Golf Round-up: Third Tournament Win for Highlands Boys

Bluebirds Take Cooper Invitational

Highlands senior Luke Muller watches his shot during the Cooper Invitational on Tuesday. Muller tied for second overall shooting a 73 to help the Bluebirds to their third tournament win of the season.

The key for the top four scorers of the Highlands Bluebirds boys golf team is putting 80 or fewer.

Highlands did that Tuesday in the Cooper Invitational and won it by 13 strokes at the Boone Links Golf Course in Florence. The Bluebirds shot a 305. Runner-up Mason County shot a 318. Ryle took third at 319 and Grant County fourth at 328 with Covington Catholic taking fifth at 328.

"We've got good players that have experience," said Bert Richey, Highlands Head Coach. "When we play well, we are good enough to win the tournaments that we're in. That doesn't mean we're going to win. But we're going to give ourselves an opportunity to win. The field (Tuesday) was really strong. A lot of Northern Kentucky's best teams were there. We've played really smart so far this year."

Senior Luke Muller recorded his fourth top-five finish shooting a 73 to tie for second. Sophomore Joel Craft tied for sixth with a 75 and senior Justin Gabbard shot a 77 to tie for eighth. Junior Jack Schneider shot an 80 to finish the scoring.

"It's good to know we have guys that are going to shoot numbers that are going to help us," Muller said. "We're usually going to be pretty consistent out there."

Richey pointed out that Schneider has posted the best four-man average during his five seasons as head coach at this point. Schneider's 18-hole average in four tournaments is 80.75 strokes. Muller leads the way at 71.25 with Gabbard second at 73.25 and Craft third at 79 even.

Highlands took two teams to the 17-team tournament. The second team shot 390 to finish 12th.

The Bluebirds play in their own OrthoCincy Highlands Invitational at A.J. Jolly Golf in Alexandria. Tee time is 6:30 a.m.

Highlands Girls Play in Grant County Invitational:

The Highlands girls took seventh out of 10 teams shooting 405. Grant County won its own tournament at Eagle Creek Golf Course on Tuesday shooting a 328.

Senior Ellie Rowland shot an 80 to tie for eighth to lead Highlands. Junior KJ Toole shot an 85 to tie for 14th.

Highlands plays in its own OrthoCincy Invitational on Wednesday. Tee time is 11:30 a.m.