Getting it done
- Updated: May 23, 2021
Brennan Clay validates his 2020 Match Play win by scoring his first County Tour stroke-play win in a playoff
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
When Brennan Clay won the Calhoun County Match Play Championship last fall to finally get his first win on the Calhoun County Golf Tour, the feeling was one of getting a monkey off his back. It was satisfying, but there was still something that was missing.
When he finally won an individual stroke play event Sunday, it validated everything the first win represented.
Clay won the Anniston City Championship at Cane Creek Golf Course on the third hole of a sudden death playoff with Justin Graveman of Trussville. He came from two shots behind with five holes to play, made a clutch birdie putt on 18 to force the playoff, and matched Graveman’s birdie from off the green on the second extra hole to extend the playoff.
He ultimately won it with a par on the third extra hole after an admittedly tiring Graveman’s knocked-down 9-iron off the tee found the left greenside bunker.
Both players shot rounds of 70-69 over the two days of regulation. It was the 12th playoff in the history of the County Tour and second this season.
“That was awesome, that was fun,” Clay said. “Honestly, this is not the one I would think I would win. I haven’t played great out here and I played good. It was great.”
The win produced the Tour’s third different winner in four events this year and denied third-place finisher Ty Cole a “City Sweep.” Cole won the Gadsden City Championship at Twin Bridges and the Oxford City Championship at Cider Ridge (in the other playoff), the first two Tour events of the season.
“I knew I could do it, but it’s like I said last year, you’ve got to do it to really know you can do it,” Clay continued. “I do it like I did (in the Match Play) and I’ve been close this year. It was just all about putting everything together in a round like I could.
“To win a stroke play (event) is huge mentally for me, knowing I could get that done. The Match Play was more like now I can exhale, I can breathe. I feel like there’s not a monkey on my back anymore. Now I feel I little more free.
“Over the last couple years I’ve kind of been able to learn to be patient and not worry about something early in the round messing up. It’s been a lot better than what I have been the past 8-10 years.”
He has been close this year. He finished T-3 in the season-opening event at Twin Bridges and shared the first-round lead at Silver Lakes two weeks ago before finishing 11th.
He went into this weekend fifth in the Calhoun County Tour points standings and jumped all the way to second behind Cole with the win. Graveman was 26th and is now eighth.
Clay’s patience certainly was tested on this day. Three different players held the lead at one time in the round, there were three shares and five lead changes, including the playoff.
Clay went into The Hollow, the demanding four-hole stretch across the street from the clubhouse, tied for the lead with Graveman, and came out of it two shots behind. Graveman, who hit sharp iron shots all day, birdied the 10th and Clay bogeyed the 12th.
“That bogey on 12 hurt,” Clay said. “I wanted to take the lead over there, hopefully, but being down two to him, and he was hitting the ball so good today, going into two par-5s and the drivable par-4s was going to be tough. He hit the ball so good today. He was so solid.”
Clay got a shot back with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 14thafter Graveman pulled his 6-iron second shot into some ground foliage near the green. He was still one shot back going to the par-5 18, but made the tying 15-foot birdie after finding the greenside bunker with his second shot from 220 yards out.
Despite coming up short in the playoff, Graveman called the day-long battle with Clay and the other contenders “the most fun I’ve had on a golf course in a long time.”
The most dramatic turn came on the second hole of the playoff. Neither player hit the green with their approach shots to a pin on the bottom of a three-tiered green. Graveman went first and holed a 35-foot chip for what in most cases would be a tournament-winning dagger. Clay had about 15 feet to the hole, about half of it fringe, and he matched it.
“He chipped it and halfway there I knew it was dead center,” Clay said. “It went in and I was like, ‘Wow, there’s only one thing to do.’ I was real worried about the fringe, so I needed to hit it pretty hard. It hopped on me. A half-a-ball less it was short; it barely fell over. But that was huge.
“That was pretty fun him chipping in and then I doing that. That was fun to watch I would imagine, but that was so big.”
“I was trying to make it because I knew I was getting tired,” Graveman said. “When I get a little tired it starts going a little left. This is no offense to Brennan, but I was really hoping he would miss it because I knew I was getting in trouble.”
On the final hole, Clay hit a pitching wedge off the tee to 12 feet. Graveman’s tee shot found the left-side bunker, he blasted out past the hole and when his par putt ran by the other way all that was left was for Clay to two-putt for the win.
