Photo by Jason Frakes/Sacred Heart celebrated its state golf championship Wednesday at Bowling Green Country Club. From left, head coach Leslie Bender, sophomore Taylor Edlin, freshman Jacqueline Steier, senior Morgan Tinsley, junior Erin Rowland, junior Ryan Bender and assistant coach Jessica Phelps.
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Leading what clearly was the best team in the state this season, Sacred Heart Academy golf coach Leslie Bender had to find ways to keep things interesting for her players.
She consistently set small goals for them and agreed to some embarrassing consequences – from somersaults to cartwheels – when they achieved them.
Bender isn’t sure what she’ll have to do after Wednesday, when the Valkyries won the state championship to complete an undefeated season, but she expects it to be a doozy.
“We set a lot of goals, and they’ve kind of made a fool of me all year if we met those goals and making me do certain things,” Bender said. “They keep it exciting no matter what. …
“I don’t know what they’re going to make me do yet. I’m kind of afraid to ask. Whatever it is, I’ll happily oblige as long as it’s legal and not too embarrassing.”
Sacred Heart rolled through the Leachman Buick-GMC-Cadillac/KHSAA State Championships at Bowling Green Country Club, recording a two-day total of 628. Shelby County was the runner-up at 670, and Green County took third place at 677.
Sacred Heart’s 42-stroke margin of victory was one shy of its record of 43, set in 2011.
Mason County senior Sarah Fite, playing in her sixth state tournament, won the individual title with a two-day total of 1-over-par 145. Murray senior Sarah McDowell was the runner-up with a 148.
Sacred Heart juniors Erin Rowland and Ryan Bender were the top individuals from Louisville, tying for seventh place at 153. Manual junior Lucy Suo finished ninth with a 154, and Sacred Heart senior Morgan Tinsley and Shelby County senior Lilly Young tied for 10th at 155.
The team title was the 10th for Sacred Heart, which now has twice as many as any other school in the state. Glasgow is second with five.
The Valkyries won four straight crowns from 2011-14 but finished sixth in last year’s state tournament. Four of those five golfers returned this year.
“Obviously our games got better, but we matured a lot mentally,” said Tinsley, the only senior on the squad. “We knew we could make birdies or make up for our mistakes and not have to play perfect over four hours.”
Sacred Heart shot a 315 in Tuesday’s first round to take a 12-shot lead over Shelby County and bettered that total Wednesday with a 313.
Bender said the goal was for the team to make a combined 10 birdies on the day. The Valkyries finished the round with 12 birdies and an eagle.
Bender said the team considered splitting into two squads early in the season but decided to set a goal of going undefeated.
“That’s awesome,” Bender said. “Even on days we didn’t play our best, it was phenomenal to see them grind it out. Some of the margins were huge, and some of them were really close. They never stopped playing.”
Shelby County went from a 327 on Tuesday to a 343 on Wednesday, but coach Melissa Young was more than pleased with the runner-up finish.
“First in public schools!” she said. “Our goal was to finish in the top four and bring home some hardware.”
Fite, a University of Kentucky commit, shot a 74 on Tuesday and was three shots off the lead entering the final round. She said she knew she had to go low Wednesday and gained confidence on the par-3 No. 7, when her 7-iron off the tee just lipped out on what would have been a hole-in-one.
“That’s when it turned in my brain that, ‘You’ve got this. You can go low,’” Fite said. “As soon as I tapped in for birdie, I was ready.”
Fite also birdied Nos. 10 and 15 to get to 2-under for the day before making bogey on No. 18. But she still was plenty good enough to become Mason County’s first state golf champion.
“It means everything. My goal since seventh grade was to win the state championship,” Fite said. “I wanted to be up there like the rest of the great players holding the plaque that says, ‘Champion.’”
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.