By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Reagan Ramage and Kendall Brissey have shared a lot of success playing on Cooper High School girls golf teams that won four consecutive Region 7 championships and placed third in the last two state tournaments.
“Kendall is pretty much my best friend,” Ramage said. “There’s not many days during the week I don’t spend with her after school at the driving range or on the golf course.”
Reagan Ramage, left, and Kendall Brissey have spent a lot of time together in a golf cart as high school teammates. (Photo provided)
Ramage is a junior and Brissey is a senior, so they will no longer be high school teammates. But they both get to play in the first national junior golf tournament at the Golf Courses of Kenton County on May 24-27.
The American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) recently added meetNKY and Northern Kentucky Convention & Visitors Bureau to its event sponsors. The partnership will have Northern Kentucky hosting an AJGA tournament for three years.
Julie Kirkpatrick, president and chief executive officer of meetNKY, said the tournament that’s expected to draw top golfers in ages 12-19 from across the nation is “the perfect opportunity to showcase what the region has to offer to the national sports landscape.”
The tournament is listed as the Kenton County Junior Open on the AJGA website and will be played on The Willows course at Kenton County. Entry fee is $295 for a field of 96 golfers. After a qualifying round on May 24, it will be a 54-hole stoke play tournament over three days.
Reagan Ramage is a four-time region golf champion and tied for fourth place in the last state tournament.
Last summer, Ramage placed 10th in the girls standings at an AJGA event in Ashland, Ky. The field included golfers from several states, including Hawaii, and a couple of girls from Asia.
“The kids that qualify and get into the tournament are very talented,” Ramage said. “I definitely feel like it’s going to be a strong field here. But The Willows is tough. It’s a course that if you’ve not seen it a couple times it can shock you at how hard it is.”
The AJGA has a performance based entry system that decides if a player can enter one of its tournaments based on results in previous junior events. Ramage and Brissey actually received sponsor exemptions to play in the Kenton County Junior Open, but they are two of the top girls high school golfers in the area.
Ramage was medalist in the last four Region 7 tournaments while Brissey was region runner-up twice and placed third twice. At the state tournament held in October, Ramage tied for fourth place and Brissey placed 15th among a field of 90 finalists.
Last summer, Ramage was among the youngest qualifiers in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships, carding rounds of 74 and 76.
The two high school girls received exemptions for the Kenton County Junior Open from David Peru, general manager of the Golf Courses of Kenton County. Ramage said he has been a huge supporter during their high school careers.
“We go up and play at Kenton County religiously,” Ramage said. “There’s a couple of golf courses closer to us, but there are days when we can’t out on those courses when we want to play. Dave at Kenton County has always been so welcoming in helping us get out when we need to.”
Both girls have already accepted scholarship offers to play in college. Brissey will be going to Indiana Wesleyan next fall and Ramage recently committed to Western Kentucky. That takes some of the pressure off performing in the area’s first AJGA event.
“I still want to try to do my very best, of course,” Ramage said. “So I don’t think there’s any less pressure, but maybe a little more a relaxed. I don’t have to go out and worry about shooting these amazing scores.”
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