WASHINGTON – Bedford North Lawrence’s Addyson Bailey returned to her comfort-zone course and powered the Stars to a third-place finish in the Washington Invitational at Country Oaks on Saturday afternoon.
Bailey, with her round highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 sixth hole, fired a 3-over 75 as BNL posted a team total of 326. Floyd Central won the title with 311 while Castle was second in the 15-team field with 317.
Bailey, who qualified for the state finals on this regional course last season, drained a monster putt for the eagle after two quality shots set her up for success. She added a birdie on 12, and her only major slippage was a double-bogey on 16.
“The eagle was definitely unexpected,” Bailey said. “I felt I played really well. I had one hole that hurt my score, but on most of the holes I had good recovery shots.
“Playing this course so many times has helped me know where to place the ball. This is one of the main courses we play, so it felt really good to score pretty low. Scoring the same as I did in the regional last year puts a lot of confidence in my game and makes me look forward to seeing what our season brings.”
Olivia Sanders and Ashley Chase added 80s for the Stars, while Kenley Craig capped the scoring with 91.
“Addy did a good job of leading the team,” BNL assistant coach Kori Johnston said as she continues to lead the Stars while head coach Aaron Sanders recovers from illness. “She has really turned into a solid, dependable player.
“Ashley played much better. She’s a good player and can easily go even lower. She does a really good job of recovering from bad shots. Once we get her to capitalize on the good shots, she’ll be consistently in the 70s. Kenley finally started grooving her swing and scored much better.
“Overall, I’m happy with how the girls played. However, if we want to start moving up the leaderboard, we definitely have some work to do. We really need to start work on finishing strong. These girls have the talent to win golf tournaments. We just have to start proving it.”
Floyd Central’s Zoe Hoehn was medalist with a 72. Castle’s Lydia Bauersfeld posted a 73.
BNL will return to action at Springs Valley on Tuesday.
