3 atop SKCC

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: September 24, 2021

Three teams share first-round lead in what’s shaping up to be a return to the Sunday shootout

SKCC LEADERBOARD
Sawyer Edwards-Cameron McCareeth	59 (-13)
Kaine Gibson-Will Brown	59 (-13)
Jacob Harper-Kyle Daugherty	59 (-13)
Randy Reaves-Will Reaves	60 (-12)
Jackson King-Freeman Fite	60 (-12)
Gary Wigington-Ty Cole	61 (-11)
Anna Reid-Caleb Morrow	61 (-11)
Ott Chandler-Dalton Chandler	61 (-11)
4 tied at 62 (-10)

COMPLETE SCOREBOARD: https://www.kingclassic.com/current-scores/
SATURDAY PAIRINGS: https://www.easportstoday.com/2021/09/16/skcc-saturday-pairings-2/

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

SILVER LAKES — The day – singular – of the 50-under-par winner in the Sunny King Charity Classic has come and gone. Even 40-under isn’t really guaranteed.

Organizers of the 42nd SKCC expected a return to the Sunday shootout with three or four teams battling it out down the stretch this year and it started shaping up that way after Friday’s championship flight scramble round at Silver Lakes.

Three teams finished the day tied for the lead at 13-under-par 59. Two others are another shot back and a total of nine teams are within three shots of the leaders going to Saturday’s scramble round at Cider Ridge..

“It’s not going to get to the 40s,” three-time champion Ty Cole said. “What (Jacob) Harper and Jacob (LeCroy) did two years ago, that’s done. You will never – I don’t care if they bring Tiger Woods and Patrick Cantlay out here –that ain’t going to happen.

“Somebody might shoot 40, 42, 43. Me and Twig shot 43 (in their first title together in 2016) and we didn’t miss a shot. Did not miss a shot. Didn’t miss a putt that we were like, ‘we could’ve been this, we could’ve been that.’ People thinking 40’s even par now at the Sunny King, they’ve lost their mind. Especially out here.

“There were pins out here that weren’t in the middle of the flat spots where they normally are. Normally they put them in the middle of the flat spots and people are shooting 17-, 18-, 19-under. No. Thirteen is a freakin’ good score out here in a scramble. If somebody plays their butt off the next two days, they’ll win by three or four.”

Alarm clocks sounded early Friday morning as the latest Sunny King Classic in history went off to its earliest start on record. More than 200 teams returned from the 2020 pandemic pause with a September start that began play at 7 a.m. at the tournament’s three venues — Silver Lakes, Anniston Country Club and Cider Ridge Golf Club.

At the end of the day, which finished in plenty of daylight, three teams finished tied atop the leaderboard — Sawyer Edwards-Cameron McCareeth, Kaine Gibson-Will Brown and Harper-Kyle Daugherty.

Harper was part of the team two years ago that set all sorts of tournament scoring records with a 51-under-par 163. He and Jacob LeCroy shot 20-under here to get it started.

By contrast, Friday’s low score was the highest first-round score by the leaders since 2006 when Benji Turley and John Hanson shot 59 at Cane Creek and held a one-shot lead over eventual winners Jeremy McGatha and Jaylon Ellison.

“The greens were a little trickier this year,” Harper said. “They were a little slower when we played them that year so you could be a little more aggressive. These were a little goofy to read, especially when you got on the wrong side of it.”

The new partners started slow, turning from the Heartbreaker 9 in 4-under, but they were torrid on the Mindbreaker side. They played their back nine in 9-under with nine straight 3s.

They didn’t feel they hit it any differently coming home. Harper was just sharp with his wedges on the par-4s and Daugherty hit two “really good” long iron shots on the par-5s to set up eagles.

“We hit it good on both sides, we just didn’t make anything (on the front),” Daugherty said. “We played like burning hell on the back … I never expected a 20, but thought if we get to playing good and make some putts, maybe 16.”

Gibson and Brown posted their 13-under from the group right in front of Harper and Daugherty. They got off to a hot start, opening with six straight birdies and an eagle. They birdied all the odd-numbered holes on the Mindbreaker 9 coming home.

“On the front we made a lot of putts and then on the back we kind of lost it,” said Gibson, a former Cider Ridge assistant now a teaching pro in greater Houston.

The first team to 13-under was McCareeth, a 21-year-old former Calhoun County high school medalist, and Edwards, a 15-year-old White Plains sophomore.

They were only 2-under through four holes, then birdied 11 of their last 14. They made five in a row at one point in the middle of the round. Curiously, they didn’t eagle any of the par-5s or birdie any of the par-3s.

“I don’t know about leading,” McCareeth said. “But I knew we could put up a (good) number if we played well.”
Edwards, who has only been playing the game for less than two years, admitted he gave his team a big advantage by teeing off from the juniors’ tee, but confided he didn’t hit the driver very well in the round. He hit a driver over the green on Mindbreaker 9 from the tees he played.

One of the challengers at 12-under 60, Jackson King and Freeman Fite, looked as if they were going to run away with it early. The two Donoho grads were 7-under after five holes on the Mindbreaker 9 with eagles on both par-5s and three birdies. They were 10-under through 10, 11-under through 12 and then hit what King called an “all-time stall.”

They could only make one birdie the rest of the way – the par-5 Heartbreaker 7 that played only 170 yards because of a game they were playing in the tournament. It wasn’t for the lack of trying – several of their birdies putts from what Fite called “the wrong side of the hole” that broke different ways to their read or just missed on the edge.

“The start was great, it was perfect, it was exactly what we wanted to do and then just kind of stalled,” King said. “We hit it great all day and then couldn’t really make a putt coming in. We were knocking it 10 feet all day and they were falling on the front and they weren’t on the back. If we hit it like we did today (going forward) we’re in great shape. We just got to get a little bit more confident with the putter; that’s all it is.”

As for the other 60, Randy Reaves said they played his short game, son Will’s long game and they both made putts. They had 12 birdies in the round.

Among the contenders at 11-under, three-time past champions Cole and Gary Wigington made six birdies on each side. They charged to the finish with five birdies in their last seven holes after making the first bogey in their partnership on their 11^th hole, Heartbreaker No. 2.

“We didn’t lose focus, but when you make a bogey in a scramble …,” Cole said. “We haven’t ever made a bogey in four years and then make one in a scramble from 80 yards in the middle of the fairway.”

They didn’t have a mulligan to help them. They burned those through the first two holes of the round. Then they went on to birdie their next six holes in a row.