County Two-Man
- Updated: April 2, 2023
Hammond-Harman master ‘fluke hole,’ finish strong to get sweet ‘redemption’ to win second Calhoun County Team Championship in three years
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
SILVER LAKES — A “fluke hole” cost Brandon Hammond and John Harman a chance to repeat in the Calhoun County Team championship last year. A birdie Sunday helped them gain “redemption.”
The Carrollton, Ga., tandem shot 10-under-par 62 Sunday at Silver Lakes to complete a 22-under finish for the two-round event and won for the second time in three years.
They beat Brennan Clay-Jeremy McGatha by three shots and Jason Johnson-Landon Straub by four to once again master the one area tournament in which they play.
“I think it’s just the course itself,” Harman said. “It fits our eye. … Also, too, the competition that this tournament brings. We played with a tour pro yesterday, and there’s just a lot of good talent.
“That attracts us. We love good competition.”
Hammond-Harman entered Sunday’s round at 12 under, two shots ahead of Clay-McGatha and Johnson-Straub.
The visitors from the east were co-leaders after the first round last year and led going into the day’s 15th hole. They had played a seven-hole stretch midway through the round in 7-under and held as much as a three-shot lead on the back nine.
The round’s 15th hole was Heartbreaker Course No. 6, a 343-yard, par-4 hole from the white tees. A double bogey there derailed Hammond-Harman last year, and Randy Lipscomb-Dane Moore won with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
Hammond-Harman finished one shot out of the playoff.
Fastforward a year later, and Hammond called the mishap a “fluke hole” after Saturday’s first round. They showed anxiety about it Sunday, starting with an eagle and matching their nearest competition at 5 under for the front nine.
“We started off pretty solid right out the gate, hitting just solid shots,” Hammond said. “We didn’t ever really have any questionable anything.
“It was just putting. We didn’t really roll it that great today. We made the putts that we really needed to make, but we didn’t make any that we shouldn’ve have made.”
When they reached the day’s 15th hole, those thoughts occurred. No, not those thoughts. They had no sense of foreboding.
“We stepped on the tee, and the only thought was we’re getting our revenge on this hole this year,” Harman said.
Said Hammond, “I’d been looking for that hole all day.”
Hammond stayed with the day’s trend of 2-iron on short par-4s and popped his shot over the bunker bulging into the fairway from the left side. He hit to within 70 yards of the pin.
Harman hit his driver to within the edge of the green. In the day’s “scamble” format, he putted in first.
“My partner looked at me and said, ‘I’m sure glad you made your putt,'” Harman said.
Hammonds’ lone lament?
“I wanted to make mine, but he’s already made his, so I just picked it up,” he said.
Knowing that the nearest competition was still close, the pair tried to flush a good result as well as they flushed a year-old bad one.
“We knew going into the back nine it (the lead) was two shots,” Hammond said. “We didn’t have anything to play with, so we had to keep our foot on the gas and keep attacking the attackable pins and make some putts.”
After finishing the job, redemption “feels good,” Hammond said with a grin.
“Pretty danged good,” Harman said.
Harman, a tall left-hander, played baseball and pitched for Western Kentucky University, graduating in 2016. He worked in sales in Bowling Green, Ky., before moving back to his native Georgia.
Harman and Hammond met 10 years ago while playing in the same pairings at Carrollton’s Sunset Hills Country Club. They play together and practice together “a lot,” Harman said.
“We help each other as much as possible,” Hammond said. “I want to see him succeed worse than I want to, and he’s about the same way.
“Iron sharpens iron, and we love each other like we’re brothers. When I met him, he was really good, and I wanted to be around him.”
The Calhoun County Team Championship is the one local team event that both can make. The Sunny King Charity Classic comes in September and conflicts with their club championship.
“We’ve been asked multiple times,” said Hammond, who played in the Sunny King nearly 30 years ago. “I’d love to play. I played in that tournament many years ago, and it was a lot of fun.”
