Birdies back to roost
- Updated: June 1, 2019
UPDATED PAIRINGS
Wigington rolls in seven in a row to end birdie drought, leads ACC by 4; Tyson wins Hill Par-3
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Gary Wigington is a birdie machine on the Calhoun County Golf Tour, so when those helpful strokes weren’t showing up the last couple of rounds he was starting to get a little worried.
He went without a birdie in the final round of the Gadsden Invitational (and still finished second) and didn’t get one until the 15thhole of Friday’s opening round of the Wilfred Galbraith Anniston CC Invitational, extending a birdie-less streak to 40 consecutive holes.
Well, the drought ended in a big way Saturday when the Tour’s all-time winningest player zipped off seven in a row on the front nine to come from four back to four ahead going into Championship Sunday.
The birdie barrage allowed Wigington to shoot 29 on the front. He had one birdie on the back to complete a 6-under-par 64 for a two-day total 8-under 132, four shots ahead of first-round leader Garrett Burgess (72) and Dalton Chandler (66). Ryan Howard, Ty Cole and Jeremy McGatha are another three shots back and the only other players in red figures in the championship flight field.
That final round at Gadsden was only the fourth time since 2009 Wigington had a County Tour round without a birdie. The previous time was last year’s second round at Cider Ridge – a rainy second round of the year. Between the first round of the 2010 Cane Creek Invitational and that round at Cider, he went 115 straight County Tour rounds with at least one circle on the card.
He now has 656 career birdies on the Calhoun County Golf Tour since 2008.
“I just knew I was due, because I’d hit a lot of good shots and a lot of good putts,” Wigington said. “I knew if I started making some they’d start falling.”
And all it took to start the fire Saturday was a double bogey at No. 2 that left him five shots off the lead. His ball off the tee found a low spot in the fairway bunker. All he could do was knock it back into play, but he three-putted after finding the green.
After that he started shedding shots. It started with a six-footer on 3, a near ace on 4, a five-footer on 5 that tied him for the lead, an eight-footer on 6 to take the lead, 15-footers on 7 and 8, and a 20-footer on 9.
“I was so mad because I double bogeyed No. 2 I wasn’t even thinking about how many I’d made in a row,” he said. “About the fourth or fifth in a row they said damn that’s five in a row. I didn’t know.”
The string ended when he missed the green on 10, but he got up and down for par. The only birdie he had on the back was a six-footer on 13, but he had chances.
Howard was making a move, but fell back late in the round. He was 4-under through 11 to get to 6 for the tournament, but played the last four holes in 3-over.
Chandler went the other way. He turned in 1-over, but played the back in 5-under. He had consecutive birdies on 11, 12 and 13 and an eagle on the par-5 17thafter hitting a pitching wedge from 152 to three feet. As well as Wigington played, Chandler knows he’ll need Saturday’s back side on both sides Sunday.
“Gotta go low tomorrow,” Chandler said. “He (Wigington) ain’t going back up.”
