Ty at the top
- Updated: August 12, 2022
New member Cole shoots 65 to take first-round lead in Gadsden Invitational, fourth opening-round in the 60s here in last five years
| GADSDEN INVITATIONAL LEADERBOARD | |
| Ty Cole | 65 |
| Dane Moore | 67 |
| Brennan Clay | 68 |
| Kevin Daugherty | 68 |
| Dawson Garrett | 69 |
| Paul Bruce | 69 |
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
GADSDEN – Ty Cole has a long record of playing well at the Gadsden Country Club, so there wasn’t anything unusual about his low round of the day in the Gadsden Invitational Friday. But there was something different about it.
It was only his second round on the course as a member of the club and first in a tournament.
Cole joined the venerable Etowah County club just a few weeks ago after a lifetime of playing out of Big Spring Lake GC in Albertville, but his new status had no bearing on the same kind of sharpness he enjoyed playing there as a guest, shooting a 6-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead.
He holds a two-shot lead over Dane Moore and a three-shot lead over Anniston’s Kevin Daugherty and Brennan Clay.
Of course, there’s still a lot of golf to play, but – let’s just go ahead and put this out there – if he keeps up that pace he could become the first Gadsden CC member to win the club’s Invitational since Lucian Newman III in 2002.
“That (a member winning it) would be awesome, for sure,” said Moore, the club’s golf committee chairman. “I think our membership would want that.”
It wasn’t like he abused the guest policy before the joined. The only times he really played was in the Invitational, the Member-Guest with Luke Armstrong and maybe once or twice more during the year.
But by becoming a member, when he’s working in town he can conveniently hit a quick bucket at lunch or get in a little practice after work without having to drive two counties over to get on a quality facility.
“I didn’t play here a lot, I’ve just always loved the golf course,” he said. And he just always played well here.
Three of Cole’s four Invitational wins started with rounds in the 60s, the last two with higher scores than the round he shot Friday. Last year he opened with a 66 and was tied for the lead through two rounds before finishing second to Frankie Wade Jr.
Cole’s round took off after a small adjustment to his putter after three-putting 3 and 4. He moved the putter a little closer to his body and made eight birdies over the next 12 holes. He made six in a seven-hole stretch to open the back nine, including a chip-in 2 on 15.
“If I would have known that’s what I was doing, I wouldn’t have missed the short putts,” he said. “When I put it on the heel, the toe shuts and I missed both putts left.”
He finished the round going 2-3-4-5, but the 5 wasn’t something to celebrate. He bogeyed 18 when he hit has approach on the wrong side of the hole and it spun off the green. His chip back up left him a 20-footer for par and he had to make a five-footer for the bogey.
“Whether you’re a member or you’re not a member, if you’ve played here more than six times you know – and it doesn’t matter where the pin in, especially if it’s right of the bunker – you can not hit your second shot right of the flag, because it’ll do exactly what it did,” Cole said. “If you hit it pin high or dead over the flag, chances are it’s going to stay on the green. You hit it anywhere left, it’s good.
“You hit it right of the flag, you’re done and you’re going to have to have just a fantastic up and down to even make a par.”
Moore played a steady round with five birdies, including a 30-footer on No. 7, after an early bogey. He birdied 16 and 18 to jump into solo second.
“That’s a good score for me … especially with it being wet,” he said. “I need some roll and with it being so wet, there’s not so much, so I have to make sure it’s in front of me.
“I pretty much got all out of the round I could. Did I hit it great, no, but I got it in the hole. For me, I have to hit it in the fairway, have to hit it where I’m looking. Out here, you have to hit it, especially on the front side, where you’re looking to shoot a decent score. After that, you can miss it a little bit and still be OK, but for me, I’ve got to hit it where I’m looking.”
Daugherty played in the first group of the day and posted the early target number in what he called “just a tale of two nines.”
Returning with confidence to the site of his runner-up finish in the State Senior Championship in May, he made five birdies and two bogeys. He had it to 3-under through 13 holes and was 4-under until making bogey on 18.
“I’m happy with what I did today; it could have been worse,” he said. “I got a lot out of it. I made a lot of putts, made a lot of up-and-downs, saved a lot of pars when I easily could have made bogeys to help keep my round going.
“The first half of the round I hit it really good, didn’t make any putts. I made eight pars and a birdie on the front, and felt like I could’ve done a lot better. The back nine, I didn’t really hit it very good and made everything I stood over. I bet I didn’t have more than 10 putts on the back. Just a tale of two nines.”
Gadsden CC Invitational
| CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT QUALIFIERS | |
| Ty Cole | 65 |
| Dane Moore | 67 |
| Brennan Clay | 68 |
| Kevin Daugherty | 68 |
| Dawson Garrett | 69 |
| Paul Bruce | 69 |
| Mason Dennis | 70 |
| Woodie Eubanks | 70 |
| David Kyatt | 71 |
| Dylan Evans | 71 |
| Corey Ray | 72 |
| Gary Wigington | 72 |
| Morgan Cunningham | 72 |
| Landon Straub | 73 |
| Sam Bone | 73 |
| Chad Maples | 74 |
| Dre Davenport | 74 |
| Jeremy McGatha | 74 |
| Layton Bussey | 76 |
| Tommy Simmons | 76 |
| Chris Leonhardt | 76 |
| Anthony Mancini | 77 |
| Braden Lovely | 77 |
| Chandler Richards | 77 |
| Chris Messer | 77 |
| Drew Anderton | 77 |
| Harrison Martin | 77 |
| Josh Ashley | 77 |
| Justin Graveman | 77 |
| Mark McCaig | 77 |
| Tanner Wells | 77 |
Saturday pairings
8 a.m.: Ty Cole, Dane Moore, Brennan Clay
8:10: Kevin Daugherty, Dawson Garrett, Paul Bruce
8:20: Mason Dennis, Woodie Eubanks, David Kyatt
8:30: Dylan Evans, Corey Ray, Gary Wigington
8:40: Morgan Cunningham, Landon Straub, Sam Bone
8:50: Chad Maples, Dre Davenport, Jeremy McGatha
9:00: Layton Bussey, Tommy Simmons, Chris Leonhardt
9:10: Anthony Mancini, Braden Lovely, Justin Graveman
9:20: Mark McCaig, Tanner Wells, Chris Messer
9:30: Josh Ashley, Drew Anderson, Harrison Martin, Chandler Richards
10:30: Danny Dunlap, David Bowman, Don Sutton
10:40: Rob Russell, Mike Lett, David Lipscomb
10:50: Mark Dillard, Matt Bennett, Frank Shikle
11:00: Mark Cantrell, Steve Roach, Mike Douglas
11:20: Bumper Jones, Jake Goggans, Jody Wooten
11:30: Ryan Limbaugh, Seth Dodd, Vance Lewis
11:40: Randy Lipscomb, Hank Bangs, Daily Thomas
11:50: Austin Elliott, Matt Rogers, Bradley Landin
Noon: Bradley Elliott, Ethan Davis, Joe Hedgepath
12:10 p.m.: Nathan Nailer, Skylar Deerman, Blake Erwin
12:20: Mike Morgan, A.J. Elmore, Phil Williams
12:30: Keith Hutchison, Chris Holderfield, Dallas Poe
12:40: Guy Edwards, Trent Ingram, Jonathan Bowman
12:50: Scott Sanders, Allen Cain, Mark Gaines
1:00: Andrew Ford, Keith Crumpton, Andy Lang, Matt Greet
1:10: Ryan Moore, Luke Armstrong, Wayne Copeland, Grant Gilmer
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