In their third straight trip to the KHSAA State Golf Championships, the Marshals felt short of their season goal to make it to the second day of the tournament but represented the county and the 1st Region well. They finished tied for 15 with a score of 325 at the end of the first day, missing the cut by five strokes.
Jay Nimmo led the Marshals with a 1-under 71 to advance to the second day of play as an individual and finished tied for 11th (71-76=147) in the state. Also tied with Nimmo in 11th place was McCracken County’s Dalton Bagwell (74-73=147). McCracken County finished right on the cut to advance to the second day, tied for 12th with 320.
Nimmo began his round on Wednesday at 9:03 a.m. paired with Collier Curd of Bowling Green and Henry Lane of Lafayette. Lane also finished tied for 11th with Nimmo while Curd finished tied at 20th.
Last year, the Marshals finished eighth overall in the state and Nimmo, who finished tied for 57th in 2016, jumped up 46 spots in this year’s tournament out of 156 players.
Lexington Christian took the state title with a combined team score of 8-over (292-292=584) along with the individual state title going to Jansen Preston who finish 7-under (70-67=137) for the tournament after trailing Lyon County’s Cullen Brown in first (-5) by three strokes at the end of the first day of play. Brown, a senior and the 2016 defending state champion, finished state runner-up at 4-under (67-73=140).
St. Xavier finished state runner-up at +11 (290-297=587) and Trinity (Louisville) third at +14 (290-300=590). McCracken County finished 12th overall at +75 (320-330=650).
Paired up with players from Highland and Johnson Central, Marshall County individual scores after Tuesday’s first round, Nimmo led with 71 (-1), Camdyn McLeod 83 (+11), Tyler Powell 85 (+13), Grant Hackney 86 (+14) and Nathan Clark 88 (+16).
“I am really proud of this team”, Coach Keith Bell said. “We accomplished our goal of qualifying for the state tournament. Making our third appearance at the state tournament in three years means a lot to these players, unfortunately we did not advance to day two. Typically, a team has to have at least 2 scores in the 70’s and most likely three players in the 70’s and we fell short of that this year. Jay stepped up and really played well and ended up with a 11th place finish as an individual. He also has made the 2nd team Kentucky all-state boys golf team.”
In a season wrap-up for the Marshals, they won four tournaments, runner up at the regional tournament and Nimmo was an individual winner twice in two tournaments.
“We appreciate Grant Hackney’s leadership as a senior throughout the season and his contribution to the golf program during his career”, Bell said. “It’s been a great season and I’m looking forward to see what these players do during the off season to improve their game. If they continue to work hard, we should put ourselves in a great position to come back and play in the 2018 KHSAA state tournament.”
