Cole closes out County
- Updated: August 12, 2018
Cole gives himself a pep talk, then birdies four of his last six holes to win 82nd Calhoun County Championship, clinch County Tour Player of the Year
Tournament runnerup Adrian Geeting pitches onto the green during Sunday’s final round.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
No one really likes a delay when they’re in the middle of an important round, but sometimes it’s just the right thing to get a player back on track.
Ty Cole came upon a little delay in the middle of the back nine of Sunday’s final round of the 82nd Calhoun County Championship at a time when it looked like all he worked for this season was about to slip away.
It was more a pause than a backup or delay, but he used the moment to take a moment for a personal attitude adjustment and it was just the thing to take him over the top.
Cole came back from his personal time-out to birdie the next three holes and four of his final six to break away from a three-way tie and win the County Championship for the third time and clinch the County Tour Player of the Year for the third time in four seasons.
He shot a final-round 66 Sunday at Anniston Municipal for a 12-under-par 128 total that was two shots better than Adrian Geeting and three better than Gary Wigington, the player he held off for Player of the Year.
It was Cole’s record-tying fourth Calhoun County Tour win of the season and his first-ever at The Hill. He also won Tour events this year at Gadsden Country Club, Cane Creek and Silver Lakes, and finished second in two others. His worst Tour finish was a fourth at Anniston Country Club.
In addition to winning Player of the Year, Cole also set the County Tour single-season stroke average record with a season-long scoring average of 67.81.
“For the most part I think this year was probably as good or better than two years ago when I won all those tournaments; I did a bunch of stuff this year that was cool,” Cole said. “This is a good end to my year down there, to win four tournaments on the Tour. The year I had a couple years ago I only won three.”
Cole’s pause that refreshed came as he group approached the 13th tee – after he bogeyed 10 and 11 (with a three-putt) to throw the tournament into a three-way tie for the lead and then saving par on 12 from a tough spot off the tee.
“When it’s necessary I will cuss myself; and that’s exactly what it was,” he said. “I was sitting there going if you don’t get off your ass you’re going to lose this whole deal and everything. It was kind of self-motivation or whatever you want to call it; there were a lot of cuss words involved.
“I bogeyed those two holes and felt like I was giving up the year. In years past that would have turned into me finishing sixth in the tournament. Now, I try to brush it off as best I can and keep going. It works a lot better than the other.”
The leaders were locked in a three-way tie until Cole and Geeting made birdies on 13. Cole pulled away even more with additional birdies on 14 and 15. He didn’t get the par-3 16th – but Geeting did to get back within a shot of the lead – then Cole regained the cushion with a birdie at 17.
“He’s just hard to beat; you can’t catch him,” Geeting said. “He just doesn’t make many mistakes. I thought he would, and he just wouldn’t. He just makes a lot of birdies. When he’s playing good he’s hard to beat.”
Geeting’s high finish earned him enough player points to qualify for the Calhoun County Match Play Championship Sept. 8-9 at Anniston Municipal, where Cole and Wigington are the top two seeds. He was on the outside of the top 16 starting the week.
Wigington had to win the tournament to have any chance at winning Player of the Year, but the tournament was the big carrot. He shot 64 and climbed into the mix with an eight-hole stretch that included four birdies, a chip-in eagle on the par-4 sixth and a near hole-in-one on 11. But in the end, for the second day in a row, the putter disappointed him down the stretch.
He had 15 putts on the first 11 holes, but 13 putts over the next six. He had birdie putts stop on the edge of the hole at 13 and 15, had a birdie putt roll over the hole on 16 and then had a painful three-putt bogey on 17 that took him out of the race. He did birdie the two par-5s to finish the round, but after the disappointment on 17 he needed eagles.
“I knew I had to shoot at least 9 (under) to have a shot; 60 is what I was shooting for,” Wigington said. “I just putted bad. Putted terrible yesterday and pretty bad today. You’ve got to play good up here. I hit the ball real good, just putted bad for two days.”
NOTES: Hole 2 was the only one without a birdie Sunday; Chad Calvert (No. 18), Wigington (6), Nathan Griffin (3) each scored eagles … Cole had seven birdies in his round; Keith Raisanen, Wigington and Caleb Bowen each had six … Closest to the pin prizes went to Ted Heim (AM) and Wigington (PM) on 2/11, and Heim (AM) and Caleb Bowen (PM) on 7/16. Long drive prizes (No. 1) went to Keith Raisanen (AM) and Kaine Gibson (PM) … Kenny Okins won the putt-off contest with Tyler Teneyck.
