The biggest question coming into this week’s Leachman Buick GMC/KHSAA Girls’ State Golf Tournament is will we have repeat winners.
Marshall County is in a good position to repeat as state champions after placing two golfers in the top five last year. The annual tournament begins Tuesday at the Bowling Green Country Club.
Eighth-grader Trinity Beth finished in fourth place last year to help the Lady Marshals win the school’s first state golf title. Senior Savannah Howell, who has played in the state tournament every year since the fifth grade, finished fifth at state last year and fifth at the region tournament last week in Murray.
Megan Hertter tied for third at region last week and looks to improve upon last year’s 16th place finish at state.
The Lady Marshals will get a solid push from Madison Central, Lexington Christian, and Sacred Heart in the team standings.
Those three Lady Marshals have a solid shot at an individual state championship and look to unseat Apollo’s Macey Brown atop the state golf mountain. She won last year‘s title in a playoff and became the first girls’ golfer from Owensboro since 1969 to win a state title. Brown, who had finished in the top five at the region tournament three straight years, finished tied for sixth last week at the Madisonville Country Club. She is looking to become the first golfer since Caldwell County’s Emma Talley in 2010 and 2011 to repeat a state champion.
Madisonville will take a full team to the state tournament for the fourth time in five years. They finished tied for sixth last year and look to improve on that finish this week.
Kaitlyn Zieba, Kat Weir, and Karra Tucker finished first, second, and third at region. Last year, Zieba for 16th at the state tournament, and Weir tied for 32nd place.
The golfer to keep an eye on is Lyon County junior Cathryn Brown. She went under par last week to win the region tournament at Murray. Last year, she finished fifth at region but nabbed a seventh-place finish at state. She will be making her third appearance at the state golf tournament after a 12th place finish as a freshman.
Hopkinsville freshman Cate Blane makes a return trip to Bowling Green after tying for 53rd place at last year’s tournament. She finished tied for fourth place at the region tourney last week.
University Heights Academy freshman Conlee Lindsey is making her first appearance at the state tournament after an eighth-place tie at region last week.
Madison Glisson of McCracken County and Ellie West of Graves County, who committed to Murray State University over the weekend, both make return trips to Bowling Green. Glisson tied for 21st last year while West finished tied for 45th place.
Caldwell County‘s Claire Knoth will be making her first appearance at the state tournament after a ninth-place tie at region last week. She will play on the same Bowling Green course that her sister Campbell ended her career at in the 2017 state tournament.
St. Mary junior Ellie Roof looks to build on last week’s sixth-place finish at region.
Play begins early Tuesday with players and teams who make the cut advancing to Wednesday’s second day.
