Put to a test

Players given true tournament challenge in opening round of Oxford City Championship; includes first-round scores

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD – The new management team at Cider Ridge Golf Club wanted to give the players in their first Oxford City Championship a true tournament challenge.

Consider them challenged.

Only three players posted a score of par or better during Saturday’s opening round. The two best players on the Calhoun County Tour – Ty Cole and Gary Wigington – got the best of it, with rounds of 69 and 71, respectively, but after Caleb McKinney’s even-par 72 no one else in the 130-player field was in red numbers.

“I thought the golf course played good today,” new Cider Ridge director of golf Jammie Lett said. “It represented what this place is – it is a championship golf course. We had the best players here and if you look at it, I thought it played like a championship golf course.

“We set it up for what we thought the good players would enjoy. I wanted everybody to see the golf course and enjoy it. It was a built to be a championship course and that’s what I thought it was.”

Between the 111 championship division players and 19 senior flight players, the course Saturday played to an overall stroke average of just under 13 over par. The round yielded 154 birdies, two eagles (by Chase Hollingsworth and Peyton Bradley, both at No. 9) and 462 doubles and others.

The most challenging hole of the day was the 426-yard par-4 second, which played to a stroke average of 5.02 and yielded no birdies. The easiest was the 155-yard par-3 eighth and it still played almost a half-shot over par.

The course was set up to play at 6,480 yards, but is expected to play at 6,319 on Championship Sunday. The difference likely be moving up the six holes that Saturday were played from the tips. 

“We’re going funzies tomorrow,” Lett said.

At least one player in the field actually welcomed the challenge.

“I was pleasantly surprised they played it longer, the longest we ever played this golf course,” Cole said. “You didn’t have all the backups. For the first round it was a pleasant surprise playing it a little farther back than what’s typical on this tour because this is one of the few golf courses that has the ability to stretch it.”

Cole contributed to the difficult of the second hole with a double bogey, but he offset it with five birdies. Wigington was 2-over through six holes, but made three birdies over his last 10. McKinney had three birdies and three bogeys.

Josh Poole will be the fourth player in Sunday’s final group. He shot 73 and was 1-under through 11, then went bogey-bogey-double over the next three holes, but got it back with two birdies coming home..

Lance Evans and Tee Brown are tied for fifth at 74. Evans posted his score out of the first group of the day and stayed atop the leaderboard for some four hours until Cole and Wigington, playing in the same group, posted.

Gary Austin holds a three-shot lead in the Senior Division after an opening-round 73.

Oxford City Championship

Championship Flight
Ty Cole	69		69
Gary Wigington	71		71
Caleb McKinney	72		72
Josh Poole	73		73
Lance Evans	74		74
Tee Brown	74		74
Jeremy Willis	75		75
Corey Ray	75		75
Michael Rich	75		75
Andrew Brooks	76		76
Scott Martin	76		76
Kevin Daugherty	76		76
Tanner Wells	76		76
Daniel Black	76		76
Nick Pollard	76		76
Chris Leonhardt	76		76
Flight 2
Dustin Travis	77		77
Dalton Chandler	77		77
Shannon Page	77		77
Daily Thomas	77		77
Billy McCroskey	77		77
Chip Howell	78		78
Maverick Smith	78		78
Logan Forrester	78		78
Landon Straub	78		78
Kilgore Knight	78		78
Dre Davenport	79		79
Chase Hollingsworth	79		79
Sawyer Edwards	79		79
Jonathan Pate	79		79
Drew Anderton	79		79
Ethyn Roberts	79		79
Billy Thompson	79		79
Mason Dennis	79		79
Lamar Carter	79		79
Flight 3
James Lett	80		80
Caleb Bowen	80		80
Jeremy McGatha	80		80
Landon Winfrey	80		80
Mark Guyther	80		80
Greg Schultz	80		80
Jake Goggans	81		81
Ryan Limbaugh	81		81
Nate Pearce	81		81
Jay Esty	81		81
Zac Mangum	82		82
Craig Duncan	82		82
Timmy Woodard	82		82
Brennan Clay	82		82
Walker Cobb	82		82
Jason Payne	82		82
Danny Whittaker	82		82
Justin Graveman	82		82
Flight 4
Clayton Chandler	83		83
Jeff Bain	83		83
Maurice Dates	83		83
Peyton Bradley	83		83
Jared Waits	83		83
Hunter Carr	84		84
Mike Lett	84		84
Keaton Borrelli	84		84
Chance Harris	85		85
Sean Kline	85		85
Graham Morrow	85		85
Sean Hayes	85		85
Bailey Masters	85		85
Eric Ray	85		85
Clay Calkins	86		86
Lenn Coffey	86		86
Flight 5
Houston Black	87		87
Wesley Jenkins	87		87
Tyler Dopson	87		87
Zac Carrizales	88		88
Tyler Romine	88		88
Bradley Elliott	89		89
Chase Thomas	89		89
Cain Hollingsworth	89		89
Drey Reeves	89		89
Matt Rogers	90		90
Heath Waldrop	90		90
Greg Rainey	90		90
Brad Baird	90		90
Jason Romine	90		90
Marcus King	91		91
Chris Reaves	91		91
Kolby Slick	91		91
Rex Brooks	91		91
Hogan Page	91		91
Ethan Davis	91		91
Flight 6
Gage Miller	93		93
Trey Stone	93		93
Landon Holley	94		94
Randy Watson	94		94
Will Brown	94		94
Bradley Young	94		94
Tyler Teneyck	95		95
Frankie Hanvey	96		96
Robert Daniel	97		97
Marc Gaines	97		97
Eddie Burks	99		99
Ricky Carden	100		100
Adam Benefiel	101		101
Jesse Junior	101		101
Kelly Rogers	102		102
Chad Moore	103		103
Ethan Page	103		103
Flight 7
Jim Ramey	104		104
Alex Whaley	105		105
Ken Renfroe	110		110
Austin Elliott	111		111
Warren Sewell	117		117
Senior Championship
Gary Austin	73		73
Steve Minton	76		76
Jerry Irwiin	76		76
Rich Etter	78		78
Charlie Estes	79		79
David Sanders	82		82
James Beavers	84		84
Steve Templeton	84		84
Mike Thompson	85		85
Keith Haywood	85		85
Senior flight 2
Bobby Vinson	86		86
Lee Waldron	86		86
Tim Steward	86		86
Frank Toland	86		86
Jerry Kemp	86		86
Lamar Ward	88		88
Dennis Austin	88		88
Bruce Collins	89		89
Ron Fleming	106		106

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