Teams vs. wind
- Updated: April 1, 2023
The Calhoun County Team Championship challenge, my friend, was blowing in the wind as teams battle elements, each other
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
SILVER LAKES — The 54 two-man teams playing for the Calhoun County Team Championship on Saturday had 54 opponents … 53 other teams and, most ubiquitously, the wind.
The tandem of Brandon Hammond-John Harman weathered it best, finishing a 12-under-par 60 in Saturday’s first round at Silver Lakes. They lead Jason Johnson-Landon Straub and Brennan Clay-Jeremy McGatha by two strokes going into Sunday’s final round.
Saturday’s first round played out on Silver Lakes’ Backbreaker and Mindbreaker courses in scramble format. Sunday’s final round will play out in “scamble” format on the Mindbreaker and Heartbreaker courses.
Sunday’s forecast calls for 7 mph winds, a major improvement from Saturday’s gusty gut check. The National Weather Service had Calhoun County under a wind advisory for most of the day, with steady winds at 10-20 mph and gusts approaching 40.
Clay called the wind “brutal.”
“My face is chapped,” he said.
It was a day for each team’s longest hitter.
“Man, it was crazy,” McGatha said. “It’s been a long time since I played in wind like that. … We’d get on the tee box, and if it was in the wind, I was like, ‘Brennan, it’s up to you’.”
Wind might’ve affected scores. The leading score of 12-under 60 was three shots off the pace set by first-round co-leaders Hammond-Harman and Ott-Dalton Chandler.
The wind effect showed up most on the Johnson-Straub scorecard. They got the day’s earliest tee time because Johnson wanted to see his son play baseball in Oxford High School’s baseball game against Hortonville (Wis.) High School at Choccolocco Park.
Lightning forced a 30-minute delay to the start of play, but Johnson-Straub got off before the worst of the wind kicked in, becoming more of a problem on their back nine.
They were 7 under par on the front nine, three on the back.
“You never really feel comfortable,” Straub said. “On the front, we were grooving. In the wind, makes me feel like I’m overthinking everything, being indecisive.”
The pair finished their round in time for Johnson to catch his son’s game in progress. Carter Johnson hit three triples in Oxford’s 8-0 victory, the first against Hortonville pitcher and Arizona State commit Thomas Burns.
Jason Johnson learned of Carter’s first triple via text then call from his wife. He saw the other two triples in person.
“It’s been a good day,” Jason Johnson said. “I ain’t gonna lie.”
Hammond-Harman had the best day and a good start with redemption in back of mind, Hammond said.
The Carrollton, Ga., pair who won the tournament in 2021 had the co-lead after the first round in 2022. They seemed on their way to a repeat victory when they double-bogeyed the par-4 Heartbreaker sixth hole, of the 15th hole of the round.
They finished with a final-round 67, one shot out of the playoff. Randy Lipscomb-Dane Moore won with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
The chill wind of disappointment lingered for Hammond-Harman, but they fought literal wind Saturday.
“It definitely turned into a mental game,” Hammond said. “There was a lot of figuring out yardages, making sure we were confident in what we were going to hit and just going with it after that.”
They shot 7 under on the front nine and 5 under on the back. They birdied the first seven holes on Mindbreaker then Nos. 2, 6 and 8 on Backbreaker. Hammond eagled the par-5 No. 7.
“We got hot with our putters really quick,” Harman said. “Hitting the green was a premium, and then we were able to hole a bunch of putts to start with. …
“We came in here wanting to do better and play better and really just set the tone and play like we did the first year and just play good golf two days in a row.”
