Three events into the spring season, Marshall County High School alum Bailey Tyree saw her senior season as a member of the Western Kentucky University golf team come to an end when on March 16, all Conference USA competitions were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lady Toppers were off to a great start with two top five finishes at the Amelia Island Collegiate in Amelia Island, Fla. Feb. 17-18 and the UNF Collegiate in Jacksonville, Fla. on March 9-10 which turned out to be their final tournament.
The day all spring sports competition and championships were canceled was the very day the team was set to host the Spring Break Shootout in Dade City, Fla.
A 2016 graduate of Marshall County High School, Tyree was an eight-year member of the Lady Marshals golf team, leading them to a Region 1 Championship her senior season while earning the Region 1 individual title and an All-Region team selection. Tyree competed for the Lady Marshals in the KHSAA State Golf Championships six of her eight years on the team and helped lead the Lady Marshals to a solid eighth place finish at state her senior season, finishing sixth individually with a 4-over 148 (70-78).
In her freshman season for the Lady Toppers, Tyree played in three spring tournaments and competed as an individual in two of those events. Her career low as a freshman came in the Jan Weaver Invitational where she carded a 75 and tied for 32nd that season at the Samford Spring Shootout, her best finish of the season.
As a sophomore, Tyree played in 10 tournaments with a stroke average of 78. She had four top-20 finishes and two top-10’s while marking her season best with a ninth place tie in two events, the Idle Hour Collegiate Championship and the EKU Colonel Classic. She set career lows her sophomore season, tying for 13th at the Pirate Collegiate Classic with a 71 for 18 holes, 146 for 36 holes and 222 for 54 holes.
Tyree played in all 10 tournaments for the Lady Toppers her junior season and ranked third on the team with a stroke average of 75.9, had one top-5 finish and four top-25 results. She opened the season with a tie for 11th at the USA Intercollegiate in Mobile, Ala. where the team finished third overall. The best finish of her collegiate career was a team-leading third-place finish in the Spring Break Shootout hosted by WKU in Dade City, Fla. with a 1-under 212 (68-73-71). The Lady Toppers set new program records for 18 and 36 holes in that tournament and Tyree was named C-USA Golfer of the Week after her performance.
She was on track to have a great spring season as a senior at WKU with a top 50 finish at Amelia Island Collegiate and a close match-play team loss to Louisville in February before the remainder of the spring season was canceled.
Like so many student-athletes whose final season so unexpectedly ended, Tyree took to social media to try to put her feelings into words saying, “Any athlete dreams of going on to play their sport at the next level. Four years ago, I didn’t realize all of the people I would get to meet and the experiences that I would get to have because of the game I love.”
Thanking her coach and two fellow seniors, Tyree said; “As seniors you want to make an impact and leave a legacy for those that come after you. I think we left a legacy that will be remembered for years to come. We’ve broken countless records and now we’ve set the bar high for all those that will come after us.”
