FINDLAY – Trey Walker had to wait
almost three hours before learning if he qualified for the Division I state high school golf tournament.The
Bowling Green junior made sure the wait was worthwhile.He rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt on the second hole
of a sudden-death playoff to advance to state.Walker and Sandusky Perkins’ Max Tamburrino tied for the
second and final state qualifying spot after each shot a 76, forcing a playoff at Red Hawk Run."This
has been my goal all season and what I worked for all summer," Walker said. "It feels good all of
the work I’ve been putting in is paying off."But the day brought only mixed results for the Bobcats,
who failed to advance as a team.BG shot a 334 total to finish in a three-way tie for fourth in the 10-team
district.St. John’s won with a 319 total, edging Findlay by one stroke. Perkins was third with 329, while
Northview and Lexington matched BG’s 334.The top two teams and top two individuals not on a qualifying team
advanced to state.The state tournament is Oct. 18-19 at Ohio State University."It’s bittersweet because
I thought we would go to state as a team," Walker said.Walker and Tamburrino bogeyed the first playoff
hole with 5s, but Walker won on the second after Tamburrino’s tee shot went in the water on the par-4
hole.After Tamburrino went into the water, Walker stayed well to the right of the hazard and landed in the
fairway on the approximately 400-yard hole. He hit his approach shot to within 12 feet and made his first
birdie of the day after Tamburrino missed a 50-foot putt for par."I knew I had to take the water out of
play, but he still had a chance to make par," Walker said. "I still had to be aggressive. I was
confident I would make that putt and fortunately I did."Walker’s first 18 holes consisted of 14 pars
and four bogeys on the par-72 course. He shot 38 on each nine."Trey played a tremendous round and stood
up big in the playoff," BG coach Chris Dill said. "He struck the ball really well in the
playoff."Walker was in the first group to tee off, going out at 9 a.m. He finished around 1:30 p.m. and
the last group didn’t finish until around 4 p.m.The Bobcats were one of the first three teams to finish, so
Walker and his teammates went to Chipotle during their wait. Walker and Tamburrino both went to the practice
green before the playoffs."That was really nerve-racking, having to wait that long," Walker said.
"There’s nothing you can do about it because it’s out of your control."

The medalist and other individual state
qualifier was Maumee’s Mitch Kontak with 1-under-par 71.In addition to the 76s by Walker and Tamburrino,
three other players each shot a 77."I knew I’d be close to getting out," Walker said. "But
you don’t know how it will finish because you can’t control the other scores. I had a good score today,
especially because the course was playing long and difficult, and there were a lot of tough pin
locations."BG’s other scores were: Tyler Remeis, 40-44-84; Alex Noble 42-44-86; Tad McKanna, 45-43-88;
and Phillip Rich, 53-46-99.Rich is BG’s only senior. Remeis and McKanna are juniors, and Noble is a
sophomore."We’re really proud of Trey," Dill said. "It’s bittersweet day when your season
ends because we had high expectations for today, It’s a disappointment."We wanted to play better,"
Dill added. "We felt like we were the second-best team coming in. Most of our guys got off to rough
starts and never really got it going."