Cover photo: Brandon Hammond (left) and John Harman lead the 2023 Calhoun County Team Championship by two strokes after Saturday’s first round at Silver Lakes. (Photo by Joe Medley)
| Calhoun County Team Championship | Place | Par | Round 1 |
| CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT | |||
| Hammond-Harman | 1 | -12 | 60 |
| Clay-McGatha | 2 | -10 | 62 |
| Johnson-Straub | 3 | -10 | 62 |
| Keen-Day | 4 | -9 | 63 |
| Cole-Wigington | 5 | -8 | 64 |
| Bussey-Travis | 6 | -8 | 64 |
| Contris-Contris | 7 | -8 | 64 |
| Cooper-Ledbetter | 8 | -8 | 64 |
| FIRST FLIGHT | |||
| Ledbetter-Jones | 1 | -6 | 66 |
| Wilcox-Chapple | 2 | -6 | 66 |
| Nichols-Lipscomb | 3 | -6 | 66 |
| Shultz-Sanders | 4 | -5 | 67 |
| Calkins-Hubbard | 5 | -5 | 67 |
| Woodard-Thomas | 6 | -4 | 68 |
| Reeves-Hubbard | 7 | -4 | 68 |
| McCaig-Wells | 8 | -4 | 68 |
| Noah-Fulmer | 9 | -4 | 68 |
| Miller-Edwards | 10 | -4 | 68 |
| Harmon-Carr | 11 | -4 | 68 |
| Greer-Chapman | 12 | -4 | 68 |
| SECOND FLIGHT | |||
| Chandler-Daugherty | 1 | -3 | 69 |
| Slick-Ledbetter | 2 | -3 | 69 |
| Betts-Betts | 3 | -3 | 69 |
| Rogers-Brooks | 4 | -2 | 70 |
| Messer-Dyar | 5 | -1 | 71 |
| Hollingsworth-Holley | 6 | -1 | 71 |
| Cox-Hill | 7 | -1 | 71 |
| Coffey-Winningham | 8 | -1 | 71 |
| Eaton-Maye | 9 | -1 | 71 |
| Chandler-Chandler | 10 | E | 72 |
| Sanford-Green | 11 | E | 72 |
| Patterson-Mize | 12 | E | 72 |
| THIRD FLIGHT | |||
| Craft-Peeples | 1 | +1 | 73 |
| Weaver-Kennamer | 2 | +1 | 73 |
| Elliott-Elliott | 3 | +1 | 73 |
| McCarley-McCarley | 4 | +1 | 73 |
| Boyd-Veasey | 5 | +2 | 74 |
| Jones-Jones | 6 | +2 | 74 |
| Rankin-Parris | 7 | +2 | 74 |
| Gaines-Jenkins | 8 | +2 | 74 |
| Roberts-Broome | 9 | +2 | 74 |
| Sisk-Maples | 10 | +2 | 74 |
| Wooten-Scott | 11 | +3 | 75 |
| Thomas-Dennis | 12 | +3 | 75 |
| Williams-Davenport | 13 | +4 | 76 |
| Heim-Vernon | 14 | +5 | 77 |
| FOURTH FLIGHT | |||
| Jacobson-Martin | 1 | +6 | 78 |
| Machowicz-Walker | 2 | +8 | 80 |
| Ray-Sotelo | 3 | +8 | 80 |
| Ledbetter-Okins | 4 | +8 | 80 |
| Carpenter-Carpenter | 5 | +8 | 80 |
| Pritchett-Elders | 6 | +12 | 84 |
| Tucker-Simmons | 7 | +14 | 86 |
| West-West | 8 | +14 | 86 |
Sunday’s final-round tee times
7:40 a.m.: Tyrel Tucker-Savanna Simmons; Austin West-Jonathan West
7:50 a.m.: John Carpenter-John Austin Carpenter; Henry Pritchett-Neil Elders
8 a.m.: Kasey Ray-P.J. Sotelo; Mike Ledbetter-Rick Okins
8:10 a.m.: Kyle Jacobsen-Matt Martin; Nick Machowicz-Leigh Walker
8:20 a.m.: Devin Williams-Dre Davenport; Ted Heim-Rob Vernon
8:30 a.m.: Jody Wooten-Chris Scott; Daily Thomas-Mason Dennis
8:40 a.m.: Cody Roberts-Will Broome; Cody Boyd-Jackson Veasey
8:50 a.m.: Shaughn Rankin-Austin Parris; Riley Sisk-Luke Maples
9 a.m.: Mark Gaines-Andy Jenkins; Blake Jones-Austin Jones
9:10 a.m.: Bradley Elliott-Austin Elliott; Stanley McCarley-Trevor McCarley
9:20 a.m.: Logan Craft-Jake Peeples; Morgan Weaver-Brent Kennamer
9:30 a.m.: Christopher Sanford-Lea Green; Reggie Patterson-Corey Mize
9:40 a.m.: Bob Eaton-Chris Maye; Dalton Chandler-Carson Chandler
9:50 a.m.: Chris Cox-John Hill; David Coffey-Buster Winningham
10 a.m.: Coleman Messer-Hanna Dyar; Cain Hollingsworth-Landon Holley
10:10 a.m.: Andrew Betts-Chris Reaves; Matt Rogers-Andrew Brooks
10:20 a.m.: Ott Chandler-Kevin Daugherty; Kolby Slick-Nick Ledbetter
10:30 a.m.: Casey Harmon-Hunter Carr; Matt Greer-Jeff Chapman
10:40 a.m.: Jeff Noah-Kenny Fulmer; Mark Reeves-Nathan Hubbard
10:50 a.m.: Gage Miller-Sawyer Edwards; Mark McCaig-Tanner Wells
11 a.m.: Clay Calkins-Chris Hubbard; Timmy Woodard-Chase Thomas
11:10 a.m.: Jake Nichols-Randy Lipscomb; Greg Shultz-David Sanders
11:20 a.m.: Gage Ledbetter-Bumper Jones; Will Wilcox-Josh Chapple
11:30 a.m.: Zach Contris-Cole Contris; Patrick Cooper-Shawn Ledbetter
11:40 a.m.: Ty Cole-Gary Wigington; Layton Bussey-Dustin Travis
11:50 a.m.: Brennan Clay-Jeremy McGatha; Stephen Keen-Dawson Day
Noon: Brandon Hammond-John Harman; Jason Johnson-Landon Straub
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