LEADERS SCORECARDS
Player 535 344 344 35 434 444 345 35 70
Cole 444 344 244 33 544 333 335 33 66
Geeting 434 444 334 33 434 344 245 33 66
Wigngtn 435 432 244 31 423 444 354 33 64
Gary Wigington climbed into a share of the lead on the back nine, but didn’t have a lot of luck with his putter late in the round.
Cover photo by B.J. Franklin. To see a photo gallery from the day’s round visit www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com
CALHOUN COUNTY MATCH PLAY
Sept. 8-9, Anniston Municipal GC
First-round pairings
Buddy Moore Bracket
(1) Ty Cole vs. (16) Daniel Black
(8) Andrew Brooks vs. (9) Randy Lipscomb
(5) Chad Calvert vs. (12) Matt Rogers
(4) Jeremy McGatha vs. (13) Logan Archer
Chris Banister Bracket
(3) Brennan Clay vs. (14) Chip Howell
(6) Scott Martin vs. (11) Adrian Geeting
(7) Caleb Bowen vs. (10) Clay Calkins
(2) Gary Wigington vs. (15) Jake Goggans
CALHOUN COUNTY GOLF TOUR
PLAYER POINTS
Ty Cole 1600
Gary Wigington 1375
Brennan Clay 1103.75
Jeremy McGatha 1080
Chad Calvert 985.5
Scott Martin 900
Caleb Bowen 858.75
Andrew Brooks 853.75
Randy Lipscomb 762.5
Clay Calkins 762.5
Adrian Geeting 750
Matt Rogers 658.75
Logan Archer 650
Chip Howell 521.25
Jake Goggans 517.5
Daniel Black 510
Dalton Chandler 501.25
Tanner Wells 491.25
Chandler Wilborn 447.5
Jonathan Pate 442.5
Landon Straub 415
Timmy Woodard 380
Jeff Borrelli 377.5
Kenny Wright 372.5
Grant Hockman 365
Alex Harper 362.5
Luke Armstrong 360
Layton Bussey 342.5
Chris Cox 335
Kaine Gibson 322.5
Jacob LeCroy 300
Kevin Daugherty 295
Ott Chandler 292.5
Nathan Griffin 288.75
Chad Reavis 265
Janson Wilborn 253.75
Graham Morrow 247.5
Chase Hollingsworth 245
Dane Moore 232.5
Daily Thomas 230
Dustin Travis 230
Chris Hubbard 228.75
Austin Minter 210
Tim Turner 210
Jason Johnson 210
Tyler Dopson 208.75
Chance Harris 205
Gage Smith 205
Clay Guerin 195
Corey Ray 195
Gage Miller 195
Tim Steward 193.75
Randy Reaves 193.75
Billy Thompson 190
Harrison Hughston 177.5
Tanner Roberts 165
Don Hill 161.25
Corbin Holland 160
Jeff Noah 160
Charlie Smith 155
Cypress Hathorn 155
Max Basler 155
Daniel Fienemann 152.5
Richard Starling 152.5
David Lawrence 150
Walt Drake 150
Matthew Burrow 142.5
Nick Pollard 142.5
Heath Walker 140
Randy Archer 140
Cole Contris 135
Eric Howle 135
Keaton Stanfield 135
Jerome Wilson 132.5
Keaton Borrelli 132.5
Joey Fortner 130
Keith Raisanen 128.75
Kevin Rogers 127.5
Matt Miller 120
Norris Ray 115
David Sanders 112.5
Doug East 112.5
Jay Austin 112.5
Ryan Huff 112.5
Chris Randall 112.5
Eric Lett 107.5
Jordan Carter 102.5
Mark Cantrell 100
Scotty Grimes 100
Kenny Okins 98.75
Wesley Jenkins 97.5
Casey Harmon 92.5
Vince Floyd 92.5
Tyler Teneyck 92.5
Mark Highland 90
Mike Hughston 90
Josh Davis 90
Dillon Davis 85
Jono Waugh 82.5
Jason Rich 82.5