WILFRED GALBRAITH ACC INVITATIONAL
Championship A
Gary Wigington 68-64—132
Garrett Burgess 64-72—136
Dalton Chandler 70-66—136
Jeremy McGatha 68-71—139
Ty Cole 70-69—139
Ryan Howard 70-69—139
Eric Howle 72-73—145
Jonathan Pate 76-69—145
Tyler Putnam 68-78—146
Chance Harris 76-71—147
Kevin Daugherty 71-76—147
Timmy Woodard 75-72—147
Championship B
David Sanders 77-71—148
Ott Chandler 74-74—148
Scott Martin 73-75—148
Brennan Clay 74-75—149
Matt Rogers 72-77—149
Tanner Wells 76-73—149
Randy Archer 77-73—150
Brian Woodfin 75-76—151
Daniel Black 76-75—151
Chandler Wilborn 73-79—152
Ryan Huff 76-76—152
Chase Hollingsworth 73-80—153
Championship C
Kaine Gibson 76-78—154
Cypress Hathorn 78-77—155
Logan Archer 75-80—155
Randy Lipscomb 73-82—155
Jake Nichols 78-79—157
Kenneth Patterson 77-81—158
Kyle Daugherty 76-82—158
Timothy Dennison 77-81—158
Don Springer 78-82—160
Frank Brady 76-84—160
First flight
Jeff Borrelli 71
Tyler Dopson 72
Chip Howell 74
Chris Sanford 74
Landon Winfrey 75
Graham Morrow 76
Billy Thompson 77
Charlie Smith 78
Jason Britton 78
Kenny Fulmer 78
Greg Shultz 80
Keith Raisanen 80
Lamar Carter 80
Matt Hunter 80
Second flight
Cain Hollingsworth 81
Don Hill 81
Eric Lett 81
Mark Cotton 83
Jerry Kemp 84
Chris O’Dell 86
Joseph Lambert 86
Bradley Young 87
Grant Greenwood 88
John Lindsey 91
Cal Lambert 94
Kelly Rogers 96
Aaron Jones 103
Senior flight
James Ramey 75
Doug Sears 78
Dennis Austin 81
Tom Roberts 82
John Carrozza 83
Rick Taylor 83
Don Whitlow 89
Sunday’s pairings
10 a.m. – James Ramey, Rick Taylor, Doug Sears
10:10 – John Carrozza, Don Whitlow, Tom Roberts, Dennis Austin
10:20 – Cal Lambert, Kelly Rogers, Aaron Jones
10:30 – Bradley Young, Grant Greenwood, Joseph Lambert, John Lindsey
10:40 – Cain Hollingsworth, Mark Cotton, Jerry Kemp, Chris O’Dell
10:50 – Lamar Carter, Matt Hunter, Eric Lett, Don Hill
11:00 – Charlie Smith, Jason Britton, Keith Raisanen, Greg Shultz
11:10 – Landon Winfrey, Graham Morrow, Billy Thompson, Kenny Fulmer
11:20 – Jeff Borrelli, Tyler Dopson, Chris Sanford, Chip Howell
11:40 – Kenneth Patterson, Frank Brady, Don Springer
11:50 – Jake Nichols, Kyle Daugherty, Timothy Dennison
Noon – Kaine Gibson, Cypress Hathorn, Randy Lipscomb, Logan Archer
12:10 p.m. – Daniel Black, Chandler Wilborn, Ryan Huff, Chase Hollingsworth
12:20 – Brennan Clay, Matt Rogers, Randy Archer, Brian Woodfin
12:30 – Ott Chandler, David Sanders, Scott Martin, Tanner Wells
12:40 – Tyler Putnam, Timmy Woodard, Chance Harris, Kevin Daugherty
12:50 – Ty Cole, Ryan Howard, Jonathan Pate, Eric Howle
1:00 – Gary Wigington, Dalton Chandler, Garrett Burgess, Jeremy McGatha
Tyson wins The Hill Par-3
Andrew Tyson birdied his final hole of the day and won The Hill Par-3 at Anniston Municipal with a record-tying score.
Tyson’s birdie gave him a 27-hole total 1-under-par 80, only the second winning under-par score in the five-year history of the tournament. It matched Adrian Geeting’s winning score in 2017.
Tyson won by two shots over Roger Jackson. Tyson and Jackson were tied coming to the last hole when Tyson birdied to Jackson’s bogey.
The other flight winners were Steve McClellan (Champs B), Roger Chandler (Chumps A) and Brett Wells (Chumps B) – all in scorecard playoffs.
THE HILL PAR-3
Champs A
(27 holes)
Andrew Tyson 80
Roger Jackson 82
Ted Heim 83
Champs B
(27 holes)
Steve McClellan 88
Jackson Bonner 88
David Hill 89
Chumps A
(18 holes)
Roger Chandler 61
David Fitzgerald 61
Lenn Coffey 63
Chumps B
(18 holes)
Brett Wells 66
Jerre Dingler 66
Mike Beck 67
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