Kentucky golfers get some ink

Steve Flesch, who played golf at Covington Catholic and the University of Kentucky, has done pretty well in 10 years on the PGA Tour. He owns two tournament titles, 53 top-ten finishes, and almost $13 million in earnings. He also may have a future as a TV analyst. When Peter Oosterhuis had to miss the opening round of the Golf Channel’s coverage of the Zurich Classic a couple weeks ago, Flesch filled in as an on-course reporter. Flesch is no stranger in front a camera. Golf Channel has used him in various features before, and as GolfWorld magainze noted, Flesch “showed a sharp sense of humor.” After his on-course reporting at the Zurich, GolfWorld said “don’t be surprised to see Flesch behind the mike again in the future.”

J.B. Holmes, another PGA Tour player with Kentucky roots (state champ at Taylor County and All-American at UK), showed his sense of humor in a brief Q&A with Sports Illustrated recently. SI asked Holmes to name one celebrity he’d like to date. “Wow. I don’t know,” Holmes quipped. “One of the Golden Girls. Bea Arthur.” Holmes has a deal with Cobra golf that gets him commercial air-time with funny-man David Feherty.

And the name of Madisonville native and former PGA Tour player Brad Fabel was spotted in the May/June issue of Travel + Leisure Golf. In an advertisement for Sawgrass Resort & Spa, it is noted that “in 1986, a 31-year-old Fabel would stare down the famed island green of The Players Stadium Course’s 17th hole, becoming the first to drop a hole-in-one down the monster’s throat. Even after $2.6 million in Tour earnings, the feat remains a highlight of Fabel’s career to this day.”

NFL draft slim on Kentucky prep products

Nobody questions the fact that Kentucky high school football has improved dramatically over the last couple decades, to the point where some people contend this is a “football” state rather than a “basketball” state. But you couldn’t tell it by last week’s NFL draft. Out of 255 players taken in seven rounds of the draft, only one was a Kentucky high school product — Male grad Michael Bush (left), a former Mr. Football, who played at the University of Louisville.

(Then again, don’t hold your breath waiting for any Kentucky high school products to be taken in this year’s NBA draft.)

According to numbers compiled by USA Football, having only one high school product put Kentucky last on the list along with Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada and New Mexico. It’s no surprise what three states had the most high school alums taken in the draft: California was tops with 36, followed by Florida with 27, Texas with 26 and Ohio with 18. Tennessee high schools had 4 alums taken, and Indiana had 3.

Kentucky should fare better next year, with potential stars such as U of L quarterback Brian Brohm and receiver Mario Urrutia (Fern Creek) and UK quarterback Andre Woodson (North Hardin) and receiver Keenan Burton (Manual)

Three high schools had three alums drafted this year:

• Dublin Coffman in Ohio — Brady Quinn (1st round), Jay Richardson (5th round), Nedu Ndukwe (7th round).
• Evangel Academy in Louisiana – Jonathan Wade (3rd round), Chase Pittman (7th round), Keyunta Dawson (7th round).
• Miami Norland High in Florida — Dwayne Bowe (1st round), Kareem Brown (4th round), Antwan Barnes (4th round).

Taking aim on three-pointers

Lexington Catholic’s Jordan Smart, shown in launch sequence at right, shoots three-pointers so well (45%) that when he fires one up it should be called a “Smart bomb.” So when he heard the news yesterday that the NCAA is probably going to push back the three-point line a foot (from 19 feet, 9 inches to 20 feet, 9 inches) in college basketball starting with the 2008-09 season, it didn’t bother him a bit. As a senior at LexCath next season, he’s confident he can show college recruiters that he’s a sharpshooter from the longer range. “I guess I’ll have to practice shooting farther back, but most defenses don’t let me shoot right at the line anyway,” he said. “I usually have to shoot from a couple feet behind the line already.”

LexCath Coach Brandon Salsman doesn’t think the coming change in the NCAA will affect high school hoops, or good shooters like Smart. “I don’t think it’ll have any bearing on the game,” he said. “All the good shooters I’ve ever coached have had that kind of range. They rely on rhythm and muscle memory, and can adjust their shot.”

Will the new college line eventually trickle down to high school hoops? A spokesman for the National Federation of State High School Associations said he’s “unaware of any discussion about changing it on the prep level.” Salsman said it would be a mistake to move it back. “I think 19-9 is right where it should be for us. If we do move it back, all it’s going to do is push little kids to shoot from farther distances, and that wouldn’t be good.”

Madison Southern Coach Shane Buttry, whose team led the state in threes attempted and made this past season, said he’s always thought the college three-point line was “too short” at 19-9. “My gosh, that’s the same as the middle school line.” He thinks it’s just right for high schools hoops, but he fears it will change. “College coaches will probably pressure high schools to move it back,” he said, “because they’re going to want to see kids they’re recruiting shoot it from there.”

One possible benefit of the change: maybe the mid-range jumper, which has gone the way of short trunks, will come into vogue again.

Homer-happy in Danville

Danville’s Rich Witten (shown at right) slugged 25 home runs as a junior last season, giving him 46 for his career and putting him within reach of the state record of 62 held by his coach, Paul Morse (left). But opposing pitchers haven’t given Witten many chances to go long this spring, and he has hit only 5 homers. With the regular season winding down, Witten is a long shot to tie or break his coach’s record. Witten and Morse needle each other good-naturedly about the chase. Witten said his bust-out junior season put him at a disadvantage because it alerted opponents to pitch around him this year. Witten, who has signed with Coastal Carolina, pointed out that Morse waited until his senior season to hit 23 homers. “When Rich says that, I tell him that I hit six more than he did as a freshman, so (opponents) knew about me a little bit earlier,” Morse said with a laugh. “So it evens out that way.” Morse, like Witten, was a pitcher/infielder , and, like Witten, quarterbacked Danville’s football team.