Cover photo: John Harman (left) and Brandon Hammond hold their prizes Sunday after completing their second Calhoun County Team Championship in three years. (Photo by Joe Medley)
| Calhoun County Team Championship | |||||
| CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT | Place | Par | Rd1 | Rd2 | Total |
| Hammond-Harman | 1 | -22 | 60 | 62 | 122 |
| Clay-McGatha | 2 | -19 | 62 | 63 | 125 |
| Johnson-Straub | 3 | -18 | 62 | 64 | 126 |
| Cole-Wigington | 4 | -15 | 64 | 65 | 129 |
| Keen-Day | 5 | -15 | 63 | 66 | 129 |
| Bussey-Travis | 6 | -13 | 64 | 67 | 131 |
| Cooper-Ledbetter | 7 | -13 | 64 | 67 | 131 |
| Contris-Contris | 8 | -12 | 64 | 68 | 132 |
| FIRST FLIGHT | |||||
| Wilcox-Chapple | 1 | -16 | 66 | 62 | 128 |
| Reeves-Hubbard | 2 | -15 | 68 | 61 | 129 |
| Nichols-Lipscomb | 3 | -10 | 66 | 68 | 134 |
| Shultz-Sanders | 4 | -10 | 67 | 67 | 134 |
| Calkins-Hubbard | 5 | -9 | 67 | 68 | 135 |
| Miller-Edwards | 6 | -9 | 68 | 67 | 135 |
| Harmon-Carr | 7 | -8 | 68 | 68 | 136 |
| Noah-Fulmer | 8 | -7 | 68 | 69 | 137 |
| McCaig-Wells | 9 | -7 | 68 | 69 | 137 |
| Greer-Chapman | 10 | -5 | 68 | 71 | 139 |
| Ledbetter-Jones | 11 | -3 | 66 | 75 | 141 |
| Woodard-Thomas | 12 | E | 68 | 76 | 144 |
| SECOND FLIGHT | |||||
| Slick-Ledbetter | 1 | -6 | 69 | 69 | 138 |
| Chandler-Daugherty | 2 | -6 | 69 | 69 | 138 |
| Coffey-Winningham | 3 | -5 | 71 | 68 | 139 |
| Rogers-Brooks | 4 | -5 | 70 | 69 | 139 |
| Cox-Hill | 5 | -4 | 71 | 69 | 140 |
| Hollingsworth-Holley | 6 | -3 | 71 | 70 | 141 |
| Eaton-Maye | 7 | -3 | 71 | 70 | 141 |
| Messer-Dyar | 8 | -2 | 71 | 71 | 142 |
| Sanford-Green | 9 | -1 | 72 | 71 | 143 |
| Chandler-Chandler | 10 | -1 | 72 | 71 | 143 |
| Patterson-Mize | 11 | +1 | 72 | 73 | 145 |
| Betts-Betts | 12 | +2 | 69 | 77 | 146 |
| THIRD FLIGHT | |||||
| McCarley-McCarley | 1 | -3 | 73 | 68 | 141 |
| Sisk-Maples | 2 | -2 | 74 | 68 | 142 |
| Thomas-Dennis | 3 | -1 | 75 | 68 | 143 |
| Craft-Peeples | 4 | +1 | 73 | 72 | 145 |
| Wooten-Scott | 5 | +2 | 75 | 71 | 146 |
| Gaines-Jenkins | 6 | +2 | 74 | 72 | 146 |
| Weaver-Kennamer | 7 | +2 | 73 | 73 | 146 |
| Jones-Jones | 8 | +4 | 74 | 74 | 148 |
| Rankin-Parris | 9 | +4 | 74 | 74 | 148 |
| Williams-Davenport | 10 | +5 | 76 | 73 | 149 |
| Elliott-Elliott | 11 | +5 | 73 | 76 | 149 |
| Heim-Vernon | 12 | +9 | 77 | 76 | 153 |
| Roberts-Broome | 13 | +11 | 74 | 81 | 155 |
| Boyd-Veasey | 14 | +14 | 74 | 84 | 158 |
| FOURTH FLIGHT | |||||
| Ray-Sotelo | 1 | +10 | 80 | 74 | 154 |
| Jacobsen-Martin | 2 | +13 | 78 | 79 | 157 |
| Carpenter-Carpenter | 3 | +14 | 80 | 78 | 158 |
| Machowicz-Walker | 4 | +19 | 80 | 83 | 163 |
| Ledbetter-Okins | 5 | +21 | 80 | 85 | 165 |
| Tucker-Simmons | 6 | +29 | 86 | 87 | 173 |
| West-West | 86 | NC | |||
| Pritchett-Elder | 84 | NS |
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