Knott leads after stroke play at Boys State Junior Championship

Westfield golfer top seed as match play begins

The REPORTER

Westfield’s Keaton Knott put together another impressive round to finish first in stroke play at the Indiana Boys State Junior Championship, which continued Tuesday at Purdue University’s Ackerman-Allen Course.

Knott, an incoming junior for the Shamrocks, scored a two-under par 70 in the second round of stroke play, making three birdies along the way. Knott totaled a five-under par 143 for the two rounds and earned the top seed as the tournament moves into match play today.

Fishers’ Dane Starnes, an incoming senior for Hamilton Southeastern, tied for fifth in stroke play with 147. Starnes carded a 75 in his second round, making two birdies.

Tommy Klinker, a recent Fishers graduate, tied for seventh by scoring 148. Klinker totaled 74s in both rounds, draining three birdies during the second round.

Three more local golfers finished stroke play tied for 10^th with 149s. Hamilton Southeastern graduate Mattingly Upchurch scored 74 for the second round, which included an eagle on hole No. 4 and two birdies.

Noblesville graduate Tyler Marucci was 73 for the second round, making four birdies. Eli Wessel scored 78 in the second round, including three birdies.

The top 64 players from stroke play advance to match play, which begins today with the Round of 64. The first pairs go off at 8 a.m. Once all matches are completed, the winners will play their Round of 32 matches this afternoon.

Here are a list of Hamilton County match-play qualifiers.

Keaton Knott, Westfield 68-70=138, T5. Dane Starnes, Fishers 72-75=147, T7. Tommy Klinker, Fishers 74-74=148, T10. Tyler Marucci, Noblesville 76-73=149; Mattingly Upchurch, Fishers 75-74=149; Eli Wessel, Indianapolis (Guerin Catholic) 71-78=149, T20. Brody Colburn, Fishers 77-75=152, T24. Patrick Wolf, Carmel 79-74=153; Vaughn Twilla, Noblesville 76-77=153, T32. Ryan Cesare, Westfield 80-75=155; Luke Moore, Carmel 75-80=155, T36. Jude Kaufman, Westfield 77-79=156; Max Huffman, Carmel 76-80=156; Zach Kinzer, Fishers 75=81=156; Hudson Kutchma, Westfield 73-83=156, T46. Myles Ray, Noblesville 75=82=157; Luke Decker, Noblesville 74-83=157, T63. Gavin Davis, Fishers 75-86=161.