OWENSBORO, KY (July 21, 2021) – Two of the state’s top amateur golfers collected wins in the Kentucky Match Play Championships from The Country Club of Owensboro on Wednesday, but each victory for Andy Roberts and Scott Ray was uniquely special to each champion.

Andy Roberts played a near-perfect round of golf against Josh Rhodes leading to a 5&4 victory for the hometown product and member at Country Club of Owensboro. In the match’s fourteen holes, Roberts went -8 and was bogey-free which led to his first State Match Play crown. Rhodes, who has now placed runner-up in this tournament for the second consecutive year, was bogey-free himself. Quite simply, it was just a matter of a great player at his home course playing machine-like golf.

“You definitely feel ten times more comfortable playing at your home club,” Roberts said. “You know how the ball is going to bounce, where to miss it and how putts are going to roll. There is pressure too because people are expecting you to win just because it’s your home course. It’s never going to be easy when you’ve got a lot of really good players to go up against.”

This win also signifies a key victory for Roberts who has prevailed in many of the state’s top championships such as the Kentucky Open, Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur and Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Mid-Am among others. The State Match play was one that was missing from his trophy shelf, but tonight he can add this trophy next to his many others.

“This is the one I had never won and I know I’m getting old, so I know there aren’t many more years I’ll have the opportunity to win this.”

As Rhodes jokingly said in response, “he just needed the event to come to Owensboro so he could finally win it.”

On the Senior side, Scott Ray is the champion for the second straight year and the third time in four years. He and David Horning faced off in a match with several ebbs and flows, which included Ray being 2 UP thru 13 holes. Horning then won two of the next three holes and sunk a clutch ten-foot par putt on the 18^th to force extra holes. The two then played the par-five 10^th which Ray reached in two, and a two-putt for birdie proved to be the latest winning moment for the Central City resident.

“Yesterday, I only missed two fairways in the two matches I played,” Ray summarized. “Today, I only hit four good drives and hit a bunch of toe-hooks out to the left. I’ve been battling the hooks for about a month now and it felt like I figured something out on the 16^th hole. But then they came right back and got me on the 18^th, but I hit my best shot of the day with my tee shot on the 19^th.”

“David and I didn’t play our best today which might just be a product of being tight in the finals, but we had a great match, he played super fast, and it was fun to go up against him. These Match Play victories mean a lot to me though because it’s so different than what you usually get in stroke play. I made a double bogey on the 11^th today and lost that hole, but it meant nothing by the time I was on the 12^th. It’s just such a fun format to play and I’m honored to win it for a second consecutive year.”

The Kentucky Golf Association extends its thanks to Jason Fitch, PGA Head Golf Professional at The Country Club of Owensboro and his staff for their assistance in conducting a successful championship this week. Appreciation is also expressed towards each player who competed this week as the KGA thanks them for their participation.

Several competitors this week will compete in next week’s Kentucky Open from Persimmon Ridge Golf Club, but the next KGA event on the schedule is the fifth Am Series event of the year from Frankfort Country Club on Monday, August 9. The KGA will then have three of its premier championships later in August with the Kentucky Women’s Stroke Play Championship from Boone’s Trace National Golf Club on August 11-12, the Kentucky Senior Amateur at University of Louisville Golf Club on August 16-17, followed by the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Mid-Am at Bellefonte Country Club on August 23-24.