Ryle High School alum Chris Harpum kept his strong summer rolling with a fifth‑place tie at last month’s 113th Kentucky Men’s Amateur. The Belmont University standout shot 5‑under-par 211 at the University of Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville. He finished seven shots back of winner Brady Smith, a Simpsonville native.
“I didn’t play too bad,” Harpum said.
Smith plays for Louisville. He flashed his pedigree — two high school state titles, two Kentucky Junior Player of the Year awards — and lit up the second round with a tournament-low 63 en route to a 12-under-par total of 204. He got the better of runner-up Rafe Blankenship from Scottsville. Blankenship, a Western Kentucky golfer, shot 205 following a late charge with scores of 67 on each of the final two days.
Harpum opened with a 69 and stayed steady with 72–70 to close. He sank six birdies the first day. He added five the second day and ended with four more for a total of 15. Harpum largely avoided bad shots, carding just one double-bogey. He shot par or better on 16 of 18 holes the final day and was the top northern Kentucky finisher. Former Cooper standout Rylan Wotherspoon was next among locals in a tie for eighth. The University of Cincinnati golfer shot 3‑under 213.
Harpum stayed sharp across the river, reaching the quarterfinals at last week’s 117th Tony Blom Metropolitan Amateur Championship. The tournament was at Heritage Club and The Grizzly in Mason, Ohio. Harpum fell to eventual champion Alex Lilly, 4 and 3, outperforming his 23rd seed. Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur champ Ben Carter from St. Henry High School advanced one round at the Metropolitan. He lost on the 19th hole, ending his stay at the annual Cincinnati event.
Harpum’s résumé continues to grow. In May, he finished regulation in a three-way tie along with Carter at the Northern Kentucky Men’s Amateur at Summit Hills Country Club. Representing Triple Crown, he lost in a playoff as Carter took the prize.
Harpum put together five top‑25 finishes in 12 events this past season at Belmont. He wound up leading the team in scoring average a second straight year at 73.5 despite big changes in his approach.
“I actually thought I struggled a bit in ’25-’26,” Harpum said. “I decided I needed to fix some of my game. So, I changed my swing coach and went through a swing change, and I feel like I paid for it a little bit during the spring, but now I’m seeing results.”
The three-time all-region pick at Ryle led Belmont in scoring his first season at 74.3. He added six top-35 finishes including a tie for sixth at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. He had two top‑20 finishes including one top-10 at his first college stop at the University of Cincinnati. Harpum won Cincinnati’s Metropolitan crown in 2024.
Harpum carried a 3.81 grade-point average this past academic year at Belmont while pursuing a degree in business administration. That earned him Missouri Valley Conference Scholar‑Athlete of the Year in golf. He became the first Belmont men’s golfer to win the award. He also earned a spot on the scholar-athlete first team for the second straight year.
Earlier in June, Harpum was named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District At-Large Team. He did that for the second year in a row.
“I have one more year of it left,” he said.
Harpum redshirted his first college season at Cincinnati and has one year of eligibility remaining at Belmont. He heads back to school around Sept. 1. Before then, he expects to play in a handful of events including the Kentucky Open at the end of July.
His next outing is Monday at the 2026 ISCO Championship Qualifier at the University of Louisville Golf Club. He qualified for the event last Wednesday at a pre-qualifier. Monday’s 18-hole stroke play tournament advances the low four qualifiers into the main PGA Tour ISCO Championship field. The main tournament takes place July 9–12 at the Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville.
“I hope to do well after the changes,” Harpum said. “I kind of feel like I have a whole new game this summer. It was tough making a swing change. But through perseverance, I feel like I’m finally coming around.”
Fuldner top-15 in points race
Former Campbell County High School golfer Eric Fuldner is the highest-ranking local in the Kentucky Golf Association Men’s Player of the Year points race. Fuldner has accrued 125 points in two events, good for 13th place.
He picked up 90 points with a third-place finish at the 26th Kentucky Men’s Four-Ball Championship in May. Fuldner added 35 points with a 31st-place tie at the Kentucky Men’s Amateur.
Chris Harpum is tied for 16th in the men’s points race with the 110 he earned at the Kentucky Men’s Amateur.
Kentucky’s bigger golf communities continue to have a stranglehold on the top of the rankings. Eight of the leading 16 golfers are from either Lexington or Louisville. Paducah, the 15th-biggest city in the Commonwealth, has two golfers in the top five.
A golfer must play in a minimum of two KGA-sanctioned events throughout the season to count in the standings. Players will be awarded points for KPGA and USGA events, but these will not count toward the two-event minimum.
Two locals top 20 at Women’s Met
A pair of area golfers had top 20 finishes in June at Cincinnati’s 111th Metropolitan Women’s Amateur Championship. The event was held at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio. Former Ryle golfer Anika Okuda came in 19th with a three-day score of 256. Okuda, representing The Links at Rising Star, finished at 40-over-par. She is heading to Centre College.
Youngster Reese Anthony from Traditions Golf Club shot 46-over-par 262 for a 20th-place finish. The incoming eighth grader at St. Henry High School shot 85 the final day.
Winner Sydney Deal blew away the field with a final score of 7-over 223, including a 71 the second day.
Kenton County Junior Championship
Dixie Heights High School golfer Jeff Woolwine narrowly missed winning June’s Kenton County Junior Championship. The event was played at The Pioneer Golf Course in Independence. Woolwine, an incoming senior, shot 3-over 145 after 36 holes. That tied Gunnar Martin, a junior-to-be at Wilmington High School in Ohio. Martin won with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
Locals took the top four spots on the girls side. Ryle incoming senior Elizabeth Dickson earned the championship trophy with 1-under-par 143. Reese Anthony was runner-up just two shots back at 1-over 145.
There was a tie for third between Conner junior-to-be Sofia Seals and Boone County’s Jayden Ramler, an incoming senior. Both shot 18-over 162.