Most golfers would be very hesitant to put a new driver into their bag on the eve of their biggest tournament of the year.

Kaden Puyear didn’t have much choice last week when his driver broke while practicing for the Region 4 Golf Tournament. He went into the clubhouse at Maywood Golf Course, where Bethlehem coach Chris Osborne gave him a Titleist GTS3 head to go with a shaft similar to what Puyear had.

It worked out quite well for the freshman as he shot a 2-under 70 to claim medalist honors Tuesday at Campbellsville Country Club. Puyear was four strokes ahead of his nearest competitors.

“I felt really confident with that driver,” he said. “I wasn’t quite as long as with my driver, but I was definitely straighter with this one.”

That was extremely important on a course where accuracy is more important than distance as trees line both sides of the fairways on many holes on the course.

Puyear’s round did not get off to a stellar start as he bogeyed two of his first four holes. He got one stroke back with a birdie on five and another one on seven to finish even par on his opening nine.

“I hit a good five iron into number seven and that got me going,” Puyear said.

He continued his fine play on the back with birdies on 12 and 15. His four birdies on the day tied for the most in the field.

Puyear did not look at the online scoring during the day, so he did not know where he stood on the leaderboard.

“I did not want to know because that might have changed how I was playing,” he said. “I knew how the course was playing and that it might be too tough for someone to get to 2 under. When some of my teammates came up to me and congratulated me when I walked off of 18, I assumed that I was in the lead.”

Osborne was impressed how Puyear handled the golf course in difficult conditions.

“Kaden hit the best drive I saw all day on 12,” he said. “It is the hardest driving hole on the golf course and he hit it right down the middle and it never ever moved. That is a tricky golf course anyway and then you take a 30-degree temperature change from Monday. The wind was coming from the northeast, which it never does when we play that golf course, so it literally just completely shifted everything.

“Every hole that you played into the wind, predominantly, is now downwind, and our kids haven’t played it enough to be comfortable with that.”

It was a good thing for Bethlehem that Puyear was able to light up the golf course. The Eagles entered the tournament as one of three teams expected to contend for the team title. They scratched out a runner-up finish to Taylor County, losing by five shots, on a day some of their players did not play well.

Junior standout Seth Greenwell shot an uncharacteristic 7-over 79.

“He bogeyed four holes in a row on the front and was 6 over at the turn,” Osborne said. “He could play that course 20 times and he might shoot 79 once in 20 times. It just happened to be the day.”

Greenwell did play much better on the inward nine with a 36.

Sophomore Miller Osborne struck the ball well but a triple bogey on the 14th hole stopped his momentum. He finished with a 77.

“The good thing is he got his confidence back,” his dad said. “He hit the ball really well today.”

The good news for Bethlehem is that the team will enter play in the first round of the state tournament on their home course at Maywood. Play gets underway on Tuesday.

“The region was just like the NCAA Tournament where people don’t care how much you win by,” Osborne said. “You just want to survive and advance. We’ve beaten every team that’s going to be at (the) first round of state. We’ve beaten them multiple times this year but that doesn’t mean we’re going to beat them on Tuesday.”

The top three teams plus the low 15 individuals not on a winning team will move on to the final two rounds in Bowling Green. They will be played October 6-7 at Bowling Green Country Club.

Boys’ Region Results

2. Bethlehem (310): Kadey Puyear 70; Miller Osborne 77; Seth Greenwell 79; Owen Horton 84

16. Bardstown (368): Max Hite 85: Gabe Berry 86; Caden Stine 94; Preston Bartley 103

18. Nelson County (387): Easton Morley 89; Preston Walker 95; Owen Scholes 100; Garret Oliver 103

X. Thomas Nelson (NTS): Landon McCubbins 103; Jude Call 105

Girls’ Region Results

7. Bethlehem: Whitney Elder 95; Makaela Chesser 101; Avery Howard 101; Raegan Travis 105

12. Bardstown: Madeline Dunn 96; Kate Sharp 114; Belah Green 135; Rheala Curd 181

X. Thomas Nelson: Emma Hack 105; Maycie Metcalf 105