BOWLING GREEN – When the Marshals finished their first round of the KHSAA State Golf Championships in Bowling Green Friday, the waiting game began to see if their 26-over team score of 314 would be good enough to place in the top 12 teams that advanced to the second day of play.
“I knew it would be very close as to whether we would advance to day two or not”, Coach Keith Bell said. “As a coach, you always stress to players that every shot counts and as it turned out, we were the 12th team to make it. Once we made it to the state tournament, our second goal was to make it to day two and we did.”
Teeing off at 7:00 am on hole #1, the team got off to a great start and after six hole were +7. Over the next six holes, according to Coach Bell, nerves kicked in and the team was then +18 but settled in and finished out their round at +26. Led by Quinn Eaton with a round of 5-over 77, Garrett Howell and Grant Hackney shot 78, Jay Nimmo 81 and Tyler Powell shot 85.
St. Xavier lead after the first day by 16 strokes over second place Greenwood while Lyon County’s Cullan Brown led individual standings with a 6-under 66, a 3-stroke lead over Greenwood’s Canon Claycomb and St. Xavier’s Clay Amlung.
The cool, windy conditions on day two led to higher scores for the top 12 teams as the Marshals finished with a 35-over 323. Eaton led with 76 followed by Howell with 80, Nimmo shot 82 and both Hackney and Powell shot 85 for a two-day total of 637, good for 8th place in the state, a move up the standings by four spots to finish out their state tournament.
St. Xavier won the team title (288-318=606) and Brown held on to finish 5-under and win the individual state title (66-73=139).
“To be playing on day two and move up in the standing made me proud”, Bell said. “This group of players truly grinded it out day two on this course. The course was playing long (6,800 yards) and the greens were very firm and not holding well, plus add 10-15 mph north winds and I’m really proud of the way our team hung in there.”
Bell commended his players on working extremely hard all season, playing in some very competitive tournaments and seeing those efforts paying off, playing in two consecutive state tournaments and finishing in the top 10 both years.
“The hard work of the Marshall County High School golf booster club and players has made the MCHS golf program one of the top programs in the state of Kentucky”, Bell said. “My players and I have been blessed to be a part of this program and hope the successful trend continues for years to come.”
Marshall County Golf tournament stats:
| Player | Round #1 | Round #2 | Two Day Total | Position |
| Quinn Eaton | 77 | 76 | 153 | Tied 22nd |
| Garrett Howell | 78 | 80 | 158 | Tied 42nd |
| Jay Nimmo | 81 | 82 | 163 | Tied 57th |
| Grant Hackney | 78 | 85 | 163 | Tired 57th |
| Tyler Powell | 85 | 85 | 170 | 74th |
| Team | 314 | 323 | 637 | 8th Place |
| (+26) | (+35) | (+61) |