Little by little, Elizabethtown High School’s boys’ golf team has been making strides toward the time of year that means the most — the 5th Region Tournament.
The Panthers, and other teams, hope to unseat a strong Spencer County team as region champion when the one-day event begins Monday morning at the Elizabethtown Country Club.
Elizabethtown finished 14 shots behind the Bears last season at region with Spencer County posting a 317 total. The Bears finished sixth last season at the state tournament and return several top players from that group.
“Our guys shot a 317 during our last tournament at Franklin Country Club which is our lowest score of the year,” Elizabethtown coach Alex Todd said. “That type of score gets us in the conversation at region. I am proud of the guys for chipping away at our team and individual scores throughout the season.
“… The only thing you can control at region is to fight for every stroke you can because you never really know the day is going to end up for everyone,” he added.
The top two teams and the top 10 individuals from non-advancing teams from the regional will earn berths the following week at Heritage Hills Golf Course in Shepherdsville for the first round of the state tournament where teams from the 5th through 8th region will advance to.
Teams and players then will qualify from there for the state tournament in Bowling Green.
Thirty golfers from each first round of state will advance to the state tournament for a total of 90 participants — the top three teams and top 15 individuals from non-advancing teams from each of the three first-round sites.
“The region setting is a little bit different animal, but most of our guys have experience from last year where we were region runner-up,” Todd said. “We just hope to put things together the best we can next Monday, and see where that gets us.”
Tyler Todd, Gehrig Galvin, Barrett Wiedeman, Hayden Fisher and Jason Towell will represent the Panthers at region.
The defending individual region champion, senior Carson Childress of LaRue County, will lead his club into the tournament along with senior Jagger McBride.
“If we play our best, we can be one of the top two teams in the region,” LaRue County coach David Noe said. “Carson and Jagger are two of the top players in the region. With their experience, I’m expecting them to perform well in the region tournament. My expectations would be that we qualify for semi-state as a team or have individual players qualify for semi-state.”
The Hawks tied for fourth last season in the region tournament.
“Overall, this season has gone really well,” Noe said. “As a team, players have made improvements in their game. It has shown that they have put in the work during the off-season. As a team we have been more competitive in the matches and tournaments we have played in.”
Central Hardin, which won the Hardin County Cup, also is a team that could make a move up the region standings with the likes of junior Sawyer Hess and sophomore Talon Garcia among others leading the Bruins.