Hockman wild card in County golf
- Updated: August 12, 2014
Grant Hockman drops his winning putt in the Fort McClellan Credit Union Pro-Invitational earlier this summer. He can win County Player of the Year by winning the County Championship this week.
Least heralded of the contenders only 7.5 points back in top player race
“They’ve won Player of the Year, all these majors and here comes … me, a guy who finally made a cut and is excited to be here. … I’m that guy who’s on a hot streak and hopes it keeps going.”
— Grant Hockman
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Grant Hockman goes into the Calhoun County Championship with a very real shot of coming out as this year’s County Player of the Year. Yet he can’t help feeling a little like Bernd Wiesberger.
Who?
Wiesberger. You know, the unknown Austrian paired with Rory McIlroy in the final group Sunday in the PGA Championship at Valhalla.
Oh, that guy.
Hockman has been in the race for County Player of the Year all season, but among the others with the best chances at the prize – current points leader Ty Cole and former Players of the Year Jeremy McGatha and Gary Wigington – he’s a veritable unknown.
“It is kind of nice being referenced with those guys,” Hockman said. “You hear about stuff like that on the (PGA) Tour all the time. I feel like the Wiesberger guy playing with these guys.
“They’ve won Player of the Year, all these majors and here comes Wiesberger – and me – a guy who finally made a cut and is excited to be here. That’s what I feel like. These guys have won Player of the Year like five or six times and I’m that guy who’s on a hot streak and hopes it keeps going.”
Hockman goes into the County Championship that starts Friday at Cane Creek Golf Course second in the standings — just 7.5 points behind Cole — but even he considers himself a dark horse.
If he, Cole or McGatha win the tournament, they win Player of the Year – and No. 1 seed in the Calhoun County Match Play Championship. Wigington, now fourth in points after three straight top-3 finishes, can win the award for a third year in a row if he wins his fourth County title in five years and gets a little help from the field.
Jaylon Ellison and Ott Chandler, last week’s County Senior runner-up, are fifth and sixth in the standings, respectively, and also considered viable contenders.
Hockman, the County’s chief juvenile probation officer, put himself in contention on the strength of a big first half of the season. He was low Tour player in the season-opening event at Cider Ridge (second overall) and won his first County Tour title outright since 2008 when he won the Fort McClellan Credit Union Pro-Invitational at Cane Creek. He was third low Tour player at Anniston CC and fourth outright in the King of the Hill.
“He told me in the Match Play last year he was really going to focus in 2014 to get his game in shape to contend and he has,” McGatha said. “I’m happy for him. We’re all competitors and we all want to win, but if I can’t win it, I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing Grant win it. He’s a good friend. I’d be proud and happy for him.”
Hockman’s last two starts haven’t been up to his early-season standard — T-17 at Silver Lakes and T-7 at Pine Hill (with two under-par rounds) — but he was able to drop those results in accordance with Tour rules. He’d still be second in points without the adjustment, but 80 points behind Cole.
He’s “happy” with the way he’s been playing recently going into the County and McGatha said if he’s on his game he’ll be tough to beat even if the 30-year-old downplays his chances. Hockman may not be as long as the other Player of the Year contenders off the tee, which could be a factor playing the blues at Cane Creek this weekend, but he is leading the County Tour in scrambling. He has gotten it up-and-down after missing the green 61 percent of the time this season.
“I haven’t had this chance probably since the first year I played on the Tour when I won Silver Lakes and finished like third (in the standings),” he said. “Would I love to win it? Absolutely. Do I think my chances are slim? Absolutely.
“Twig (Wigington) has been playing great and he practices a lot. Jeremy practices a lot and he probably wants it more than I do. And Ty, when he gets on a hot streak, is probably one of the better players in this area, not just the County.
“You read about Twig all the time and Jeremy all the time because they’re consistent; they’re there every year. I happen for some reason to hit a hot streak this year and stayed up there all year. Everybody’s waiting for me to blow up, including myself. I just hope it doesn’t happen this weekend.”
And what of Wiesberger? He shot 74 in the final round of the PGA and finished T-15.
Al Muskewitz is Content Editor/Senior Writer of East Alabama Sports Today. He can be reached at musky@wrightmediacorp.com and followed on Twitter @easportstoday1.
Read more about Grant Hockman in the “Next On The Tee” feature now available on East Alabama Sports Today.
CALHOUN COUNTY GOLF TOUR
POINTS STANDINGS TOP 20
(Top 16 after Sunday qualify for Match Play)
Player Points
Ty Cole 1032.5
Grant Hockman 1025
Jeremy McGatha 970
Gary Wigington 947.5
Jaylon Ellison 887.5
Ott Chandler 882.5
Scott Martin 765
Adrian Geeting 712.5
Matt Rogers 675
Andrew Brooks 667.5
Billy Thompson 662.5
Daniel Black 660
Lance Evans 625
Nick Pollard 590
Allen Mangham 580
Jeff Borrelli 572.5
Clay Calkins 557.5
Landon Straub 547.5
Chandler Wilborn 522.5
Josh Poole 507.5
CALHOUN COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
Multiple winners
6 – Chris Banister (1955, 1961, 1969-71, 1973)
6 – Eric Hamilton (1981-84, 1994, 1996)
5 – Gary Wigington (1999, 2004, 2010-12)
4 – Milton Wigley (1949, 1965-67)
3 – Wilfred Galbraith (1939-41)
3 – Oscar Bagley (1943-45)
3 – Jack Vardaman (1958-60)
3 – Billy Shelton (1954, 1956-57)
3 – Ray Burgess (1962-64)
3 – Scott Eaton (1993, 1995, 1997)
3 – Chip Howell (1979, 1985, 1998)
3 – Gary Wilborn (1990-91, 2003)
3 – Ott Chandler (2000, 2005-06)
2 – Marvin Hester (1951, 1953)
2 – Everett King (1986-87)
2 – Scott Townsend (1988-89)
2 – Jeremy McGatha (2002, 2007)
RESULTS IN CANE CREEK ERA
(Year – Winner, score. Margin (runnersup))
2005 – Ott Chandler, 1-under-par 215 (74-70-71). Won by 3 (Jaylon Ellison, Jeremy McGatha, Marcus Harrell)
2006 – Ott Chandler, 8-under-par 208 (67-69-72). Won by 5 (Chris Maye)
2007 – Jeremy McGatha, 2-under-par 214 (71-70-73). Won by 2 (Ott Chandler)
2008 – Garrett Burgess, 5-under-par 211 (71-68-72). Won by 2 (Grant Hockman)
2009 – Jaylon Ellison, 5-under-par 211 (72-66-73). Won by 1 (Garrett Burgess)
2010 – Gary Wigington, 10-under-par 206 (66-70-70). Won on fourth playoff hole (Jeremy McGatha)
2011 – Gary Wigington, 8-under-par 208 (66-70-72). Won by 4 (Jaylon Ellison)
2012 – Gary Wigington, 10-under-par 206 (69-65-72). Won by 2 (Gonzalo Berlin)
2013 – Ty Cole, 6-under-par 210 (67-72-71). Won by 4 (Gary Wigington)
NOTE: Pairings for the 2014 Calhoun County Championship will be posted as soon as they become available.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login