When Macey Brown made a putt on the 18th hole of the KHSAA Girls’ State Golf Tournament Saturday to send the match to a playoff, the first person to greet her was Cathryn Brown who gave her a hug.
Coming into 2020, the only things Macey and Cathryn had in common were their last names and their love of golf. A random golf paring in June changed their lives forever. And for everyone involved, for the better.
Macey is a junior at Apollo High School in Owensboro. She was the Region 2 golfer of the year as a sophomore but lost in the region tournament by one shot. Her approach shot on the 18th hole appeared headed for the green but it hit a rake left outside a bunker. The extra chip and putt required resulted in the extra shot that saw her finish second. She went on to finish 32nd at the state golf tournament the next week and had he sights set on winning the region crown in 2020.
Cathryn is a sophomore at Lyon County High School. She is also known as Cullan’s little sister. Cullan was a state champion golfer that went on to play at the University of Kentucky where he was named to the All-SEC freshman team. In September 2019, Cullan was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. He left college and his golfing career behind to begin cancer treatments. Cathryn finished 12th at her first state golf tournament just a month after Cullan’s diagnosis. She was going to dedicate the 2020 golf season to her brother.
How they got their start in golf is as different as birdies and bogeys.
MACEY: My start was in the Go Series at Ben Hawes State Park. You tee it up in the middle of the fairway from 150 yards out, and if you got on the green, you thought you were bombing it. It was a fun thing.
CATHRYN: I was little and out here (at the Bowling Green Country Club) putting on the practice greens with Cullan at the state tournament. And I knew the greens way better than he did because I was out there a lot more than him. I wouldn’t leave.
Macey and Cathryn had never met prior to 2020. They were both entered in a Bluegrass Tour event at Paxton Park in Paducah on June 10. Macey played three groups ahead of Cathryn and won with a 3-over 74. Cathryn finished tied for third place six shots back.
Cathryn won the event with a 5-over 77. It wasn’t one of Macey’s better outings as she finished seventh with a 12-over 84. But Macey ended up winning something that day too – a new friend.
The day after the event, Macey went to visit a friend of hers, Madisonville junior golfer Kaitlyn Zieba. Macey and Kaitlyn had become friends playing on the summer tours growing up.
MACEY: We were planning on waking up early and playing at the Madisonville Country Club. I told Kaitlyn “You know what, Cathryn was so fun to play with. Let’s call her. She only lives an hour away.” So, we called her and said “Do you want to come down and golf with is at 7:30?” She said, “Uh, that’s early.” She got up at 5:30 and was there warming up before we got there.
CATHRYN: I’ve never woken up that early for anybody, so she should feel special. The timing was perfect. I knew Cullan wasn’t doing very well at that time. I won that Hopkinsville tourney, and I was really excited.
The friendship was born there. They stayed in touch and played in several other summer events until the high school season began July 31. Cathryn finished fourth at the Murray High Invitational. Noticeably absent from the gallery was Cathryn’s mother Emily. She was in Lexington with Cullan as the treatments for his cancer just weren’t having the desired effect in his recovery.
Four days later, Macey played in the Hopkinsville Invitational on the course that would host the Region 2 Tournament, the Hopkinsville Golf and Country Club. Macey finished seventh. Cathryn didn’t play. Later that day, it became known why.
Cullan had lost his battle with cancer that afternoon in Lexington. He was just 20 and not only had a bright future in golf ahead of him but had a personality that made people better when they were around him.
CATHRYN: I got that call, and mom and dad came home and told me. I just bawled for two minutes straight. I then said “I have to call my friends. I have to.” Macey was the first one on my call list. I called her and told her. She was there for me. That meant a lot.
MACEY: I was the first person she called, and that made me feel super special. Of course, I cried with her. We later hugged it out. I went to Cullan’s visitation and was texting her all the time. Not only did that build our bond as best friends but also out on the golf course.
Both golfers traversed their way through the golf season. They stayed in touch and saw each other several times at the various invitationals in western Kentucky. Macey won the Region 2 golf tournament with no rakes being a factor. Cathryn also qualified for the state tournament with a fifth-place finish.
Prior to the first day, Emily made goodie bags for each Region 1 golfer as well as some of Cathryn’s Region 2 friends, including Macey.
Most of the bags had the same things – Skittles and bags of Peanut Butter M&M’s. Macey’s bag had a book of gratitudes that Emily had given especially to her. On the pages, she wrote out her gratitude to what Macey’s friendship had meant to her daughter.
EMILY: Given our last couple of months of life, Cathryn has needed a strong group of friends around her. And through this golfing world we have called family, we’ve been blessed with that. She and Macey share a bond that is unusually and blessedly strong for no longer than they’ve known each other. And I also think that God put them together for that reason.