Marcus King 82.5
David Beard 80
John McKenzie 77.5
Wayne Hudgins 77.5
Clayton Chandler 75
Jason Britton 75
Link Casey 75
Zach Contris 75
Rick Okins 75
Dan McClellan 72.5
David Martin 70
Tyler Huckaby 70
Rocco D’Gomez 65
Tony Hicks 63.75
Benji Turley 63.75
Kelly Rogers 62.5
T.J. McGatha 62.5
Eric Crabtree 60
Jeff Bain 60
Jimmy Jackson 60
Mark Gaines 57.5
Will Farley 55
Andrew Miller 52.5
Clark Cunningham 50
Cliff Tucker 47.5
Hank Smith 45
Jeff Hammontree 40
Mike Lett 40
Ron McClellan 38.75
Dan Griffin 35
Scott Eaton 35
Fran Doyle 32.5
Larry Cunningham 32.5
Chase Thomas 32.5
Bill Gilchrist 27.5
Kenny Fulmer 27.5
Clay Smith 25
Jeff Chapman 25
Ron McKinney 25
Ron Seckinger 20
Shane Chappell 20
Cam McCareeth 17.5
Mark Cotton 17.5
Bruce Collins 12.5
Keith Hutchinson 12.5
Tim Fulmer 12.5
Al Muskewitz 12.5
Dennis Austin 12.5
Jimbo Phillips 12.5
Ted Heim 12.5
Brad Hardin 12.5
Lamar Carter 11.25
Tim Dennison 11.25
Aaron Jones 10
Andrew Gunnells 10
Clay Jones 10
J.T. Wright 10
Josh Hicks 10
Kobie Webb 10
Kyle Rosenbauer 10
Matt Greer 10
Rick Taylor 10
Roscoe Johnson 10
Brad Baird 7.5
Lee Waldron 7.5
Nick Hubbard 7.5
Cal Lambert 7.5
Craig Gardner 7.5
Randy Carroll 7.5
Johnny Barnes 7.5
George Salmon 7.5
Zack Mangum 7.5
Danny Whittaker 7.5
Lenn Coffey 7.5
Al Johnson 7.5
Austin Roberts 7.5
Jake Ball 7.5
Kolby Slick 7.5
George Morris 7.5
Amado Ortiz 5
Blake Erwin 5
Brad Knight 5
Brian Woodfin 5
Buster Woodard 5
Chad Maples 5
Charley Estes 5
Chris Sanford 5
Craig Graves 5
Danny Dunlap 5
Danny Owens 5
David Lipscomb 5
Derek Sewell 5
Don Springer 5
Don Whitlow 5
Donnie Sutton 5
Dre Davenport 5
Eric Haskins 5
Gary Wilborn 5
J.T. Cross 5
Jake Nichols 5
Jared Driggers 5
Jarrod Smith 5
Jason Simmons 5
Jeremy Willis 5
Jerry Kemp 5
Jim Dunlap 5
Jimmy Ulrey 5
John Lindsey 5
John Turnipseed 5
Kent Back 5
Kyle Daugherty 5
Lamar Ward 5
Landon Holley 5
Marty Branson 5
Matt Burns 5
Mike Granato 5
Phillip Hunt 5
Rick Marini 5
Rob Svensen 5
Ron Fleming 5
Ross Summerford 5
Ryan Summerford 5
Scott Hyten 5
Scott Sikes 5
Seth Collett 5
Steve Lee 5
Steve Williams 5
Taylor Jones 5
Todd Gober 5
Tom Roberts 5
Trey Stone 5
Will Broome 5
Andy Jenkins 5
Brandon Roberts 5
Carter Gable 5
Dalton Faulkner 5
Dave Dillman 5
David Stephens 5
Dennis Reaves 5
Eddie Burks 5
Glenn Heathcock 5
Grant Cobb 5
Greg Heath 5
Greg Rainey 5
Hayden Crowe 5
Heath Waldrop 5
Horace Rosamond 5
Jerry Irwin 5
Jim Landers 5
Justin Dopson 5
Kasey Ray 5
Ken Boyd 5
Marc Jones 5
Mike Thompson 5
Morris Mink 5
Porter Stokes 5
Randall Doss 5
Rickey Hurst 5
Rob Vernon 5
Robbie Hurst 5
Robbie Robertson 5
Robin Wood 5
Sean Kilne 5
Wayne Boyd 5
Will Brown 5
Rich Etter 5
Caleb Morrow 5
Scott Watson 5
Canaan Howle 5
Daniel Norred 5
Ron Wheeler 5
Frank Cobb 5
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