As of last Saturday evening, the McCracken County Mustangs boys golf team had played exactly half of the tournaments needed to qualify for the postseason. Out of those 10 tournaments played, the Mustangs have clinched nine of them, including the Paducah Tilghman Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Paxton Park Golf Course.
A team score of 1-over-par 285 would do the trick, claiming the victory by 14 strokes over the runners-up Marshall County Marshals.
“It’s been a dream,” McCracken County head coach Chris Gregory said about the first half of the season. “Our guys have played really well. I’m really proud of them and I’m proud of the work they put in over the offseason to get to this point. They all challenge each other every day in practice and in these tournament.”
Gregory noted the hard part about winning the way his team is, is continuing to make it happen.
With teams like Marshall County, Madisonville-North Hopkins and Murray all playing really good golf, the Mustangs have to be playing at the top of their game to get the job done.
Leading the charge for the Mustangs was Murray State commit Landon Hunt, shooting a 2-under-par 69. Teammate and good friend Dallas Vinson would challenge the win with a 1-under-par 70 to keep things interesting and prove just have versatile the Mustangs are.
“Any of our top five and I’d go out and say out top eight, can go out and shoot a great number at any given time,” Gregory said. “This is Landon’s second win. Evan Hack has won twice. Different guys have come in second, third fourth or fifth in a lot of tournaments. They have all just put themselves in positions to do really well all season and it’s been quite impressive.”
Rounding out the team scores for the Mustangs, Jack Farmery and Evan Hack finished tied for seventh at 2-over-par 73 and Tanner Kight landed in 13th with a 4-over-par 75.
“Today went well,” Hunt said after his individual win. “I had a little rocky finish, and I was able to play well enough the other 16 holes to get the job done. But, we played really well as a team and that’s all I really care about.”
It was a back-and-forth round of golf for many of the top individuals as Hunt, Vinson, Marshall County’s Ryan Stokes and Graves County’s Maddux O’Guinn all held solo leads at some point throughout the 18 holes. Landon says even though they aren’t part of his McCracken County squad, playing with friends from other schools really makes the rounds more enjoyable and competitive.
“It’s been kinda crazy. I didn’t start playing til middle school, but I’ve been playing with these same group of guys since I started,” Hunt said. “I’ve been playing with and against Ryan and Maddux and Dallas for years. We’ve all gotten better every year which is making the rounds more competitive and just more fun.”
Stokes led the Marshals with a 1-over-par 72, while O’Guinn finished tied for fifth at 2-over-par 73.
Helping the Marshals to their second-place finish behind Stokes was senior Brook Lamb with a 2-over-par 73, Paxton Carter came in T9 with a 3-over-par 74, Nolan Hurst shot an 80 and Gage Norman shot an 87.
Other impressive finishes include McCracken County seventh grader who finished T14 at 76 alongside Murray’s Ian Dahncke, Maddox Mitchell and Owen English, Mayfield’s Rylan Crouch, Paducah Tilghman’s Ford Black and Graves County’s Jack Paul.
The majority of these teams and golfers will be back together on Saturday at Drake Creek Golf Club competing in the Graves County Invitational.
Local team scores
1. McCracken County — 285
2. Marshall County — 299
4. Murray — 311
6. Graves County — 319
T7. McCracken County B — 320
13. St. Mary — 355
14. Lyon County — 366
15. Paducah Tilghman — 367
16. Caldwell County — 370
17. Ballard Memorial — 385
19. Calloway County — 408