BOWLING GREEN — South Warren’s Faith Martin wasn’t going to be left off the leader board at the state championship this go around.
A year ago, Martin would’ve finished in the top-5 but her tournament ended early due to a disqualification.
Fast forward to 2018, Martin found her name in the top-10.
“Anything on the board is a comeback from last year,” Martin said of her finish at the Bowling Green Country Club on Wednesday. “I was OK with that.”
Behind Martin’s sixth place finish, the South Warren girls’ golf team placed seventh overall.
McKenna Stahl ended her two-day tournament appearance with a 91, carding 19-over in the second round after going 11-over the opening round. Lauren Holeman ended 37-over while Abigail Cline concluded with a score of 46-over.
“We’ve played a lot of golf,” South Warren coach Eric Holeman said of his team’s seventh overall finish. “As I tell my kids all the time, you can’t always have your best day. If it was that easy, we’d be winning every time out. You just hope your bad rounds aren’t on the biggest stage. We didn’t play like we did yesterday … but I’m still proud of all these girls top to bottom.”
Martin shot the first two rounds smooth and precisely, carding 2-over for the opening day and setting her up in third place as she entered the final day. But six bogeys, along with one double-bogey on the back nine holes, put Martin behind on the leaderboard.
“My ball striking was off, my putting was off,” Martin said. “Overall, it’s not my best. With three holes left, I put (the driver) up and thought my 3-wood could get me in the fairway. I thought wrong. My swing was a little off and we’re still working on that.”
Despite being slightly off on the second day, Martin was proud to cap off the 2018 season representing South Warren in the top-10 once again.
“I had some tough rounds, but that’s golf and it happens. Overall it’s a good year,” Martin said.
Martin wasn’t the only Spartan to have a successful weekend at the top of a leaderboard, however.
CM Mixon, a commit to the University of Louisville, capped off his high school career just four shots away from winning a state championship, finishing in second place with a two-under score of 142.
“So proud I could’ve finished that way,” Mixon said. “Obviously, I could’ve done better. I’m just going to use this as motivation to go on to bigger and better things with my team at Louisville.”
Mixon’s front nine put himself in a position to put pressure on John Marshall Butler, putting down birdies on holes 2, 4 and 8. But the back nine was a bit of struggle for Mixon, as he concluded with one bogey and a double-bogey.
Butler would go on to take the trophy with a 3-under score of 139.
“I think this is the strongest my swing has ever been,” Mixon said. “By far, the best ball striking today in my career. My short game was there and I made a lot of great chips and a lot of great putts.”
Bowling Green’s Collier Curd also put himself in a position to compete for the crown, finishing with a two-over 146 over his two days. The junior ended round one at even par, but it was the second round that he would like to have a do over with. Collier’s final 18 holes included three bogies, including two on the back nine.
“It was a lot tougher (on the second day),” Curd said. “I started later and I felt the wind start to kick up a lot, which didn’t exactly help me. I wasn’t hitting it great on the back side.”
“It was a pretty good year overall,” Curd added.
