Treyson Raymer was looking to squeak into one of the final qualifying spots for the KHSAA State Golf Championships until a disastrous final hole ended his season in ‘gut punch’ fashion.
The Madisonville-North Hopkins junior needed a score that was among the 15 lowest among individual qualifiers at Tuesday’s state first round at the Calvert City Country Club.
Raymer started strong with a 1-over par 37 on the front nine and wobbled a bit to begin the back nine with two bogeys and a double-bogey that moved his score to five-over par with six holes to play.
However, Raymer stringed together five straight pars that saw him move from 32nd overall and the 17th qualifying spot to 19th overall and the 10th qualifying spot with a hole to play.
Disaster struck on the 18th hole when his approach shot sailed over the green and rolled to a stop on the cart path. While the cart path was not out of bounds, Raymer was instructed to use a drop zone to the side of the green and hit without penalty.
He chipped on the green, but a three-putt left him with a double-bogey six. As Raymer finished the hole, a rules official informed Madisonville’s coach that the drop zone was only for shots that landed out of bounds past the green. He said since Raymer’s shot was not out of bounds, it should have been played as is or moved off the path, no closer to the hole but not in the drop zone.
Raymer was assessed a two-shot penalty, giving him a quadruple bogey eight for the hole and a 9-over par 81 for the round. He dropped from 19th to 36th in the standings.
However, when all was said and done, Raymer would have missed qualifying for the next round by one shot had the penalty not been assessed. The qualifying cut-off line was a 6-over par 78.
Raymer was hoping this postseason would provide some redemption from last year, when an injury kept him from playing in the region tournament and a chance of qualifying for the state first round.
He was consistently one of Madisonville’s top golfers and tied for third place at last week’s region tournament.
