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HOPKINSVILLE — Daviess County advanced as a team and Claire Reynolds tied with two others for a low score of 76 in the KHSAA Girls Golf State Tournament First Round.
The event was played on a sun splashed and windy Tuesday at Hopkinsville Country Club.
Reynolds’ 76 tied with Kenzie Willen of Cumberland County and Madison Glisson of Ballard Memorial at 5-over par.
Daviess County shot a 331 to lead the team qualifiers for the KHSAA Girls State Golf Tournament late next week at Bowling Green Country Club.
Two other First Round sites also funneled players to the State Tournament at BG.
DC’s score was eight shots better than South Warren (339), which also qualified for the State Tournament along with West Jessamine (346).
Baylie Billingsley and Alexa Salamah each shot 84 for Daviess County. Briley Billingsley shot 87 to also score for DC. Macy Roberts was the fifth golfer for DC (109).
Last year, Daviess County had to wait out the afternoon to qualify for Bowling Green as the third team in the First Round set up.
“It feels great to actually not have to sit there and sweat it out to get to third,” said Brandon Reynolds, Daviess County’s associate head coach. “It’s a good feeling. I feel like their mind set was good. They know this place is hard. From tee to get to the green is not difficult, but once you’re on the greens it’s hard. They know one shot at a time, if you have a bad hole, keep on rolling.”
As for Claire Reynolds’ day?
“Except for on the putting green at 17 and 18 she played fantastic,” Brandon said. “It’s golf, first round of the state, she probably had some nerves.”
Some difficult putting on the last two holes for Claire Reynolds added two or three shots to what could’ve been her individual low score.
“I started out really well today, but I had some rough patches the last two holes, but I also got lucky today,” Claire said. “I thought the team did really well. It was cool beating Marshall County, usually they win everything.”
“Me and Alexa were kind of in the same boat,” Bailey Billingsley said. “I started off fine, on the back, on the last two holes, my putting hurt those. But, we won as a team.”
Tough pin placements on the back nine were a conversation point among the golfers, the wind picked up on the back and made the greens faster as well.
“The course played really tough, we left some shots out there,” DC coach Jonas Billingsley said. “They all kept their heads on straight. Overall I’m proud of them. Claire came in very strong today. She has played super well this year. I’m proud of Alexa and Bailey. Briley didn’t have her best stuff, but I’m extremely proud of her for holding it together and bringing in an 87.
“This course is not easy, the greens are super fast. It was windy later in the afternoon. The front we shot 15-over, the back we shot 30-over. I would guess the average score today on 14 (entire field) was close to a triple bogey, and we shot 4-over as a team.”
No individuals from the area qualified to move on to Bowling Green.
Adelynn Moorman from Breckinridge County shot 87. Maggie Graves from Ohio County shot 88. Hannah Robbins from Owensboro Catholic shot 91. Maggie Blair from Breckinridge County shot 94. Briar Vender from Ohio County shot 95. Gracie Galyen from Muhlenberg County shot 100.