Wade-ing into victory

Frankie Wade Jr. holds off Ty Cole on the back nine, wins Gadsden Invitational, dedicates victory to memory of his grandmother

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

GADSDEN – Frankie Wade Jr. usually is the chatty one in the group. The one with a funny comment or a quick needle, something to keep the foursome loose and going.

But Sunday afternoon the 22-year-old University of North Alabama senior found himself at a loss for words after holding off Ty Cole on the back to win the 60th Gadsden Country Club Invitational.

Wade shot a final-round 68 — the best round of the day — to finish at 10-under-par 203, three shots better than Cole, who battled him throughout the back nine until Wade sank an eight-foot birdie putt on 18.

He dedicated the victory to his late grandmother, who passed away Friday while he was playing his qualifying round, and he’s convinced she was looking down on his effort.

“It’s just good to do it, it’s good to close it out,” Wade said. “Obviously, this is for my grandmother.

“I’m speechless about it because it’s almost surreal that that happened and this happens. It’s almost like it’s meant to be or something.

“I hit a lot of good shots, I played some good golf, I got some good breaks. I don’t know maybe that was her watching out or something. I don’t know.”

Wade gave Cole several openings on the back nine to overtake him, but the four-time Gadsden champion never capitalized. One of the biggest breaks came on 10 when Wade’s 8-iron from 192 yards appeared headed for the dry creek behind the green but somehow – like Fred Couples’ ball on 12 during his 1992 Masters victory – the ball stayed on the grassy slope.

He saved bogey on the hole, but Cole three-putted from the front of the green for bogey allowing Wade to maintain the one-shot lead held at the turn.

“I don’t know, maybe it was just my week,” Wade said.

Wade drove it into the fairway bunker on 11, but hit his recovery shot to within a foot and tapped in for birdie to extend the lead. Cole did capitalize on 12 for a birdie, but had a putt for eagle to tie the lead.

Wade then made par from the back fringe on the par-3 13^th. They both bogeyed the par-3 15^th after missing the green on the short side. They both birdied 16 with Wade squeezing the hole after Cole stuck his approach to two feet.

They both hit the green from the fairway on 17 and both missed their birdies off the right edge of the hole.

“The whole back nine, I haven’t felt nerves like that in a while,” Wade said. “I felt things I haven’t felt in a long time.”

Neither player found the fairway off the 18^th tee. Wade found the right rough just above the fairway bunker. Cole landed at the base of the practice tee.

Wade went first and hit a pitching wedge from 152 yards to eight feet. 

“I told my buddy before we played no matter what I’m going to take dead aim on 18,” he said. ‘’I took dead aim, the lie moved it a little bit left, had eight feet. I knew with the caliber of player Ty is I can’t just hit it in the middle of the green and go at that because he’s a very good player. I needed to finish it.”

Cole followed with an equally good shot that finished about 10 feet above the hole. Cole putted first and his attempt missed on the right. Wade had two putts to win, but only needed one and it ringed the hole before falling.

Cole said it was tough to “beat a horseshoe,” a commentary on Wade’s uncanny ability to escape potential trouble throughout the weekend, but the eventual champion had something spiritual going for him.

NOTES: Wade goes back to UNA this week and plays the first fall tournament of his final college season in Indiana in two weeks … Cole moved back atop the Calhoun County Tour points standings with his second-place finish, but with his expected foregoing of the County Tournament for another event, the door is open for Brennan Clay to win Player of the Year with a top two finish at The Hill … The County Tour has entertained 360 players this season … Tom Jungkind won the Seniors closest-to-the-pin contest that honored former Gadsden CC champion Rex Keeling … There were 51 eagles this season on the Tour going into the weekend, There were 57 last year. The record is 75 in 2019 … Players who haven’t returned their hole-by-hole tournament stats from this weekend should do so either by text (256-239-6715) or email (almusky@aol.com).