Here are Kentucky’s all-time career home run leaders:

• Paul Morse, Danville (1992) — 62
• Shon Walker, Harrison County (1992) — 52
• Rich Witten, Danville (2007) — 51
• Corey Hart, Greenwood (2000) — 48
• Kendall Withers, Harrison County (1999) — 48

(Corey Hart plays for the Milwaukee Brewers. The 6-foot-6 outfielder is hitting .278 with one homer this year.)

UHA looking for new coach

Phil Keller has resigned as boys’ basketball coach at University Heights Academy even though the Blazers will return two of the top players in the state next season in Scotty Hopson and Tyshawn Edmondson. “At my age (62) I’ve never had an opportunity to do a lot with my family because I’ve been so busy with coaching,” Keller said. “They need somebody young and full of vinegar in here.”

Keller (shown at right) was an assistant at Hopkinsville when it won the 1985 state title, and an assistant at UHA when it won the Sweet Sixteen in 1992. He was on the UHA staff 16 years before moving up to head coach for the 2005-06 season. The Blazers were a disappointment this past winter. After being rated 15th in the state in the pre-season, they struggled to a 13-14 record, including a loss to Christian County in the first round of the district tournament. “We had a bad year, a terrible year,” Keller said.

Keller said coaching has changed over the last few years, and not for the better, especially players’ increased involvement in AAU in the off-season. “AAU hurt me a lot,” Keller said. “What they tell these kids, and their influence on the kids.” Hopson, a 6-foot-6 star, earned lots of notice in AAU player last summer and wound up commiting to Mississippi State last fall. But Hopson lacked intensity and consistency this high school season. That said, Hopson is still regarded as a blue-chip prospect. Keller said Hopson told the Hopkinsville New Era newspaper that he might still be open to changing his college choice if new UK Coach Billy Gillispie was interested in him. “(Mississippi State Coach) Rick Stansbury has done a great job recruiting Scotty,” Keller said. “But I’ve never really thought he’d go to Mississippi State.”

Keller said UHA hopes to name a new coach before the end of this school year in a few weeks.

Pettigrew a great ‘get’ for WKU

Western Kentucky basketball coach Darrin Horn said he never felt helpless or stressed over the last few weeks as the recruiting saga of Mr. Basketball Steffphon Pettigrew dragged on. Horn had offered the Elizabethtown star a scholarship months ago, and felt confident the Hilltoppers would get him, even when Kentucky started stringing Pettigrew along before and after the signing date. “When you’re commited to a recruit,” Horn said yesterday, “you show patience. That’s what we did. We felt good the last few weeks. It was just a process Steffphon had to go through. But we had built a good relationship with him, and there was a comfort level he had with us.”

Since he became WKU’s coach, Horn has made it clear he wants to lure the best players in the state to Bowling Green. “There’s no question two years in a row we’ve gotten the best player in Kentucky,” he said, referring to A.J. Slaughter of Shelby County last year, and now Pettigrew. “That’s really good because it means our program is being viewed by in-state kids as a good place to be. And the fact that Steffphon is Mr. Basketball is important, because that hasn’t happened in 23 years here.”

The last Mr. Basketball to sign with WKU was Steve Miller of Henry Clay in 1984. The Hilltoppers got three other Mr. Basketball winners — Terry Davis of Shelby County (1968), Jim McDaniels of Allen County (1967) and Harry Todd of Earlington (1958).

Pettigrew, a solidly built 6-foot-5 swingman, led the state in scoring (33.6 ppg) this season. UK wasn’t sure he was big enough to bang inside, or that his ballhandling and shooting were good enough to make it as a perimeter player. But Horn told Pettigrew the Toppers weren’t concerned “about what you’re not.” Instead, Horn sees Pettigrew “playing for us very similar to how he did in high school. He’ll be out there producing. He’s one of those guys who just goes out and makes things happen.”

When Horn was a senior at Tates Creek High School, he had early scholarship offers from WKU and Navy, while some other schools, such as Minnesota and Northwestern, told him they’d keep an eye on him. Horn decided to sign early, in Nov. 1990, with WKU. “I wanted to go someplace where I could be a factor, where we could win, and that was fairly close to home,” he said. “I also really believed in Coach (Ralph Willard).” Pettigrew apparently had the same laundry list of needs, including a belief in Horn.

Baseball boosters: Bill & Mac

The quality of Kentucky high school baseball has improved dramatically over the last couple decades, and if you’re looking for somebody to pat on the back for that, start with Pleasure Ridge Park Coach Bill Miller and Harrison County Coach Mac Whitaker. They made their programs standards of excellence, prompting a lot of schools to upgrade their commitment to the sport to keep up with the Panthers and Thorobreds.

In the past couple weeks Miller and Whitaker each reached 800 career victories, a plateau occupied by only two other coaches — Green County’s Larry Gumm (1,006) and Madison Central’s Don Richardson (952).

Miller and Whitaker have much in common. They can be brusque at times, they are ultra-competitive (remember their famous dust-up in the 1993 title game between PRP and Harrison County when the coaches nearly came to blows?), and they demand a lot out of their players as they push for perfection. Their teams pretty much owned the 1990s, combining for six state championships in a row. Harrison County won state titles in 1993, ‘97 and ‘98 after runner-up finishes in ‘84 and ‘87. PRP won consecutive crowns in 1994, ‘95 and ‘96. The Panthers were runners-up in 1982, ‘85, ‘93 and ‘99.

Miller is in his 26th season at PRP and has an overall record of 806-211 (79%). Whitaker is in his 30th season at Harrison County and has an overall record of 802-236.