A who’s who list of young area golfers are proving a point: The kids are alright. Local college men are showing out, too. That’s music to the ears of their coaches as a brigade of youthful northern Kentucky players make their way around golf courses this spring.
Topping the list is University of Cincinnati golfer Rylan Wotherspoon. His schedule is kicking into gear this offseason. Two of the most important tournaments of the month are coming in back-to-back weeks for the former Cooper High School standout.
Last week, Wotherspoon finished tied for seventh at the 109th Kentucky Amateur at Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington. Wotherspoon, an incoming sophomore at Cincinnati, carded a three-day score of 2-under-par. He fired 69 the first and third days sandwiched around a 73.
Wotherspoon, from Florence, finished seven shots behind winner Justin Tereshko (204), a former all-American at Transylvania. Tereshko, the Eastern Kentucky University men’s golf coach, was a top-100 world amateur in 2020. He defeated PGA top-10 player Xander Schauffele in the match-play round of 64 at the 2014 U.S. Amateur. Tereshko was Kentucky Amateur runner-up in 2018.
Wotherspoon’s Kentucky Amateur finish moved him into 14th place in the Kentucky Golf Association John C. Owens player of the year points standings with 160, well behind Tereshko the leader with 980.
At Cooper, Wotherspoon set the program record for medalist honors with more than 30. He is the only Northern Kentucky high school player to win Mr. Kentucky Golf. A three-time Kentucky High School Athletic Association regional champion and three-time all-state choice, Wotherspoon won the 2021 Greater Cincinnati Junior Metropolitan. He was a match-play competitor at the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. He was inducted into the Golfweek Junior Tour Hall of Fame that same year.
A pair of former Highlands High School golfers made the Kentucky Amateur cut and placed in the top 45. Justin Gabbard, who golfs at Xavier University, tied for 33rd with a score of 217. Luke Muller, a player at Northern Kentucky University, tied for 42nd at 219. The former Bluebirds were the second- and third-best local scorers at the event behind Wotherspoon.
Gabbard was a 12-time medalist at Highlands and the 2018 KHSAA 8th Region tournament champion. He was the 2018 and 2020 8th Region player of the year and a first-team all-state pick in 2020. An incoming junior at Xavier, he made an immediate impact on the program, ranking third on the Musketeers in lowest average score as a freshman.
Muller was a two-sport standout at Highlands. He was a first-team all-conference golfer his last three years and second-team all-state as a senior. He won the Kentucky Boys Junior Amateur in 2021. Muller also played forward and was the second-leading scorer on the 2021 state championship-winning Highlands basketball team. An incoming junior at NKU, he tied for 21st at the Horizon League championships as a sophomore.
Wotherspoon, Gabbard and Muller are teeing it up this week at the 114th Greater Cincinnati Tony Blom Metropolitan Amateur Championship. Wotherspoon is representing Traditions Golf Club. Gabbard represents California Golf Course. Muller is from Highland Country Club. The Met runs Monday through Saturday at Clovernook County Club in Cincinnati and Elks Run Golf Course in Batavia.
Elsewhere around the links:
1905 JUNIOR TOUR: Villa Madonna Academy’s Adam Brandstetter is tops among locals in the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association 1905 Junior Tour boys’ 18-under player of the year points standings. Brandstetter, seventh at last year’s KHSAA Region 7 tournament, has 90 points, good for a tie for 26th place. St. Henry High School’s Ben Carter is tied for 33rd with 75 points. Other local high schoolers in the top 45 are Bishop Brossart’s Cody Simon, tied for 35th at 70, and Covington Catholic’s Jacob Thomas, 41st with 60 points.
In the boys’ 15-under points race, Covington Catholic’s Caleb Dreier is 16th with 150. Jack Woolwine from the Kenton County school district and Villa Madonna’s Tyler Brandstetter are tied for 21st with 110 points. Woolwine has one victory, at the Kenton County Spring Junior.
In boys’ 12-under, Noah Johansing from the Boone County school district is tied for eighth with 330 points and Owen Havens from the Kenton County school district is tied for 21st with 50. In boys 9-under, Luke Stringer from St. Henry District was fifth with 250 points.
JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER: Cooper rising senior Yuji Maruishi and Ryle rising senior Tanner Lorms missed qualifying by just four shots with 36-hole scores of 158 at Shaker Run Golf Club. The top four in the 18-under stroke-play event moved on with scores of 151, 152, 154 and 154. Maruishi and Lorms tied for eighth at the qualifier. Both were top-five finishers at last year’s KHSAA Region 7 golf tournament, Maruishi finishing fourth and Lorms placing fifth.
Other local high schoolers finishing in the top 20 at Shaker Run were 15th-place William Carter (St. Henry) with a score of 161, 17th-place Palmer McKelvey (Ryle) with 162, and 20th-place Paxton McKelvey (Ryle) at 164. All survived the first-round cut of 88. Palmer McKelvey tied for 10th at last year’s Region 7 tournament and Paxton McKelvey finished eighth. A total of 34 players made the Shaker Run cut, including Villa Madonna’s Tyler Brandstetter, who placed 34th at 189.