Playing together, Macey went out and shot 1-under par in the first round which was good for second place. Cathryn wasn’t far behind. She shot a 3-over 75 and was tied for sixth place. Both golfers knew the other was good for their game Friday.
MACEY: We have so much fun together, but we also know how to stay focused when we play together.
That can be difficult at times because Cathryn was blessed with Cullan’s loquacious personality. She’s a talker and not every golfer likes that.
CATHRYN: I like to talk a lot, so I have to kind of hold it in a little bit.
MACEY: I like to talk between holes. When you are on the hole, focus on what you are doing and then you can talk after. I didn’t have to get onto Cathryn for talking, but I would if I needed to (laughing).
Because of their high finish, they were paired together again for Saturday’s second round. The pairing included Madison Central’s Elizabeth Eberle, who was the day one leader and led the second round until the 18th hole.
CATHRYN: That helped me mentally because I knew that I was with someone I know. I get emotional on this golf course. It’s very hard for me to keep it together and she kind of helps me do that.
The Bowling Green Country Club holds a special place for both golfers for very different reasons. Macey calls it one of her favorites to play.
MACEY: When I come here I play pretty good. I feel like the golf management on this course for me is just a lot better. I like the fast greens. I think that’s the reason I like it so much. But it’s challenging. It’s good to be challenged.
For Cathryn, it’s where she saw golf on the big stage for the first time. She watched Cullan do well, win a state title, and handle the postmatch media interviews with grace, humility, and humor. She watched him give every single one and knew one day, she would be giving interviews of her own.
Cathryn’s father Rodney walked every step with Cathryn, providing advice, lending an ear, and letting his daughter do her thing. As Cathryn made her way up the 18th hole, Emily was staked out next to a tree that looms near the green. She was emotional knowing three years earlier, this is where Cullan played his final high school round. The last hole of his high school career. Then she watched Cathryn birdie the hole to finish seventh for the two-day state tournament.
Macey defeated Eberle on the first playoff hole to win the state title. She became the first golfer from Owensboro to win a girls’ state title since Janice Johnson of Owensboro High in 1969.
After winning the state title, Macey still thinks about that random pairing in Hopkinsville.
MACEY: We talked about this the other night. Us meeting three months ago, we think that was kind of a sign because ever since then, we’ve been best friends. I think once Cullan passed away, I know what she’s going through, and I know how emotional she can get when she’s here (at the Bowling Green Country Club). I think it helped that we played together this weekend because I could kind of keep her in line and check her emotions a little bit. I think its super special, and it was really meant to be that we met.
Emily said the pairings of Macey and Cathryn for two days had a bigger effect on her daughter than some people may realize.
EMILY: It helped her immeasurably. She even told me last night “You know mom, when I hit that bad shot, and it hit that tree and came back, Macey said that was Cullan kicking it back for you.” She said, “I needed to hear that at that moment.”
Macey’s father Kyle and mother Cheryle have also watched the friendship between the two golfers grow. Cheryle knows it’s helped Macey as much as it has Cathryn.
CHERYLE: That’s what it is all about. This is just a game. This will be over tomorrow. This will be over in an hour but knowing they are going to have this friendship for life and knowing they are going to be there through thick and thin and at a time when Cathryn was going through such a hard time, she really needed someone like Macey and Macey has a heart of gold so I was glad Macey could be there. There’s no telling when Macey is going to need the same favor.
Both golfers still have 2021 to reach their goals. But first, they are planning on playing in some tournaments before then.
CATHRYN: We are going to either Sea Island or Florida in the near future to play in a tournament together.
And Cathryn wants to join her brother in winning a state title in Bowling Green, even if it means unseating Macey who will be a senior when she looks to defend her title.
CATHRYN: It would mean a lot to me. Cullan won it here once, and it would be great if I could win it next year. But if it doesn’t work out, I still have my senior year to do it. I know I’m really close to getting there.
With a year between them, they have one more season to play together before Macey makes her college choice ahead of Cathryn’s senior season in high school.
CATHRYN: I want to go to the University of Kentucky of course. And she’s looking at UK. I believe she can get there.
MACEY: I think it would be great if we could go to the same college together. That would be fun. But I have a year on her so when I graduate, I feel like it is going to be hard on us to not be able to play together. We’re going to communicate obviously. Hopefully, we stay friends for a long time. It’s a friendship I don’t want to lose.
In a 2020 filled with doom, gloom, and not knowing when a sports season will be shut down due to a global pandemic, the one sport mostly unaffected by COVID-19 helped produce a friendship between two teenage girls who had only shared a last name and the love of golf prior to June.
