Congratulations to Corbin High School golfers Makena Myatt and Kalyn Watkins, who recently advanced to the state finals.
Myatt improved on her own personal best and set the lady’s course record firing a five under 67 at Wasioto Winds Golf Course at Pine Mountain State Park on Aug. 18 to win the Kentucky 2A Section 7 Girls’ Qualifier.
Myatt sank a birdie putt on the final hole.
Watkins held her own shooting an 82 on what I can personally attest is a tough golf course. I imagine the course set-up for a tournament, like this one, was even tougher than usual. (I always used to take old balls when I played Wasioto Winds as I knew I would probably be losing several in the many water hazards there…LOL.)
The Corbin Lady Hounds team posted a 387, which was good enough for a runner up finish during the competition. The Clay County Lady Tigers won the 2026 2A Section 7 Regional Title posting a 384.
Great job ladies.
Over on the boy’s side of things, the Knox Central Boys won the competition posting a 320 to win the 2026 2A Section 7 Regional Title. The Clay County Boys finished as runner-up posting a 333.
Harlan’s Cole Cornett shot a 73 to win the Kentucky 2A Boys’ Section 7 Qualifier. Clay County’s John Smith shot a 76 to finish in the runner up spot.
Both Myatt and Watkins qualified for the Kentucky 2A Girls Championship.
Both Cornett and Smith qualified for the Kentucky 2A Boys Championship.
Both tournaments will take place next month at Owensboro Country Club.
Owensboro County Club was established in 1919. The course will play at a par 72 and measure 5,405 yards for the ladies and 6,504 yards for the gentlemen.
The back nine looks kind of interesting as it features three par 3 holes, three par 4 holes and three par 5 holes. This is much like the front nine at Wasioto Winds.
I wish all the participants luck, particularly Myatt and Watkins. I hope they get hot at the right time and maybe one of them can win the whole thing. It is definitely possible.
As I was saying to someone just the other day, winning a championship in any sport requires skill, luck and timing. The skill factor is obvious. Luck enters into the equation a number of ways, not the least of which is avoiding an injury or injuries at the wrong time.
Plus, some days on a golf course, most of your putts are dropping and you get some good bounces. Other days, you might hit a great approach shot going straight at the flag, then have the ball hit the flagpole and careen off the green into a bunker or out of bounds. It has happened to all of us.
Someone once told me about a quote by a famous golfer, who once said something along the lines of if you hit a bad shot, don’t react. It might turn out well and you can pretend you meant to hit it that way. According to AI, this quote is widely attributed to legendary golfer Arnold Palmer. I can picture Lee Trevino saying something like this too.
In terms of timing, you have to get hot or get on a roll at just the right time. The funny thing about golf in terms of tournament play is even if you have the best skills and get on a roll, there are typically several competitors so a handful of them will probably get on a roll too.
Arguably, golf may be one of the toughest sports to win an individual title because of all these factors, some of which are completely out of your control.
