She won her second straight state golf championship. It took a major comeback to do it.
Marshall County’s Trinity Beth rallied into contention with four birdies over her first six holes Wednesday and took the lead during a bogey-free back nine to claim her second straight individual girls state golf championship.
Beth, a sophomore who was also 2022’s Miss Kentucky Golf, trailed Sacred Heart’s Keira Yun by five strokes after Tuesday’s first round. They teed off together in Wednesday’s final group for the second day of competition in the 2023 Leachman Buick-GMC-Cadillac KHSAA Girls State Golf Championship at Bowling Green Country Club.
Yun had seven birdies and two bogeys Tuesday to lead the field at 5-under par. No one else reached red figures on the first day. Beth and Cooper’s Reagan Ramage were the only ones to shoot par Tuesday on the course’s gold-tee par-72 layout of 5,584 yards.
With the course playing slightly more than 100 yards longer on the second day, Beth birdied the second, third, fifth and sixth holes Wednesday to pull within one of the leader. That kept up the momentum Beth put together late Tuesday when she birdied her final three holes to get to even par.
Though Yun gained a stroke on Beth on Wednesday with a birdie on No. 7, she double-bogeyed No. 8, bogeyed No. 10 and double-bogeyed No. 12 to fall back to 1-under par overall and relinquish the lead.
Beth had bogeyed the par-4 eighth hole, but that marked the final blemish on her card as she finished with rounds of 72-69—141 for 3-under par for the tournament to claim the title.
Yun birdied No. 17, but could not regain further ground as she finished at 2-under par one shot back in second place in the individual standings.
Kylah Lunsford, the Region 9 champion from Henry Clay, finished sixth at 6-over par. C.A. Carter, the Lexington Christian senior who took first place in last week’s State First Round tournament at Winchester Country Club, finished 10th this week at 11-over.
Yun helped Sacred Heart (+42) run away with the team state championship by 24 strokes over Beth’s Marshall County (+66). Cooper (+67) finished third, Lexington Catholic (+79) fourth and Lexington Christian (+82) fifth.
Yun’s Sacred Heart teammates were Emma Lindemoen, Charly Garner, Brooklyn Bohnert and Grace Vernon. Lexington Catholic’s team was composed of Macy Cecil, Channing Hagen, Kariann Campbell, Georgia Scott and Laura Frisen. LCA included Carter, Grace Soale, Carter Lankford, Caroline Lankford and Lila Bard.
The boys state championship begins Friday and will also be at Bowling Green Country Club.
STATE GIRLS’ GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 10
1. Trinity Beth, Marshall County, -3 (72-69—141); 2. Keira Yun, Sacred Heart, -2 (67-75—142); 3. Athena Singh, Rowan County +1 (74-71—145); T4. Reagan Ramage, Cooper +4 (72-76—148); T4. Karra Tucker, Madisonville +4 (73-75—148); 6. Kylah Lunsford, Henry Clay +6 (74-76—150); 7. Emma Lindemoen, Sacred Heart +7 (73-78—151); T8. Andie Baumann, Owen County +9 (78-75—153); T8. Madison Glisson, Ballard Memorial +9 (78-75—153); 10. C.A. Carter, Lexington Christian +11 (81-74—155)
TEAM RESULTS
1. Sacred Heart +42 (301-317— 618); 2. Marshall County +66 (324-318—642);3. Cooper +67 (316-327—643); 4. Lexington Catholic +79 (324-331—655); 5. Lexington Christian +82 (335. 323—658); 6. Daviess County +132 (352-356—708); 7. Owen County +139 (355-360—715); 8. Bowling Green +167 (359-384—743); 9. Montgomery County +190 (391-375—766).
