a good position. But, I did a few times and started off with a few birdies thanks to good iron shots.”
Broughton was disappointed that he didn’t qualify as an eighth grader last season and was worried that he wouldn’t as the day neared its end, but was excited to see his score amongst the top in the Second Region.
“Last year I played so bad and I was expecting myself to get to state last year,” Broughton said. “It was a real disappointment when I didn’t. This year I was coming up 18 [thinking] like I might not make it again, but it was good to see that everyone else had a tough day too.”
Whistle didn’t perform exactly how he had hoped, but said that he was able to overcome some bad putting in order to find success.
“It was tough out there,” Whistle said. “I hit six greens. The amount of chipping and putting was pretty good. I probably had two or three three-putts which kind of hurt me, but I got it back. Got a couple chip shots close, made one-putts and kept it in play today. I played the same ball all day. I mean, I couldn’t ask for anything more. This course was tough.”
Despite the tough day and knowing he has things to improve on, Whistle is still excited to be going to state as a senior.
King said that Whistle really locked in to finish in the top-10 despite hitting a myriad of greens on the unforgiving course.
“He was an absolute mental giant out there,” King said. “When you hit six greens where the pins are placed today and you’re able to shoot 82 and get fifth, it’s one of those things where you couldn’t have asked for a better kid to play good today and be able to qualify for his senior year.”
Wellman said the team was disappointed in the final result, knowing that they had higher expectations for themselves.
“[It’s] very disappointing,” Wellman said. “I felt like going into the tournament our team was playing well and I was playing well. I felt like we had a good opportunity to do something that a lot of people didn’t think that we could. Obviously it didn’t go as planned. Everyone struggled, including myself.”
Wellman said regardless he was proud of his fellow teammates for giving it their all and bringing their best efforts to the course.
Wellman felt as though he dug himself some holes throughout the day, but was glad to be able to stay patient and find his way into the top-10.
With state beginning next week, Wellman plans to bounce back in a major way and rank highly amongst the Commonwealth’s best.
“I’m going to use this as a kind of chip on my shoulder to kind of prove something next week and hopefully finish off strong in the last few days of the season,” Wellman said.
With the Second Region Tournament coming to a close, Broughton, Whistle and Wellman will all take the rest of the week to prepare for the KHSAA State Golf Championships in Bowling Green that will start on Oct. 4.
