The beginning of the golf season has seen some early success for the Cougar teams from Grayson County.

Last weekend, the Cougar boys travelled to Paducah for the Paducah Tilghman Invitational, which featured 14 teams, most of them from the First Region.

Grayson County, led by junior Brad Alexander’s 69, placed second in the 14-team field, finishing just a single stroke behind winner Calloway County. Calloway scored 317 to the Cougars’ 318.

Alexander’s score was good for second place, again by just a single stroke behind medalist Eric Straub, of Heath High School.

“We were very pleased with the team’s performance,” said Assistant Coach Mike Meredith.

Junior T. J. Wood shot a 75 for the Cougars, which was good for fifth-place overall. Sophomore Kyle Blessitt shot 80, and junior Brett Stone had a 94. Freshman Seth Beatty shot a non-scoring round of 105.

Other teams in the tournament included Caldwell County, Carlisle County, Madisonville-North Hopkins, St. Mary’s, Graves County, Paducah Tilghman, Murray, Ballard Memorial, Reidland, and Lone Oak.

On Monday both the boys and girls teams traveled to the Shady Hollow course, in Edmonson County, to play a three-way match against Warren East and Edmonson County.

The boys put together a round of 160 to edge Warren East by two strokes. Edmonson County was a distant third at 191.

The Lady Cougars also took their match, firing a 194 to beat out the Lady Raiders who had a 211. Edmonson County had just two girls competing.

In a JV match, the Cougars fired a 187 to win the match. Warren East shot 201, while Edmonson County fired a 209.

Alexander again led the way for the Cougar varsity with a fine 35 for nine holes. Blessitt also had a good round, finishing with a 38. Wood shot a 42, while junior Grant Collins completed the scoring with a 45.

Warren East’s Brandon Beckham led his team with a 38, while Keith Tooley had a 40, Kyle Tooley shot 41 and Brett Beckham had a 43.

For Edmonson County, Kacy Clemmons led with a 45, followed by Nathan Ashley at 46, and Austin Thomas and Bret Duncan, both at 50.

Sophomore Paige Higdon led the Lady Cougars with a 39.

“I was pleased with it,” Higdon said of her round on Monday.

Senior Tessa Nelson shot a 46, while eighth-grader Catey Logsdon shot 54 and junior Katherine Campbell rounded out the scoring with a 55.

Warren East’s Erica Wilson led her team with a 48. Taylor Watkins shot a 52, Amy Chaffin shot 54 and Lauren Estes concluded the scoring with a 57.

Junior Tyler Lewis led the way for the Cougar JVs with a round of 43. Beatty shot a 46, while Stone and Jacob Carroll each shot 49.

Other Cougars with non-scoring rounds included senior Ethan Johnson with a 49, sophomore J. D. Majors with a 50, senior Aaron Watkins at 51, sophomore Dylan Vaught with a 53, junior Cody Mattingly with a 55, sophomore Austin Hughes with a 57, and Nolan White with a 59.

For the Lady Cougars, freshmen Brooke Bratcher and Brianne Schultz had non-scoring rounds of 56 and 59 respectively.