Oh so close
- Updated: September 1, 2021
One Calhoun County Tour statistical category ends in dead heat, another decided by fewer than 10 percentage points
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
The Calhoun County Golf Tour just completed one of its most competitive seasons on record. And if you don’t believe it, just check the record.
For the first time in five years, one of the series’ major season-long statistical categories ended in a tie. Another was decided by less than 10 percentage points.
County Championship winner Gary Wigington and Brennan Clay finished in a dead-heat in greens in regulation – 207 or 12.94 per round. It was the first time since 2016 when Ty Cole and Wigington shared the scoring title that a major statistical category ended in a tie.
The race for putting and fairways also went down to the wire. Layton Bussey edged Clay Calkins by six percentage points in putting average and Chip Howell edged Calkins in fairways by 20 percentage points. Cole won the season Player of the Year points race by 25 points.
“That just shows you how tough it is to win on our Tour,” Clay said. “The consistency we have to maintain throughout the season is hard and the stats don’t lie when you look at them and look to see who wins the tournaments.”
The Tour also keeps statistics for putts per greens in regulation, 3-putt avoidance, scrambling and scoring on the par-3s, 4s and 5s.
The unofficial all-around title, determined by assigning values to the finishing positions of qualified players in seven statistical categories, went to Scott Martin with 31.5 points. He finished in the top 10 in six of the categories (and 11th in the other).
Here are the Tour’s statistical champions for 2021:
Scoring: Ty Cole, 69.50
Fairways: Chip Howell, 10.58
Greens: Brennan Clay, Gary Wigington (tie), 12.94
Putts: Layton Bussey, 28.88
Birdies: Gary Wigington, 73
Eagles: Ty Cole, 5
Putts/GIR: Scott Martin, 1.733
3-Putts: Scott Martin, 0.021
Scrambling: Tee Brown, 65.2
The complete statistical package for the season can be found elsewhere on the website.
COUNTY GOLF TOUR STATISTICAL CHAMPIONS
(Since 2015)
| YEAR | SCORING | FAIRWAYS | GREENS | PUTTS |
| 2021 | Cole | Howell | Clay Wigington | Bussey |
| 2020 | Wigington | Howell | Wigington | Wigington |
| 2019 | Cole | Calkins | Cole | Wigington |
| 2018 | Cole | Martin | Cole | Bowen |
| 2017 | D.Chandler | Calkins | Cole | Clay |
| 2016 | Cole Wigington | O.Chandler | Cole | Clay |
| 2015 | Cole | Calkins | Cole | D.Chandler |
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