The annual October tradition of the KHSAA State Championships highlighted the closing stretch of the season once more, with Bowling Green Country Club hosting the action for the fifteenth consecutive year. The pandemic forcing tee times to be stretched out, coupled with the lack of daylight made for golf beyond daylight hours in some all-day affairs. The boys’ tournament led things off with Jay Nimmo taking the individual competition for the second consecutive year. Nimmo did so in a playoff over Rylan Wotherspoon after both totaled 141 (-3) in regulation. A nip and tuck team competition led to Trinity winning its first team title on the boys’ side since 2003, as they won by four shots over Taylor County.

For the ladies, another playoff was required to decide their individual champion which would become Macey Brown, thanks to her extra-hole victory over Elizabeth Eberle. The two of them shot 145 (+1) before Brown ultimately prevailed to win the title for the first time. Marshall County, recently coming off their KGCA All-State team victory, picked up where they left off and easily won the State team title with a 39-shot victory that week, capping off a dominant season for the Benton squad.

The junior golf realm was wrapped up a little more than a week later at the Lou Perry Tour Championship, held at University Club of Kentucky. Nimmo continued his solid run of play by winning the Boys Championship title through a two-shot win after shooting 144 (E). Casey Powell had a dominant performance in the Girls Championship Division, coasting to a nine-shot victory to cap off the Kentucky PGA Junior Tour’s season.

More golf was still to be played for the adults, however, beginning with a couple of Pro-Ams on the KPGA schedule. The Feeders Supply Lake Forest Pro-Am featured a winning performance out of Chris Wilson/Aaron Nicholson/Tom Lies/Logan Manford plus a split in the low pro contest, with Associates Jesse Massie and Nick Johnson splitting the honor with rounds of 71 (-1). A few days later, Big Spring Country Club – Harmony Landing Course hosted the EZLinks Pro-Senior presented by Sun Mountain where the team competition was taken by Chris Osborne/Chad Riggs/Keith Steller/Kim Wright. Logan Watts was this event’s low pro, courtesy of his 70 (-2).

The Section also had two Pro-Pros in the final month of the season, the first of which coming at Woodhaven Country Club. Fresh off a recent Pro-Pro win in September, Tom Walters and Dan Utley got their second team victory in the span of four weeks. Their win at Woodhaven was a five-shot victory where Utley made birdie on half the holes at Woodhaven, helping them to a cruise-control victory worth five strokes. While Utley had the lion’s share of birdies, Walters had the more consistent day and his 71 (-1) nabbed him the low pro title. The second Pro-Pro of the month, also the final KPGA event of the year, was the Series Championship at Greenbrier Golf & Country Club. An exciting finish to the team competition produced a four-team playoff where Jesse Massie/Myles Mahan came out on top over Blake Watts/Logan Watts, Grover Justice/Scott Webb and Andrew Stephens/Colby Wollitz. All eight players played Greenbrier’s 10^th hole an extra time, but Massie was the only one to make birdie which locked up the trophy for him and his fellow Woodhaven teammate. While Stephens was among those who came up on the wrong side of the team playoff, he did win the low pro in a masterful performance that led the way to a six-shot victory.

The unofficial home of Golf House Kentucky competition during the fall months was Lexington Country Club, and after hosting the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur in September, three more events were staged at the classic layout on the east side of the horse capital of the world during October. The first of which was the Challenge Cup, the annual Ryder Cup-like competition putting some of Kentucky’s top professionals against some of the state’s top amateurs. Team KGA continued a string of consecutive victories in the event by edging out Team KPGA in a 13-11 competition. Team matches in the morning produced a 7-5 lead for the amateurs and despite a push from the Section Membership, the amateurs were once again too much to overtake, as Captain Dave Nicholas’ team prevailed yet again.

Two days later, some of the top female amateurs in the area came to Lexington Country Club for the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Qualifier. A pair of Kentucky Wildcats, Jensen Castle and Marissa Wenzler, secured their place in next spring’s championship to be played in Carrollton, Texas at Maridoe Golf Club. The team counted five birdies and a bogey on the way to a score of 68 (-4), edging their teammates Laney Frye and Maria Villanueva by a stroke. Frye and Villanueva are the first alternates, but Castle and Wenzler will hope to represent UK on the way to a memorable performance next April in the Lone Star State.

