Madison Central tops individual, team golf standings at boys state tourney first round

Jared Peck
·3 min read

Madison Central and Indians senior Warren Thomis backed up last week’s Region 9 boys high school golf championship by sweeping first place in the State First Round tournament on Tuesday at Winchester Country Club.

Thomis birdied the 18th hole and shot a 5-under par 67 on the course’s 6,220-yard par-72 layout to top Great Crossing’s Landon Bergman and George Rogers Clark’s Jacob Settles by one shot.

That helped Madison Central shoot 6-over par as a team, topping the team standings by 12 shots. That means the Indians will have a chance to defend their state championship when the 2023 Leachman Buick-GMC-Cadillac/KHSAA State Final Round golf tournament tees off next week at Bowling Green Country Club.

Madison Central’s team score of 294 included Thomis’ 67, Reece Keeton’s 72, Seth Barker’s 77 and Braydon Bond’s 78 with fifth player Radney Bales’ 80 tossed out.

The State First Round was held at three sites across Kentucky on Tuesday with three teams and 15 individual qualifiers from each site advancing to next week’s State Final Round.

Clark’s team (+18) finished second. Rockcastle County (+20) finished third. Both will join Madison Central in Bowling Green along with the six other teams who qualified at the other first-round sites. McCracken County, Greenwood and Marshall County advanced from the Calvert City Country Club site. South Oldham, St. Xavier and Ryle advanced from Kenton County Golf Course.

Great Crossing’s Bergman topped the list of individual qualifiers outside the top teams who advanced to the State Final Round from Winchester. Also advancing from central Kentucky’s Region 9 were Woodford County’s Bradford Lacefield, Henry Clay’s Carson Nicholas, Frederick Douglass’s Carl Space and Drew Edwards, Madison Southern’s Clifton Sully and Lexington Catholic’s Charlie Spiller.

Bergman and Henry Clay’s Nicholas reached Tuesday’s State First Round via a playoff for the last two spots at last week’s regional.

Among the individual qualifiers from the other State First Round sites was Christian Academy-Louisville’s Brady Smith, last year’s individual champion. All golfers and teams will start fresh next week in Bowling Green. State First Round scores do not carry over to the two rounds of the finals.

STATE BOYS GOLF TOURNAMENT

Here are Tuesday’s State First Round results from Winchester Country Club:

Top golfers (all players listed advanced): 1. Warren Thomis, Madison Central, 67; T2. Landon Bergman, Great Crossing, 68; T2. Jacob Settles, George Rogers Clark, 68; T4. Bradford Lacefield, Woodford County, 71; T4. Cam Roberts, Pikeville, 71; T6. Payton Phillippi, Somerset, 72; T6. Reece Keeton, Madison Central, 72; T6. Connor Ford, Rockcastle County, 72; T6. Jake Feldhaus, Mason County, 72; T10. Carson Nicholas, Henry Clay, 73; T10. Carl Space, Frederick Douglass, 73; T12. Clifton Scully, Madison Southern, 75; T12. Drew Edwards, Frederick Douglass, 75; T12. Kole Jervis, North Laurel, 75; T12. Brady Hensley, North Laurel, 75; T12. Jace Patrick, George Rogers Clark, 75; T17. Brody Manious, Estill County, 76; T17. Noah Baldridge, Shelby Valley, 76; T17. Charlie Spiller, Lexington Catholic, 76; T17. Will Jones, Rowan County, 76; T17. Jake Cromer, Rockcastle County, 76.

Team scores (top three advanced): 1. Madison Central, +6; 2. George Rogers Clark, +18; 3. Rockcastle County, +20; 4. North Laurel, +31; T5. Mason County, +32; T5. Rowan County, +32; 7. Hazard, +55; 8. Johnson Central, +58.

Complete results, including other final-round qualifiers online: kyjuniorgolf.org.

Final Round at Bowling Green Country Club

▪ Oct. 5-7

Lexington Christian cruises to spot in final round of KHSAA girls state golf tournament