Gadsden Invitational

CHAMPIONSHIP A
Frankie Wade Jr.	66	69	68	203
Ty Cole	66	69	71	206
Brennan Clay	75	64	71	210
Chris Hummel	72	68	70	210
Trey Rouse	71	68	75	214
Paul Bruce	71	71	72	214
Corey Ray	68	72	75	215
Jeremy McGatha	73	70	75	218
Woodie Eubanks	69	73	77	219
Dane Moore	70	74	75	219
CHAMPIONSHIP B
Alan Smedley	69	76	69	214
Justin Graveman	70	75	70	215
Sam Audia	72	73	70	215
Harrison Martin	72	73	72	217
Jody Wooten	71	74	72	217
Gary Wigington	71	75	72	218
Chad Calvert	68	78	72	218
Brock McNeely	76	71	73	220
Shawn Ledbetter	71	77	74	222
Randy Lipscomb	73	74	79	226
Jake Goggans	72	76	84	232
CHAMPIONSHIP C
Mason Dennis	75	76	73	224
Tanner Wells	72	82	71	225
Tee Brown	72	77	78	227
Will Manuel	77	77	75	229
Clay Smith	76	76	78	230
Drew Anderton	76	75	80	231
Landon Winfrey	75	79	79	233
Morgan Cunningham	75	81	81	237
Clay Calkins	76	82	80	238
Jeff Chapman	76	73	90	239
Jared Waits	76	81	83	240
Josh Ashley	69	81	92	242
Mark Durden	76	92	85	253
Chris Jones	76	73	WD	WD
Nick Sawyer	74	DQ	DQ	DQ

FIRST FLIGHT
Morton Holcomb	67	75	142
Layton Bussey	71	71	142
Chase Hollingsworth	73	71	144
Samuel Bone	75	72	147
Matthew Bennett	74	74	148
Danny Whittaker	74	75	149
Keith Crumpton	75	74	149
Mark Cantrell	75	74	149
Chris Cox	75	78	153
Chad Hare	75	81	156
SECOND FLIGHT
Daniel Black	76	75	151
Ernie Blankenship	76	77	153
Joseph Zieman	77	76	153
Corbin Holland	77	77	154
Caleb Morrow	77	79	156
Jeff Hammontree	77	81	158
Blake Erwin	76	84	160
Ryan Limbaugh	76	84	160
Greg Hare	77	84	161
Mike Morgan	76	86	162
Chris Messer	77	89	166
Hunter Trimble	77	WD	WD
THIRD FLIGHT
Wayne Copeland	78	74	152
Maverick Smith	80	75	155
Bumper Jones	80	75	155
Matt Rogers	78	79	157
Seth Shirley	80	78	158
Dre Davenport	79	80	159
Luke Armstrong	78	83	161
Clayton Chandler	80	81	161
Steve Cantrell	79	83	162
Mark Moates	79	83	162
Chandler Richards	79	84	163
Ryan Moore	79	93	172
Houston Black	80	WD	WD
FOURTH FLIGHT
Timmy Woodard	83	73	156
Chad Maples	84	74	158
Justin Goree	82	77	159
Ethan Davis	81	80	161
Graham Morrow	84	79	163
Nathan Nailer	81	86	167
John Agricola	84	83	167
Scott Jimmerson	81	88	169
Kenneth Willingham	83	89	172
Craig Inzer Jr.	84	90	174
Richard Hollingsworth	82	WD	WD
Hunter Corbin	83	WD	WD
FIFTH FLIGHT
Matt Greer	87	77	164
Ryan Huff	89	77	166
Mason Aulsbrook	86	83	169
Blake Grisham	87	82	169
Chase Thomas	88	83	171
Austin Elliott	86	87	173
Mark Gaines	87	91	178
Scott Moates	87	89	176
Ross Hudak	85	92	177
SIXTH FLIGHT
Mark McCaig	91	79	170
James Lett	92	82	174
Mark Cotton	91	85	176
Will Broome	91	89	180
Jeremy Hallmark	91	93	184
Skylar Deerman	99	86	185
Adam Benefiel	92	94	186
Bradley Young	93	95	188
Andrew Gunnells	100	88	188
Vic Merkel	98	95	193

SENIOR A
Frank Shikle		70	72	142
Tom Jungkind		74	69	143
Mark Dillard		76	75	151
David Sanders		77	76	153
Jimmy Jones		79	77	156
Ted Heim		78	88	166
SENIOR B
Danny Dunlap		81	76	157
Donnie Sutton		81	83	164
Tim Steward		83	85	168
Ron Fleming		82	87	169
T.C. Morgan		82	87	169
Bob Russell		82	90	172
Ron McClellan		82	WD	WD
SENIOR C
Tim Williams		85	78	163
Mike Lett		87	76	163
Dennis Austin		86	79	165
David Bowman		88	84	172
Dani Bone		89	86	175
Ed Shirley		90	97	187
Jim Woods		95	95	190

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