The final of the many events Lexington Country Club was kind enough to host was the KPGA Match Play Championships where the Member, Senior and Assistant champions were crowned. Blake Watts took down Andrew Stephens 3&1 for the Member title in a match where both finalists had the lead at some point but could not garner any separation. Stephens was 1 UP after 12 holes, but Watts won four of the next five holes to separate himself and capture this prize for the fourth time in his career. A compelling matchup in the Senior competition between Bruce Oldendick and Ralph Landrum was taken by Oldendick in this battle of Northern Kentucky pros. It was a 4&3 result in favor of the Pendleton Hills Head Pro, as an early lead built in his favor proved to be too much to come back from. Lastly, a heavyweight Assistant final between Daniel Iceman III and Nick Johnston turned out to be surprisingly one-sided. A rare off day from Johnston was taken advantage of by Iceman which he turned into a 5&4 victory and his first Section Match Play crown.

The final tournament(s) of the 2020 season largely summed up how the year played out with the KGA Invitational and Am Series Championship. Several postponements for both tournaments due to weather finally cleared the way on November 9^th for the events to be held at Audubon Country Club. Once the day finally arrived, unseasonably beautiful weather for that date welcomed the players on a day where 93-year old Fred Wirth ultimately stole the show. The low round shot by anyone in either tournament was Tony Wise, where his 67 (-5) will go down in the books as the last sub-70 round of the Golf House Kentucky tournament season.

After the tournament season wrapped up, the KPGA, KGA and Golf House Kentucky Junior Players of the Year were announced. Collectively, our organizations salute these players on their fantastic seasons and deserved accolades:

• Andrew Stephens (OMEGA Larry Gilbert Player of the Year)
• Bruce Oldendick (OMEGA Senior Player of the Year)
• Jesse Massie (OMEGA Assistant Player of the Year)
• Josh Rhodes (John Owens Award)
• Lauren Hartlage (Women’s Player of the Year)
• Andy Roberts (Herbie McGuire Mid-Senior Award)
• Tom Campbell (Tom Musselman Award)
• Greg Engle (Dale Barnstable Award)
• Rick Cain (Don Smith Award)
• Jay Nimmo (Boys Junior Player of the Year)
• Macie Brown (Girls Junior Player of the Year)

The Kentucky Golf Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was postponed for the year due to the ongoing pandemic which meant the only other autumn event that took place was the Dever | E-Z-Go Fall Member Conference. Typically held at Griffin Gate Marriott, it instead was a virtual affair where Section elections highlighted the day’s proceedings. Erin Horn was elected as the Section’s District 2 Director, Kevin Rhinehart as the District 3 Director, and Kelly Williams along with Colby Wollitz were elected Directors At-Large.

As we now look ahead to 2021, there is a lot to be hopeful about as this trying year comes to a conclusion. Namely, the hope that the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine helps bring society back to what we once knew it before the pandemic began. That means more traditionally structured golf tournaments and the ability to make the tournament about more than just the competition rounds. For all the folks who tried golf for the first time during the pandemic and got hooked, we hope our resources and KPGA Members are able to further your enjoyment of the sport and make you a golfer for life.

The organization itself will welcome Richard Praszkier in January as the Coordinator, Junior Golf to join the Golf House Kentucky staff. In March, Bill Coomer will serve his final day on staff before retiring which gives way to Brad Martin as the Director, Amateur Competitions while Ray Moehlman, PGA will become the Director, Professional Competitions. Michael Vick, PGA has been promoted to Director, Junior Golf as well, which means there will be a lot of shuffling in all facets of the organization.

There are exciting things in the works, however, which includes the 2021 tournament schedules. The USGA Qualifier schedule is official and the primary KPGA, KGA and KYPGA Junior Tour schedules are not far behind. Some new tournaments coupled with the return of tournaments that were lost in 2020 will hopefully mark 2021 as a year to remember for all the right reasons.

As we say goodbye to 2020 and the positive moments on the golf course we’ve looked back on, we hope those continue while the struggles and exhausting moments this year has brought will only be carried forth as lessons and memories. The pandemic won’t disappear tonight when the clock strikes midnight, but a fresh 365 days to write a new chapter better than this last one will be most welcome for us all. From the Golf House Kentucky board members and staff, we wish you a happy new year and thank you for your support in 2020.