NOTES: The playoff was the longest on the Tour since 2019 when Gary Wigington went three holes to beat Jeremy Pannell at Cane Creek. The longest playoff in Tour history was four holes (Wigington over Jeremy McGatha in the 2010 County) … The last time the Tour had three different winners in the first four events was 2018 (Logan Archer, Jacob LeCroy and Ty Cole twice) … David Sanders won the Seniors division with rounds of 70-80 … Graveman’s best Tour finish before Sunday was T-4 in the 2019 County. He shot 3-under 67 in the final round there … Cole had another eagle Sunday (No. 5) and was staring one down on 18 to get into the playoff. First flight winner Danny Whittaker had the day’s other eagle (No. 14) … The next County Tour event is the Wilfred Galbraith ACC Invitational June 4-6. Entry fee is $200 ($150 for ACC members). Entry deadline is June 2.
Anniston City Championship
| CHAMPIONSHIP A | |||
| x-Brennan Clay | 70 | 69 | 139 |
| Justin Graveman | 70 | 69 | 139 |
| Ty Cole | 71 | 69 | 140 |
| Gary Wigington | 68 | 73 | 141 |
| Chad Calvert | 69 | 77 | 146 |
| Ott Chandler | 70 | 76 | 146 |
| Caleb McKinney | 72 | 74 | 146 |
| Daily Thomas | 72 | 81 | 153 |
| Jonathan Pate | 72 | WD | WD |
| x-won on third playoff hole | |||
| CHAMPIONSHIP B | |||
| Chip Howell | 73 | 71 | 144 |
| Jeremy McGatha | 73 | 71 | 144 |
| Josh Poole | 74 | 76 | 150 |
| Clay Calkins | 76 | 75 | 151 |
| Caleb Bowen | 73 | 80 | 153 |
| Zack Mangum | 75 | 80 | 155 |
| Tyler Dopson | 76 | 80 | 156 |
| Jeff Borrelli | 75 | 88 | 163 |
| 1ST FLIGHT | |||
| Danny Whittaker | 77 | 75 | 152 |
| Will Brown | 79 | 75 | 154 |
| Tyler Romines | 80 | 75 | 155 |
| Matt Rogers | 77 | 80 | 157 |
| Adam Johnson | 79 | 79 | 158 |
| Sam Bone | 79 | 79 | 158 |
| Hunter Carr | 81 | 81 | 162 |
| 2ND FLIGHT | |||
| Chris Reaves | 84 | 77 | 161 |
| Mark Durden | 82 | 80 | 162 |
| Dan McClellan | 83 | 79 | 162 |
| Austin Elliott | 90 | 86 | 176 |
| Michael Ledbetter | 89 | 92 | 181 |
| Kolby Slick | 92 | 90 | 182 |
| Kelly Rogers | 91 | DNS | DNS |
| Keaton Borrelli | WD | WD | WD |
| SENIORS | |||
| David Sanders | 70 | 80 | 150 |
| Ted Towns | 78 | 75 | 153 |
| Ted Heim | 75 | 80 | 155 |
| Greg Burnett | 77 | 80 | 157 |
| Rocco D’Gomez | 83 | 84 | 167 |
| Dennis Moyer | 87 | 85 | 172 |
| Danny Stephens | 85 | 90 | 175 |
| Jim Sirmon | 90 | 95 | 185 |
CCGT playoff history
2007 ACC: Jaylon Ellison over Garrett Burgess, Marcus Harrell (2 holes)
2008 Indian Oaks: Dan McClellan over Jeremy McGatha (1 hole)
2008 Pine Hill: Ott Chandler over Marcus Harrell (2 holes)
2010 Stoney Brook: Gary Wigington over Jeremy McGatha, Jaylon Ellison (1 hole)
2010 Cider Ridge: Jeremy McGatha over Jaylon Ellison (2 holes)
2010 County: Gary Wigington over Jeremy McGatha (4 holes)
2011 Pine Hill: Jason Johnson over Gary Wigington (1 hole)
2016 County: Ott Chandler over Jeremy McGatha (2 holes)
2018 Cider Ridge: Logan Archer over Ty Cole (1 hole)
2019 Cane Creek: Gary Wigington over Jeremy Pannell (3 holes)
2021 Cider Ridge: Ty Cole over Gary Wigington (1 hole)
2021 Cane Creek: Brennan Clay over Justin Graveman (3 holes)
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