After a unique hosting of the 2020 Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur in September, the most historic championship in Kentucky golf returned to its ceremonial mid-June timeslot. Audubon Country Club hosted the 107^th version of the competition for a record twelfth time. Fittingly, a record-setting playing performance would follow, with J.M. Butler turning in the lowest total score in its history as a 54-hole event.

The current Auburn Tiger and Trinity graduate got progressively better with each day at Audubon, going 67-66-65 to end the tournament with a total of 198 (-18). That is the only sub-200 score in tournament history which also makes it the championship’s record score by three strokes (Andy Roberts in 2016 at Bellefonte Country Club and Chip McDaniel in 2017 at Keene Trace – Keene Run are now tied for second). Butler kept that momentum going later in the summer with a run into match play in the U.S. Amateur and made a strong argument that he is the best amateur golfer with Kentucky ties right now.

Not to be lost from Butler’s performance at Audubon were the performances of two other college golfers (who are now onto professional golf), those being Cooper Collins of Morehead State and Devin Morley of Louisville. Collins finished runner-up to Butler by four shots in a tournament that included two rounds of 66 (-6). Morley joined them as the only players to finish double-digits under-par as he also got progressively better each day like Butler did. Morley was -7 thru 13 holes in his last round as he put forth quite the late charge towards the top, ultimately finishing in third place.

The next week, it was the ladies’ turn to compete in their State Amateur with another young star in the making prevailing. Rylea Marcum of Eastern Kentucky won the Women’s Kentucky State Amateur at University of Louisville Golf Club with some scintillating match play performances conjured up by the Georgetown native. In her six matches, only twice did she have to play the 17^th or 18^th holes. One of those times was the championship match against Sarah Shipley which required extra holes as the finalists needed 20 holes to determine a winner.

Marcum went to the 18^th 1 DOWN to Shipley but won with a par to send the combatants back to the start of the golf course. And on the 2^nd green, Marcum put the finishing touches on the match and tournament to score one of the biggest victories of her career. Paralleling Butler, Marcum also used this win as the start of big things later in the season. She had a terrific fall season with the Colonels and as just a sophomore, is looking at the possibility of holding many more big amateur trophies for the next couple of years.

June was also a big month for the young guns in golf for another reason thanks to the inaugural edition of the Barbasol Junior Championship. Originally slated to start up in 2020, the pandemic forced a delay of the first edition to 2021, but the long-awaited tournament lived up to expectations with a memorable week and a great champion in Preston Summerhays.

The final round was scratched because of inclement weather, but the Arizona native who now plays collegiately for the Arizona State Sun Devils was six shots clear after 36 holes, leading to an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s Barbasol Championship the next month. Summerhays led the way of the 100+ players who competed at Keene Trace – Keene Run with an international flair of some of the top junior golfers worldwide in action. While Summerhays was the only one to get a spot in the PGA TOUR event that week, it’s likely many of those in the field will be in many PGA TOUR events going forward.

Included in that are several Kentuckians, who prior to the Barbasol Junior got the major championship season on the Kentucky PGA Junior Tour started in memorable fashion in Richmond. The Boys’ edition at Gibson Bay Golf Course might have contained the best finish of the season across all levels of competition with clutch shots followed by an unprecedented conclusion.

The key characters in this story were Cayden Pope, Rylan Wotherspoon and Zach Watterson. After thunderstorms had caused multiple delays during the two rounds of the tournament, these three and the rest of the competitors battled themselves and the threat of darkness down the stretch. Wotherspoon was in the penultimate group and posted a score of 139 (-5) to lead in the clubhouse. Pope, who was -5 on the last hole, had a tough go of things from tee to green and found himself laying three with a chip for par from past the green standing in between him and a tie with Wotherspoon. Meanwhile, Watterson was approximately fifteen feet away from the hole with a birdie putt looming while he was at -4, also needing to hole his next stroke to tie Wotherspoon. Using the last bits of daylight available, both players holed out resulting in a three-way tie for first place following one of the most incredible one-minute stretches in Kentucky PGA Junior Tour history.

The unique situation of this event offering spots in the National Junior PGA Championship led to a unique finish after those theatrics. Three automatic spots in the tournament were available which each of them had clinched. Because of the lack of light remaining, the players came to a consensus decision of using a scorecard playoff to break the tie to determine spots one, two and three. Pope won that scorecard playoff with Wotherspoon finishing in second and Watterson in third.

Down the road at The University Club at Arlington, Trinity Beth, the middle school sensation from Marshall County, won the Kentucky Girls Junior PGA Championship for her first major victory on Tour. Beth had six birdies against five bogeys during the event in one of the most consistent performances of the season. That helped her fend off Claira Beth Ramsey and Macie Brown for the victory while Ramsey and Beth sealed up the other automatic qualifier spots for the National Championship.

After Ramsey’s runner-up finish in Richmond, she went one spot higher a few weeks later in the next major at the Kentucky Girls Junior Amateur. Ramsey got her maiden major victory on Tour at Bardstown Country Club with a convincing two-stroke victory over Casey Powell. This was a prime month for Ramsey who became a key figure in many premier junior events throughout 2021 with this victory being a cornerstone moment in the best year of her career to date.

Senior golf in Kentucky had its biggest tournament during June as well with the latest playing of the Kentucky Senior Open. After several close calls throughout his career in the Kentucky Open, Scott Porter broke through for that elusive State Open title at Heritage Hill Golf Club. It came in dominant fashion after Porter put together rounds of 67-66 for a total score of 133 (-11) and a three-shot victory. It was an emotional victory for Porter who provided one of the quotes of the year following his victory in Shepherdsville.

“I have been playing in Kentucky Opens since I was in my early twenties and I have finished runner-up maybe four times in the regular Open. I never thought the first Open I would win would be the Senior Open. It just means a lot to win one. To get the job done feels outstanding.”

Senior golfers would also team up in June for another premier championship in the form of the Kentucky Senior Team Championship. This one went the way of Greg Engle and David Rudder, two of the most talented senior amateurs in the Commonwealth, with a score of 132 (-12) giving them a two-shot victory over Scott Ray and Buddy Bryant.

To put a bow on a busy sixth month of the calendar year, check out the results of several other tournaments that took place in June, and congratulations once more to the winners or qualifiers of these events:

• Mitchell Moore – Golf House Kentucky Classic #2 at Persimmon Ridge Golf Club on June 1
• Mike Newton & Phil Harper (gross) – KGA Am Series #3 at Pendleton Hills on June 2
• Hayden Warren (medalist) - U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier at Oxmoor Country Club on June 7
• Lynn Lim (medalist) – U.S. Girls Junior qualifier at Heritage Hill Golf Club on June 10
• Mark Knecht (gross) – Western Kentucky Am Series #2 at Kentucky Dam Village on June 13
• Nathan Downs/Marshall Civils/Cole Stumler/Grant Talbert – Bill Long Mega Pro-Am presented by TaylorMade at Wildwood Country Club on June 21