Barton Rutledge Ties for Second in State Golf Tournament

By Don Meador,
Sports Writer

Allen County-Scottsville junior Barton Rutledge is now in rare company when it comes to the best high school golfers to ever tee it up from Allen County. Rutledge finished the 2024 Leachman Buick-GMC-Cadillac Kentucky High School Athletic Association state golf tournament as the state runner-up–sharing the honor with Cam Roberts of Pikeville.

Rutledge, Roberts and Charlie Spiller from Lexington Catholic completed their 36-hole, two-day tournament last week with identical one-under par scores of 143. The trio returned to the 18th hole to start a playoff. The three parred the hole not once, but twice to remain tied. On the third hole, the par 4 10th, Rutledge and Roberts bogeyed. Spiller parred the hole to take first place.

“I had a lot of fun today,” Rutledge told reporters after play concluded Wednesday. “This means a lot knowing I could do this. It was tense. Missing that 15-footer on the first hole hurt but I moved on. It was a dogfight on the first two holes.”

The final holes capped a great Wednesday, a great tournament, and a great season for the AC-S junior.

“I came off the tee really well,” Rutledge added. “I hit my irons really well and the wedges were really good. I just had the same ground plan and didn’t really change much at all.”

Rutledge dropped a stroke with a bogey on the second hole of his Wednesday round. However, the junior stormed toward the top of the leader board with consecutive birdies on holes two, three and four. The run vaulted him into a tie for the lead. A birdie on the eighth hole helped Rutledge to finish the front nine with a 33, leaving him at -2 overall.

The back nine started with back-to-back bogeys on holes 10 and 11. Consecutive pars on 12 and 13 righted the ship but a bogey on hole 14 left Rutledge at one-under. After a par on 15, Rutledge dropped a stroke on 16. Following a par on 17, Rutledge birdied the 18th to earn a spot in the playoff.

Teammate Eli Stamper–playing in the state finals as well–struggled from the time he began play on the back nine at the Bowling Green Country Club. After a par on the 10th, Stamper bogeyed holes 11, 2, 14, 16, and 18. Moving to the front nine, a bogey on the first hole left Stamper at +7 for the tournament. Six pars followed before a bogey on the last hole left Stamper with a two-day total of 152 (+8). His final placement was a tie for 24th.

Rutledge–who improved from his 11th place state finish in 2023–now has the best finish in the state golf tournament in the 50-year history of Allen County-Scottsville golf. The final result surpassed the performance of Owen Stamper at the 2019 state tournament–when the now-professional finished in third place. AC-S’s Dustin Stovall also tied for third in the 2004 state tournament.

Prior to consolidation of Allen County and Scottsville, both schools produced a state champion golfer. Steve Lyles won the championship in 1960 for Scottsville. Stacy Russell won the 1968 title representing Allen County.

Following the tournament, the honors continued to come for Rutledge. On Monday, Rutledge learned that he is a member of the Kentucky Golf Coaches Association All-State, First Team. Rutledge amassed 1,110 points, fifth on the KGCA All-State list. Eli Stamper finished 34th on the All-State list with 695 points.