August launched with the Youth on Course Pro-Am presented by ISCO Industries. The annual fundraiser took place at Valhalla Golf Club once more in what is Golf House Kentucky’s largest charity event of the year. With all proceeds going towards Youth on Course, the 2020 edition turned out to be a record-setter in terms of funds generated for one of Kentucky golf’s most important programs. Thousands of dollars were donated to the cause that will continue to keep Kentucky’s youth playing golf for $5 per round, while the scholarship money generated through the caddie program will continue to be funded for years to come.

Competitive tournaments resumed later that week with the inaugural edition of the KGA’s Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Championship. This amateur competition designed to bring the best female Kentuckians in the state together for a premier stroke play event was hosted by Griffin Gate Golf Club. It was an excellent debut for this competition, which produced one of the most exciting finishes of the season. Ke’Asha Phillips, MacKenzie Neal and Sarah Fite duked it out in a battle of college golfers with Xavier’s Phillips eventually prevailing over Morehead State’s Neal and Kentucky’s Fite.

While Phillips started the final round up three strokes on Fite, Neal had the round of the year going midway through which featured an outward nine of 30 (-6) and another birdie on the 10^th which prompted the hushed conversation of if a sub-60 round was in the making. A string of pars the next several holes tempered those thoughts, but a birdie on the 16^th gave her the solo lead heading to the 17^th tee. Unfortunately for Neal, she made her sole bogey of the day on the finishing hole which opened the door for Phillips to either force a playoff or win outright. To do the latter, Phillips needed to hole a putt for birdie from about fifty feet away to close it out. And by gosh, she sure did in one of the most incredible moments of the year. That putt officially sealed the Open Gross Division in her name, while Cynthia Powell claimed the Senior Gross Division with Barbara Ernest and Roz Tender splitting the Senior Net Division to cap off one of the best tournaments of the year.

One event that was on pace for another top finish this year was the Kentucky Senior Amateur, which unfortunately sputtered into a shortened 27-hole finish due to thunderstorms wreaking havoc on Danville Country Club in the final round. At the time of the horn blast, five players were within two shots of the lead with Mark Knecht, Tom Campbell, Buddy Bryant, Derek Riley, and Scott Ray all positioned for an exciting nine-hole sprint to the title. Sadly, the storm cells coming through central Kentucky did not want to see a great finish to a golf tournament and preferred a hard stop with only front nine scores in that final round counting. By doing so, Mark Knecht won the tournament for the first time with a one-shot victory over Campbell and Bryant. Knecht tallied 103 (-5) with his front nine of 34 (-2) in that final round proving to be the key in claiming the title. David Rudder (Senior Net), Greg Engle (Masters Gross), Greg Grider (Masters Net), Chuck Hinners (Legends Gross), and Bruce Walters (Legends Net) won the other division titles available in the event.

There was no one, not even the weather, that was going to stop Mark Knecht from winning the “Kentucky Senior Slam” a couple of weeks later at Frankfort Country Club. Host of the Kentucky Senior Open, Knecht was clinical in winning his second landmark championship of the summer with two rounds of 68 (-4) guiding him to a four-shot victory, with Tom Campbell once again in the runner-up spot to Knecht. In that final round, Knecht came into the day tied for the lead with Jim Volpenhein but quickly put a gap between Volpenhein and the chasers with three birdies in the first three holes from Knecht. By making another three birdies on the back nine, Knecht was up by a touchdown down the stretch before a double bogey on the 16^th thwarted what had been a flawless display of golf. Despite the miscue, Knecht was still able to glide to the winner’s circle with no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was playing some of the best golf in all of Kentucky.

For one day at Audubon Country Club, Adam Gary might have been the absolute best player in the state which was shown in the Callway Pro-Assistant. Gary shot a bogey-free 63 (-9) with a back nine of 30 (-6) submitting this performance as one of the best rounds of the year. It matched the best 18-hole score of the season and won him low pro honors that day with ease. It also led to the Pro-Pro victory that day alongside Andrew Stephens, while Jesse Massie and Myles Mahan earned the Pro-Assistant trophy.

The Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Mid-Am traveled west for a hosting by Paxton Park Golf Course with the latest exciting finish during the month of August, with Davis Boland snagging this title. Starting the day two strokes behind Andrew Buse, Boland utilized a final round 66 (-6) to get in front of a crowded leaderboard and win this championship for the first time. Josh Rhodes and Davis Jasper would finish tied for second, two strokes behind Boland. Buse, Denver Haddix, Andy Roberts, and Matt Epperson rounded out the top-five, narrowly missing out on a premier KGA trophy.

The KPGA’s premier trophies for its Membership were on the line throughout the month, with the Kentucky PGA Professional Championship getting a truly major feel thanks to it being hosted by Valhalla Golf Club. Grover Justice, arguably the Section’s strongest player for several years now, broke through for his first Section Championship title by walking out of Valhalla with a seven-shot victory over Blake Watts and Mitchell Moore.

Not quite able to win by seven, but still putting together a dominant performance in the Kentucky Senior PGA Professional Championship was Bruce Oldendick with a six-shot victory. It was the third straight time Oldendick won the event, with it being the second consecutive year the victory came at Dale Hollow State Resort Park. Richard Schmitt finished as the runner-up to Oldendick.

There was another repeat Section champ at Hunting Creek Country Club as Jesse Massie prevailed in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship, following up his 2019 victory at Louisville Country Club. Massie got off to a slow start in the 36-hole marathon day, starting off with 74 (-1) and three back of leaders Jacob Schakat and Logan Watts. Massie bounced back with a 69 (-1) which matched the low round of the tournament and cleared the way for a three-stroke margin of victory over Schakat. Also taking place at Hunting Creek on this day was the Kentucky Women’s PGA Professional Championship, which Sara Stephens won by three strokes over Kim Shafer.

There were also two KGA Am Series tournaments in August, with one taking place at Gibson Bay Golf Course and another at Polo Fields Golf & Country Club. In Richmond, Aaron Yarmuth (Open Gross), Casey Tooley (Open Net), Mike Newton (Senior Gross), Darin Oneil (Senior Net), Scott Hansel (Masters Gross), Dennis Long (Masters Net), Elmo Greer (Legends Gross), and Bruce Walters (Legends Net) were the first-place finishers. Departing the Fields of Polo on top were the likes of Eric King (Open Gross), David Horning (Open Net), Jeff Egger (Senior Gross), Richard Mitchell Jr. (Senior Net), David Combs (Masters Gross), Michael Wood (Masters Net), Terry Bowman (Legends Gross), and Joseph Barrows (Legends Net).