In August, the Kentucky PGA’s run of Section Championships began with the Seniors’ competition. In September, the lion’s share of the Section Membership’s grand competitions took place with Wildwood Country Club hosting two of remaining three tournaments. After Labor Day, the Louisville facility welcomed the National Car Rental Kentucky Assistant PGA Professional Championship and the Women’s Professional Championship to its grounds. Daniel Iceman III, PGA won the Assistants trophy for the fourth time in his career during a wild final round that never saw Iceman claim a piece of the lead until his 36^th and final hole of the tournament.

Gavin Burns started the 36-hole marathon day in style with a round of 65 (-7) but fell victim to a tough final stretch which opened the door to first place up for Iceman and Jeremy Martin. Iceman, who was trailing by four strokes with six holes to go, made three birdies to cap the tournament including a pivotal one on hole 1 at Wildwood – his final hole of the day. That birdie would end up separating him and Martin by a stroke and allow Iceman to take the event’s title for the first time since 2018.

While they played two rounds in one day, the ladies on hand completed an 18-hole competition that ended with the same result the tournament had in its two previous iterations. Sara Stephens, PGA topped her peers by multiple strokes to get the victory, and this time it was a five-shot triumph over Whitney Paul, PGA. Sara and her husband Andrew now own five Section Championships between the two of them; all earned since 2018.

Andrew was going for a second consecutive victory in the Section’s biggest tournament, the Kentucky PGA Professional Championship. The crown jewel visited a gem of a facility in The Club at Olde Stone, but a deserving first-time winner emerged victorious which launched one of the best stretches of play from any golfer at any level Kentucky saw all year. Jesse Massie, PGA was one shot behind overnight leader Brad Maynard, PGA heading into the last round and the two of them were among a group of a half-dozen players who found themselves with a real chance to win during the back nine. Consecutive birdies on the 11^th and 12^th holes kickstarted Massie’s charge with a couple more birdies on the 15^th and 18^th holes sealing the deal for him. He, Mitchell Moore, PGA and Chad Douglas, PGA will represent Kentucky next April at the 2023 PGA Professional Championship in New Mexico after they all clinched exemptions in that tournament during the week at Olde Stone.

Both Massie and Iceman’s hot streaks extended another couple of weeks into the Section’s Match Play Championships where Lexington Country Club hosted the final stages of the Member, Assistant and Senior competitions. They were each successful in winning the Member and Assistant trophies, respectively, while Bruce Oldendick, PGA captured the Senior division for the third time in four years.

A long-standing event in Kentucky golf had a new feel to it this year during the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Women’s Kentucky Senior Amateur. For the first time in its forty-year history, the tournament was operated by the Kentucky Golf Association after it and the Women’s Kentucky State Golf Association joined forces earlier in the year. While the operator was different, the overall champion was not. Susan Stewart took the prize for the second consecutive year after outlasting the tournament’s 2020 champion, Cynthia Powell. Elizabethtown Country Club served as the host site for the second time in championship history.

Another event with a new feel was the Coomer Cup supported by 2UNDR. Previously, this Ryder Cup-style event had been known as the Challenge Cup with the best male amateurs taking on the best male Professionals at one of the state’s top venues. This year though marked the first time it was named in honor of Bill Coomer, PGA who had served both forms of golfers during his decorated quarter-century career at Golf House Kentucky before he retired at the end of the 2020 season. Once again, however, a new look didn’t result in a different outcome from the previous year… or in the case of this tournament, the last four years. Team KGA won at Valhalla Golf Club to continue the dynasty they started in 2019 with a victory at Olde Stone. Matt Epperson, Bradley Sutherland and Justin Tereshko led the way for the amateurs with three wins in all three of their matches.

The highlight of September’s events may have come at Juniper Hill Golf Course with the Middle School State Championship. History was made that morning when Jake Witherspoon from James Madison Middle School made an albatross on the par-five 12^th. At the time, we said Witherspoon was believed to be the youngest player to ever make an albatross in GHK-sanctioned competition. Three months later, we have found no evidence to contradict that, so we are now officially saying Witherspoon is the youngest player to ever make an albatross at a GHK-sanctioned competition.

An albatross was the only thing missing from Max Bingham’s scorecard that day as an eagle and six birdies helped him shoot 64 (-6) to win the boys individual title. Willa Borough won the trophy as the top female and St. Patrick took the team competition for the second consecutive year.

Closing September was the news that Sally Morgan, PGA had been unanimously named the full-time Executive Director of Golf House Kentucky. In February, Morgan took over that chair in an interim capacity, but a wildly successful seven-month stretch in between for golf in Kentucky led Morgan to receiving a deserved promotion. She celebrated in style on the golf course shortly thereafter with a hole-in-one on the eve of the Titleist | FootJoy Team Championship during its pre-party. Hole 2 at Gay Brewer, Jr. Golf Course at Picadome was the site of the accomplishment.

Other notable September results:

• September 17-18: Trinity Beth, Bruno Galling, Madison Central Girls, and Taylor County Boys top KGCA All-State Championship’s leaderboards
• September 19 - Oldendick wins again, this time with Brett Metzger at Titleist | FootJoy Team Championship
• September 26 – KGA Am Series Players of the Year features six players taking awards
• September 30 – Drake Stepter tops list of Western Kentucky Players of the Year following Western Kentucky Am Series competition