Daviess golf teams both found their way to State First Round
Sep. 23—Daviess County's golf teams will be making dual trips to the State Golf First Round next week at Owensboro Country Club.
The DC boys will play at OCC, also known as State Site 1, on Monday. The DC girls will be in their State First Round on Tuesday.
Daviess County's boys went to the state tournament as a team in 2019. DC boys were regional champions in 2018. DC's girls were also regional champions in 2018.
The DC girls won the Region 2 tournament in dominating fashion with a score of 325. DC's best score this season has been 317.
DC's boys were second to Ohio County in the Region 2 tournament on Monday. The top two teams advance to State First Round, and the top three teams at each of the four First Round sites will go to the State Final Rounds from there in Bowling Green.
Claire Reynolds was second overall in the girls regional and led DC with a 73, as the Lady Panthers scorched the Henderson Country Club course for a 325 on a sweltering hot Tuesday.
Daviess County got 83 each from Alexa Salamah and Baylie Billingsley, while Annalee Yager fired 86. Billingsley was seventh overall and Salamah was eighth.
Salamah suffered a shoulder injury on the back side of the regional at Henderson Country Club. Her status is being evaluated to be able to compete in the State First Round, according to DC co-head coach Jonas Billingsley.
DC girls had a strong season, playing in eight events counting regional with two wins, four second-place finishes, one fourth place and one fifth place.
Claire Reynolds has been noted for her improvement this season.
"She's young and she works rear end off too," DC co-head coach Brandon Reynolds said. "She's been playing really well. She had a rough time on the first day at All-State. She was cruising along and made a 10 on a par five and that's golf. We try not to put too much expectations on her because she's young. Just want to let her go out there and half fun mainly is what we try to do and want to preach to her."
The entire team has been noted for its work ethic this season.
"They put in the work," Brandon Reynolds said. "That's the thing. Those girls put in work. Even on days where we say 'hey take the day off,' they're at the golf course chipping and putting, sometimes as a group and sometimes by themselves. They work hard."
For Daviess County's boys, Grant Broughton fired a 71 to finish one stroke behind regional champion Landon Hunt of Christian County. Broughton paced fellow Panthers Logan Mewes (81), Hayden Sapp (81) and Grayson Powers (83). DC shot 316 as a team and was second to Ohio County, which shot 307 at Madisonville Country Club. Dawson Lamb is the usual second scorer for DC, but he had a rough regional and wasn't a scoring player.
DC was third at a tournament this season in Hopkinsville, and it was fourth five times this season.
DC's boys took a calm approach to the regional tournament, and it paid big dividends.
"Most of these kids, their problem is they get too keyed up," DC boys coach Lars King said. "In basketball and football and in contact sports, being keyed up is a good thing, you take it out on your opponent. In golf, it's the complete opposite. You've got to focus with your body and with your mind to not overthink, to not be overzealous, and the calmer you can be, the better it is.
"It was actually one of the most relaxed regionals I've gotten to be at and the reason for it is because we weren't a favorite this year. We were actually in fifth in the standings coming into today, and when you're fifth, you can play relaxed. You can just say, hey, if we win or if we come in second like we did, it's unexpected, as opposed to being the favorite and having to hold that all day. Ohio County did an unbelievable job of that."
