Cole repeats

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: May 21, 2017

Cole returns to his opening-round form, successfully defends Gadsden CC Invitational title; 3 locals finish State Senior

GADSDEN CC INVITATIONAL
Flight winners
Championship A: Ty Cole (202)
Championship B: Jeremy McGatha (220)
Championship C: Timmy Woodard, Ryan Moore (233)
First: John Key (142)
Second: Jeff Hammontree (160)
Third: Chad Maples (158)
Senior: Roscoe Johnson (157)

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

GADSDEN — Ty Cole played a lot closer on Sunday to the way he did in the opening round than in the second and won the Gadsden Country Club Invitational in a runaway.

Cole, the defending champion, shot a final-round 4-under-par 67 and finished at 11-under 202 to win by eight shots over his second-round co-leader Vic Kyatt III. Chris Hummel and Corey Ray tied for third at even-par 213.

Cole shot 63 in the opening round, but fought through early neck problems in the second round and shot 72.

“Everything kind of felt like it did Friday,” Cole said. “When I woke up today I could already tell my neck was going to be better. The first swing I made on the range today I could already tell I was going to hit it OK.”

It didn’t start out that way. He three-putted his first hole of the day to make a bogey, but hit a “great’ second shot just to hit the green after going right off the tee. He then proceeded to birdie 3, 4, 6 and 9. He birdied 14 and 15 on the back and was so comfortably ahead not even a bogey on 18 could hurt his feelings.

The turning point of the round came on 4 where Cole birdied and Kyatt hit a shot out of bounds and made double bogey. From there, the leader just wanted to keep it in the road. And he never once looked at the scoreboard.

“Once he made the double I didn’t really get aggressive with anything other than the tee shot,” Cole said. “I wanted to stay aggressive off the tee, but once I was in position in the fairway I was looking at 15-20 feet on the second to the hole and was able to make three or four putts.”

Jeremy McGatha won the Championship B flight (220). Timmy Woodard and Ryan Moore finished tied for first in Championship C (233). The other flight winners were John Key (first), Jeff Hammontree (second), Chad Maples (third) and Roscoe Johnson (senior).

Cole will carry that good feeling of victory with him when he returns to the Calhoun County Golf Tour this weekend in the Wilfred Galbraith Anniston CC Invitational. It’s not a course he plays particularly well, finishing fourth there last year and second the year before.

“It’s nice to know this is coming up this weekend and I’m hitting it good with my putter going to those fast greens,” he said. “This is another of those tournaments I don’t play good on and maybe this will be like last year and I play good on courses I don’t normally do well on.

“Maybe this can be the year I crack the code on Anniston Country Club. I’ve got it in a good place if I can just keep it there.”

STATE SENIOR: All three Calhoun County players in the State Senior Amateur made the cut and all had top 20 finishes in their respective divisions.

Clay Calkins of Jacksonville shot a final-round 74 with a birdie on his final hole and Scott Martin of Ohatchee shot 75 and they finished tied for 12th (228) in the 50-56 division. Chip Howell shot a final-round 74 and finished T-18 (233) in the 57-64 division.

Robert Nelson of Fairhope played his final 10 holes in 5-under-par and shot a final-round 69 to win the overall title by a shot over David Head of Sterrett.

GADSDEN CC INVITATIONAL
Championship Flight
Championship A
Ty Cole 63-72-67—202
Vic Kyatt III 67-68-75—210
Corey Ray 67-71-75—213
Chris Hummel 72-69-72—213
Scott Smith 69-68-79—216
Clay Guerin 68-70-NC

Championship B
Jeremy McGatha 73-74-73—220
Logan Archer 72-79-70—221
Harrison Martin 71-75-77—223
Chad Calvert 72-72-82—226
Adrian Geeting 75-76-79—230
Matt Rogers 74-71-88—233
Jared Chapman 74-75-NC

Championship C
Timmy Woodard 77-80-76—233
Ryan Moore 78-77-78—233
Chad Reavis 79-79-78—236
Clayton Chandler 76-82-82—240
Chase Thomas 78-82-81—241
Austin Minter 79-77-86—242
Luke Armstrong 75-82-85—242
Dustin Underwood 77-85-80—242
Casey Harmon 79-81-87—247
Greg Campbell 76-89-88—253

First flight
John Key 73-69—142
David Laurance 70-76—146
Steve Cantrell 74-72—146
Buster Woodard 73-83—156
Don Sutton 79-78—157
Mark Cantrell 79-78—157
Clay Smith 77-84—161
Steve Lee 78-92—170

Second flight
Jeff Hammontree 81-79—160
Tim Steward 82-79—161
Riley Wilson 80-81—161
Jeff Chapman 80-84—164
Matt Greer 80-85—165
Bumper Jones 80-87—167
Richie White 81-91—172
James Chapman 80-93—173
Wesley Watkins 81-92—173
Danny Owens 82-94—176

Third flight
Chad Maples 84-74—158
Frank Brady 83-77—160
Pat Sullivan 86-79—165
Rocky Chapman 88-81—169
Ross Hudak 88-86—174
Mason Aulsbrook 90-91—181
Josh Wright 90-91—181
Andrew Gunnels 93-88—181
Lonnie Chapman 90-WD
Dre Davenport 86-WD

Senior
Roscoe Johnson 74-83—157
Ron McClellan 73-85—158
Harold Norris 77-83—160
Allen Roberts 90-85—175

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