Cole wins Cider Ridge

[corner-ad id=1]Champion birdies 18 after drive finds hazard, wins by 1 over Wigington, defending champion Calvert

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD – Whenever they’re playing golf in Calhoun County, Ty Cole will stop by Chad Calvert’s place in Boaz and they’ll make the ride in together. It’s always an entertaining drive.

Last year, the trip back from the Cider Ridge Invitational was most enjoyable for Calvert, having just nosed out Cole and the rest of the field for the win. This year, it was Cole’s turn to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Cole made a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole of the tournament Sunday after his drive found the hazard to win by one over Calvert and Gary Wigington. It gave him a final-round 71 and a two-day total 5-under 139; Wigington shot 71 and Calvert 70 to finish at 140.

“We’ve played so much together; we have a good time and rib each other a lot,” Cole said. “We rode down together last year and he won. So now it’s my turn to ride home (happy).”

It was that close.

Calvert had gotten to 4-under with a chip-in eagle from just off the green at 18 one hole in front of the final group. It was his second eagle of the round, having also eagled 9 to get back to even for the day. Wigington missed an eagle chip on 18 for the lead, but his comeback birdie putt would have gotten him into a three-way playoff had Cole not made his clinching putt.

“We’ll go back and forth,” Calvert said of the conversation on the drive home. “I had two bad shots on the front nine that really cost me (three shots) and I bogeyed 16 coming in. I knew I had to give (the eagle chip) a go because I knew I was behind; I just didn’t know by how much. Me and Ty, we’ll go back and forth. We bicker at one another and cut up and have a good time. And that’s what it’s about out here.”

Wigington was having an up-and-down round as well. He had five bogeys in his first 13 holes, but birdied three of his last four – and lipped out the one he didn’t – for a chance to win his fourth Calhoun County Tour stroke-play event in a row.

“I hit a good chip, it just didn’t go in,” Wigington said. “But I made several bad choices on clubs today on several holes and it killed me. I kind of shot myself in the foot throughout the round … but he hit a great shot into the green and made the putt; you can’t argue with that.”

Cole had been off with the driver most of the day, but he putted better than the first round and made saving stroke-saving putts when it counted. He hit only one fairway with the big stick and had only two pars in his final 10 holes.

He bogeyed four of his first five holes on the inward nine largely in part to the errant driver to raise his temperature before crushing one on 15 to set up an eagle that got him mentally back in the game.

He hooked his drive on 18 into the left hazard and was fortunate to find it, but the ball came to rest just in front of a twig – the stick, not the man – which made hitting a solid shot difficult. He punched it out, then hit a 6-iron from 185 yards “as hard as I could” into a right-to-left wind that curled it toward the hole and he made the putt to win.

“I hit my driver left all day, front and back nine,” Cole said. “If I could get it in play I played pretty good, but it was fighting bogey.

“By the time I get to the par-5 (15th) I’m literally mad and I just said I don’t care if it goes left I’m going to hit it as hard as I can hit it and I smashed it (330 yards). To make that putt got me back in the game and re-energized my mind as far as ‘you’re still in it.’ I had kind of chalked this one up to your driver cost you the tournament.”

Cole picked up 300 Calhoun County Tour points for the win and pulled even with Wigington in the series points race. Ott Chandler finished fourth (142) and Jeremy McGatha was fifth (143). McGatha had gotten to 5-under for the tournament during Sunday’s round, then triple-bogeyed the par-3 12.

McGatha’s one-hole disaster wasn’t nearly as severe as one player’s in the field Sunday.

Ted Saylors, the overnight leader in the first flight, made 17 on the par-5 ninth after hooking his first six drives out of bounds. He finally hit 3-iron on the seventh attempt and that ball bounced back in play after landing on the wrong side of the white stakes. He two-putted from 20 feet.

The flight winners included Dan Griffin, Jonathan Pate, Frank Toland and Chase Thomas.

“It means a lot that I didn’t give up,” Cole said. “I had every opportunity to give up and almost did.”

Cider Ridge Invitational
Final results

Championship flight
Ty Cole 68-71—139
Gary Wigington 69-71—140
Chad Calvert 70-70—140
Ott Chandler 69-73—142
Jeremy McGatha 70-73—143
Dalton Chandler 69-75—144
Kevin Daugherty 72-72—144
Jake Goggans 69-78—147
Caleb McKinney 72-75—147
Chandler Wilborn 72-78—150
Matt Rogers 72-80—152
Eric Cannington 72-84—156

First flight
Dan Griffin 74-72—146
Adrian Geeting 74-73—147
Clay Calkins 75-75—150
Caleb Bowen 76-76—152
Ryan Huff 76-77—153
Billy Thompson 75-78—153
Benji Turley 76-78—154
Daniel Black 76-81—157
Ted Saylors 73-87—160

Second flight
Jonathan Pate 77-72—149
Dustin Travis 77-74—151
Eric Lett 79-73—152
Andrew Brooks 78-75—153
Chip Howell 77-79—156
Justin Graveman 79-78—157
Kenny Wright 78-80—158
Brandon Roberts 77-81—158
Chase Hollingsworth 77-84—161
Luke Armstrong 77-97—174
Dan McClellan 78-WD

Third flight
Frank Toland 80-73—153
Erich Egui 80-74—154
Janson Wilborn 85-75—160
Allen Hamlin 80-81—161
Cole McNeal 86-75—161
Rick Riley 80-82—162
Tim Steward 81-81—162
Layton Bussey 83-80—163
Maurice Dates 83-80—163
Chase Larkin 83-82—165
Nick Pollard 81-87—168
Matt Smith 81-89—170
Al Muskewitz 83-92—175
John Tucker 83-WD

Fourth flight
Chase Thomas 84-82—166
Keith Raisanen 87-81—168
Austin Minter 85-86—171
Jimbo Phillips 85-91—176
Doug East 86-86—172
Timmy Woodard 87-85—172
Zach Hiett 88-86—174
Alex Turner 88-89—177
Kelly Rogers 98-94—192
Jonathan Sun 106-103—209
Jeff Borrelli WD
Graham Morrow WD

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