By Sam McClanahan
Three Pendleton County Ladycats represented the program at the semi-state round held at Pendleton Hills on September 30. Despite their best efforts, the girls would fall short in making the cut to advance to the next round and their 2025 season would come to a close.
Kinly Cooper would produce her career-low in 18-hole play by shooting a round of 93. Taylor Bruener would end with a 95 and Laci Tackett finished with a 112.
"I'm glad that Kinly, Taylor and Laci had the opportunity to compete in the state tournament on our home course. That's just an awesome experience that they will always remember. While it would've been ideal to get some of them to the next round in Bowling Green, we tried to take things one step at a time and go in with the mindset that we were going to enjoy the experience without focusing on the results. Less than half of the golfers in the state of Kentucky have made it this far so to make it to this point is an accomplishment in itself," said team head coach Adam Bruener.
"Our stand out performance of the day was Kinly who scored a personal best of 93. The fact that she managed to score a personal best on that stage with the course playing a lot more difficult than what we typically see is truly amazing. She started the first four holes going 10 over par. She then found some momentum as she managed a par on hole 14 and would then proceed to birdie the next 3 holes and finish the back nine 8 over par. The mental toughness she displayed is remarkable and it's tough to turn things around like she did. She had a pretty good front 9 and put herself in a solid position to move on to the next round but fell 4 strokes shy of moving on as an 89 made the cut. Taylor had a rougher day than what's she's accustomed to and really struggled figuring out the greens earlier in the round. She did a great job in putting herself in good scoring positions but just couldn't capitalize with her putting. The greens were playing faster than what we'd played on all year and by the time she managed to adapt there weren't enough holes left in the round to make up for her earlier struggles. Laci managed a good round and has something to hang her hat on for her last golf competition of her high school career. I can't say enough about her improvements this year as she managed several personal best rounds this season. Her ultimate goal was to make it to the state tournament and she did just that. She put in a lot of work this season to accomplish that goal and it's rewarding to see that pay off for her. Also, I have to give a huge compliment to the staff at Pendleton Hills. They had the course in amazing shape and it was a great venue for the state tournament. Overall, I'm happy with the progress the program has made this year and I look forward to what we'll accomplish next year as our three first year players have a full season under their belt."