Owen Stamper Ninth in State Golf Championship

   Allen County-Scottsville junior Owen Stamper carded a two-day score of 147 (+3) to place ninth in the 2018 Leachman Buick-GMC-Cadillac/Kentucky High School Athletic Association state golf championship played at the Bowling Green Country Club.  

   Stamper recorded a five-over-par 77 Friday in first round action---finishing among the top 20 individuals who were not members of the top 12 teams---to qualify for Saturday’s final round. On the second day, the junior shot a two-under par round of 70 to finish ninth. 

   Saturday’s round was among the best in the 83-player field. Stamper’s two-under par score was second lowest on the day. Stamper was one of seven golfers who posted sub-par rounds on the day. The junior recorded an eagle, five birdies, and eight pars, three bogeys and a double bogey. 

   Stamper’s first round Friday started with a bogey on the par-4 first hole. However, a solid chip from deep rough helped the AC-S junior savage a par at the 516-yard second hole, the first of three pars. 

   Stamper struggled on the 547-yard, par-five fifth. After his second shot landed in a sand trap just short of the green, Stamper’s third shot sailed over the green. He would bogey the hole. However, Stamper regrouped to complete the front nine with par’s on the sixth, seventh, and eighth holes before putting woes led to a bogey on the ninth hole, leaving the junior three-over par midway through Friday’s round. 

    On the back nine, Stamper pared the 10th before dropping a birdie on the par-3 11th hole. After consecutive pars on the next three holes, Stamper carded a double bogey on the par-4 15th hole. His struggles continued with a bogey at the 16th before finishing with pars on the final two holes.

   After making the cut by one stroke, Stamper began play on the course’s back nine Saturday morning. After back-to-back par’s on the 10th and 11th, Stamper registered an eagle on the par 4, 316 yard 12th hole. Stamper birded the 13th and 14th holes to drop to +1 for the tournament. A bogey on the 15th ended his below par three-hole run. Following a double bogey on the 16th, Stamper pared 17 and birded 18 to finish his first nine holes at -2 for the round.

   On his final nine holes, Stamper pared five of the first six holes, the lone exception being a birdie on the par-5 second hole. Stamper bogeyed the seventh, recorded a birdie on the eighth, and closed play with a bogey on the final hole of the tournament.

   Stamper was among three players from Region 3 who finished among the top nine individuals. South Warren senior C.M. Mixon was runner-up (-2) to overall champion John Marshall Butler (-5) from Louisville Trinity. Bowling Green junior Collier Curd (+2) tied for sixth.