Junior Holly Haydon is on her way to the Kentucky State High School Girls' Golf Tournament next week at Bowling Green. That's the good news. The bad, or better yet, sad, news, is that the Lady Indians were oh so close to winning a regional golf title and the entire team getting to head to Bowling Green when they finished a close third on Monday in the Region XI Tournament at the Mt. Sterling Golf and Country Club. Coach Chris Spoonamore could only take the loss in stride after the Lady Indians, who had been besieged with illness and injuries and inconsistent play all year, fell just four shots away from a regional title. The event did serve as a nice reward for Haydon, who picked up the game of golf just three years ago when she decided to move away from basketball and softball. Haydon shot an 88 Monday and that left her in a tie with Boyd County's Tori Sager for the final individual spot in the state tournament. Haydon played really well early in the day but then had a pair of triple bogeys late in her round which took her out of contention for medalist honors and left her scrambling for a spot in state event. On the first playoff hole Haydon hit her drive very short on the par three 10th hole but then found the green and was able to rally and win as Sager mis-hit a pair of shots around the green and conceded the hole and the playoff. Greenup County and Rowan County tied for the team title with scores of 383 during regulation and then Greenup County won on the first hole of their playoff. But both teams go on to the state tournament. Montgomery County finished with a 386 team score and that left the MCHS girls and Spoonamore playing a lot of what-if games since they only needed to make up one shot per player to have picked up the regional title. Senior Janie Wise finished second for Montgomery County with a 96, both a valiant and disappointing round for Wise. She qualified for the state tournament last year but missed almost the entire 2014 season because of illness. Though obviously weakened after suffering from a bout of pneumonia earlier in the season, Wise battled through her round and gave her team a chance at making the trip to the state. She finished 12th overall. Freshman Laura Gay followed closely behind Wise with a 97 while junior Tara Bailey and Haleigh Ralls had scores of 105 and 111, respectively. Boyd County freshman McKinzie Walters won the individual title with an 82, a very respectable score on a course where the greens were extremely fast. Sophomore Abby Dowdy of Greenup County came in second, two shots back and Russell's Baylee Salyers had a round of 85. Salyers, playing for the fourth-place finishing team, qualified as an individual for the state tournament along with teammate Mackenzie Darnell, a senior, who shot 86. That left Haydon and Sager to battle for the final individual spot in the state field. "Holly's worked really hard to improve her game," Spoonamore said. "To have come this far in only three years wouldn't have happened if she weren't a real student of the game and it'll be interesting to see where she'll be in another year and hopefully she'll inspire her teammates to work hard during the next year."