Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

My last two articles reviewed the top finishes for local boys in the high school state championships. Now let’s take a look at the girls side.

The first state girls high school championship was held in 1973 at Ulen Country Club. Since that time, Howard County schools have had only one team win the girls state title. That occurred in 2001 when Western captured the title for coach Steve Hoppes by 16 shots at The Legends Golf Club in Franklin. Members of that team were Amber Lindgren, Kelly Maden, Kylene Pulley, Lynnsey Showers and Lauren Showers.

Western had state runner-up finishes in 2002 and ‘04.

To date, no girls have captured the individual championship. The best finishes belong to Lynnsey Showers, Pulley and Lindgren, who all had third-place finishes.

The following are Howard County’s top team and individual finishes at girls state meets.

1975 — Haworth 16th; 1976 — Haworth 14th; 1985 — Kokomo 12th; 1986 — Northwestern 10th (Taylor’s Sharon Humphrey ninth); 1987 — Northwestern fourth, Kokomo ninth (Western’s Alisha Granson fourth, NW’s Susan Klein sixth, Taylor’s Sharon Humphrey 10th); 1988 — Kokomo 10th; 1989 — Kokomo fourth (Western’s Nichole Granson fourth, only two strokes behind the winner);

1990 — Kokomo eighth (Western’s Nichole Granson fifth); 1991 — Taylor 12th (Western’s Nichole Granson finished fifth for her third top-five finish); 1992 — Taylor ninth; 1993 — Taylor third; 1994 — Northwestern 14th; 1995 — Northwestern fourth; 1996 — Randy Lindgren’s Northwestern team finished second to powerhouse Martinsville by nine shots at the Prestwick Country Club. Members of that team were Kim Pennycoff, Jill Pennycoff, Mary Klein, Andrea Quandt and Anne Tucker. (Klein finished fourth and Quandt fifth. Quandt won the Mental Attitude Award); 1998 — Northwestern 15th; 1999 — Northwestern 15th;

2000 — Western seventh, Kokomo 13th; 2001 — Western first (Western’s Lynnsey Showers third); 2002 — Western second by six shots (Western’s Kylene Pulley third); 2003 — Western fifth, Northwestern 12th (Western’s Amber Lindgren third); 2004 — Western second, only five shots behind, with players Amber Lindgren, Lauren Showers, Ginny Smith, Stephanie Hoppes and Tracey Todd. (Showers fourth, Lindgren eighth), Northwestern 15th; 2005 — Kokomo 11th; 2006 — Kokomo eighth, Northwestern ninth; 2007 — Kokomo eighth; 2008 — Western 15th (Kokomo’s Kristi Cardwell fifth); 2009 — Western sixth;

2011 — Western 10th; 2012 — Western’s Allison Lindley fourth; 2015 — Western 14th; 2016 — Western eighth (Western’s Minka Gill tied for 11th); 2020 — Western 15th; 2021 — Western 12th.

What a great tournament the Open Championship was. I could watch them play St. Andrews every day. Australia’s Cameron Smith captured the title and proved to everyone that he is today’s best clutch putter. Many, including myself, hoped that Rory McIlroy would win this title at the home of golf. Even though McIlroy hit all 18 greens in regulation, the putts wouldn’t drop. It truly is a game of inches.

With the win, Smith moved up to the No. 2 spot in the world rankings, leapfrogging McIlroy. There are only three more events until the FedEx Cup playoffs begin. Players near the top 125 are fighting to keep their players cards.

As was recently reported, Tipton’s Griffin Hare (Ball State) captured the IGA Match Play recently at Rock Hollow in Peru. But there were some other fine performances by local golfers.

In the women’s event, Kokomo’s Kiah Parrott was top qualifier with a two-under par round of 70. Former Maconaquah/IUK standout Brandi Jones also qualified for match play with her round of 76. Both would lose in the semifinals. Parrott was defeated by Simone Senk of Fort Wayne 7 and 6 while Jones lost to lefty Julia Potter-Bobb 4 and 2. Senk went on to capture the championship 2 up.

In the Senior Match Play, KCC’s Kevin Broo advanced to match play via a playoff after being tied for 12th with seven other players with his round of 79. Broo lost to Michael Kaye from Indianapolis 1 up in his first match. Your author tied for eighth qualifying position with a round of 76 and won his first match but lost 5 and &4 in the quarterfinals to defending champion Terry Werner from Dyer. Due to a family health issue, Werner defaulted his semifinal match to the eventual champion Dave Turpin from Evansville. Turpin defeated Carmel’s Mike Bell 3 and 2 in the championship match.

Until next time, have more fun playing more golf!

Jon Kelley may be reached by email at jon_kelley@comcast.net.

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