Campbell County’s Talen Beane is currently on track for one of his lofty goals this season.
The Camels senior sits atop the Kentucky Golf Coaches Association All-State points standings.
The significance of this is that the top 10 players in the standings make first team All-State and the points leader is a strong candidate for Mr. Golf in Kentucky, one of Beane’s goals entering the season. Beane has placed in seven tournaments, earning 640 points and 10 points ahead of Marshall County’s Ryan Stokes in second place.
Beane opened up his season with four wins in four tournaments. He won the Bulldog Invitational at Kearney Hills, OrthoCincy Invitational at AJ Jolly, Beechwood Invitational at Hickory Sticks and the Shawn Garnett Memorial at Kenton County at the Willows course. He also owns a pair of runner-up finishes with a second place in the Flyer Classic at Juniper Hills and the Mason County Invitational at Laurel Oaks, where he lost in a playoff. This all comes on the heels of winning the Kentucky Amateur in July.
Ryle’s Paxton McKelvey sits in 33rd in the standings with 380 points. While the top 10 make first team All-State, the next 10 make second team All-State. The Raiders as a team are sixth in the All-State points standings, meaning they’d qualify for the KGCA All-State Tournament.
On the girls’ side, Ryle’s Anika Okuda is just outside the top 10 in standings, sitting in a tie for 11th with 495 points, just 15 points outside the top 10. Ryle’s team is 12th in the team standings and currently qualifying for the KGCA All-State Tournament.
The All-State formula takes a team’s top seven finishes in tournament play, the top 15 teams and 21 individuals not on those teams play in the KGCA All-State Tournament at UK Golf Club the weekend of Sept. 13-14. Regional tournaments then follow the week of Sept. 22 with the first round of the state tournament to follow the week after.
The KHSAA golf season is roughly at its halfway point as school is back in session and that means the season will slow down quite a bit.
It also means there’s a good sense of how the All-State team and individual points will shake out. Each tournament that is eligible for KGCA points helps players and teams accumulate points throughout the season.