Dreams on time

Following a pearl of wisdom from pro Schauffele, Clay finished off wire-to-wire victory in the Pine Hill Invitational.

By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today

PINE HILL — College Football 25 helped Brennan Clay escape pressure headed into Saturday’s first round of the Pine Hill Invitational, but he brought a bag of clubs and thoughts into Sunday’s final round.

Leading by three strokes and staring at the prospect of his first Calhoun County Tour victory since winning 2022, he felt nerves.

Son Walker’s pending heart procedure always lurks.

It all crystalized into a pearl of wisdom from professional golfer Xander Schauffele.

“Xander Schauffele said the reason he hadn’t won majors is he dreams too early,” Clay said. “I heard that Friday, and I said, ‘Man, that makes a lot of sense.'”

Those words of wisdom helped Clay get through a final-round challenge from Gary Wigington, and Clay paired Sunday’s 5-under-par 67 with Saturday’s 63 to finish 14 under par and win by four strokes.

Clay became the seventh winner in seven Calhoun County Tour points events this season. He did it while bagging his first Tour points victory since 2022, when he finished as the Tour’s player of the year.

A victory for the Clay, who came into the weekend fourth in the points and one of four players with more than 1,000 points, promises to tighten an already tight points race. Wigington, who finished second at 10-under-par 134, entered the weekend second to John Rollins and figures to gain ground.

Rollins, the leader by 25 points headed into Pine Hill, finished tied for fourth at 8-under 136.

Jeremy McGatha, third in points and 125 back of Rollins, went 5-under 139 for the tournament, tied for sixth.

Clay’s victory checked off emotional boxes. It’s a smile a week prior to 4-week-old son Walker’s procedure to treat pulmonary stenosis.

“That’s taken a lot of our time and mind, and this one’s for him,” Clay said.

The victory also ended a winless drought dating back to Gadsden in 2022.

“I didn’t think I was going to win again,” he said. “I was starting to get a lot of doubts.”

After a nine-birdie Saturday, doubt temped him Sunday. He went the first five holes without a birdie and bogeyed No. 4. He hit an 8-foot putt to save par on No. 2.

Meanwhile, perennial Tour contender Wigington hit two birdies in the first five holes to tie Clay at 8 under for the tourament.

Wigington, Clay and Andrew Brooks, all in the final foursome with Jeff Bain, birdied No. 6, and Clay settled into Schauffelefreude.

“I made my first birdie on 6, and I was like, ‘OK, now I can play,'” Clay said.

It was the first of three birdies in four holes to regain a two-shot lead, and Clay birdied No. 12 to go back up three. Wigington bidied No. 15 to come within two shots.

“Usually, that would be like, ‘Oh crap,’ but it wasn’t,” Clay said. “It was just, ‘Don’t dream too early. Just stay in the moment.”

All four players in the final foursome birdied No. 17, setting the stage for a rainy play through No. 18. Clay’s chip to set up a 2-foot birdie putt put an exclamation point on his victory.

“I’m glad that I executed,” Clay said. “It was fun.”

2024 Calhoun County Tour schedule/winners

Date – Tournament, Champion(s)
April 6-7 – County Two Man (Silver Lakes), Cole-Wigington
April 27-28 – Anniston City Championship (Cane Creek), Ty Cole
May 4-5 – The Trail Championship (Silver Lakes), Andrew Weathers
May 18-19 – Gadsden City Championship (Twin Bridges), John Rollins
May 31-June 2 – Wilfred Galbraith Invitational (ACC), Harrison Hughston
June 29-30 – Oxford City Championship (Cider Ridge), Gary Wigington
July 20-21 – Etowah County Open (Links at Briarmeade), Tee Brown
July 27-28 – Pine Hill Invitational, Brennan Clay
Aug. 3-4 – Dub Ellis Invitational (Cherokee Pines), new
Aug. 17-18 – 88th Calhoun County Championship (Anniston Municipal), Jeremy McGatha (2023)
Sept. 28-29 – Calhoun County Match Play (Anniston Municipal), Gary Wigington (2023)

Pine Hill final-round scores

CHAMPIONSHIP
PLAYER	RD. 1	RD. 2	TOTAL
Brennan Clay	63	67	130
Gary Wigington	66	68	134
Tanner Wells	69	66	135
Andrew Brooks	66	70	136
John Rollins	69	67	136
Jeremy McGatha	69	70	139
Chase Hollingsworth	69	70	139
Eric Messer	68	72	140
Chad Calvert	68	72	140
Jeff Bain	68	77	145
Matt Wilson	68	78	147
Mark Durden	68	82	150
FLIGHT 1
Sawyer Edwards	71	69	140
Randy Lipscomb	71	69	140
Nick Ledbetter	72	69	141
Eric Cannington	70	73	143
Wesley Jenkins	71	72	143
Josh Reynolds	72	74	146
Tony Hicks	72	75	147
Tyler Dopson	71	77	148
Cam Hurst	71	78	149
Chris Sanford	72	77	149
Carson Chandler	71	78	149
Jonathan Pate	70	WD
FLIGHT 2
Ty Cole	74	70	144
Jeff Noah	73	71	144
Josh Poole	74	70	144
Mark McCaig	73	72	145
Landon Straub	73	73	146
Robin Wood	73	76	149
Brayden Cochran	73	76	149
Doug Gardner	73	78	151
Ethan McCareeth	73	78	151
Daniel Black	73	78	151
Vann Hall	74	79	153
Clay Calkins	74	80	154
Billy Thompson	73	82	155
Landon Holley	74	91	165
Jason Payne	74	93	167
FLIGHT 3
Jason Johnson	77	71	148
Matt Rogers	76	74	150
Rodney Grubbs	77	75	152
Coleman Messer	77	76	153
Craig Duncan	77	77	154
Billy McCroskey	76	79	155
Maverick Smith	76	79	155
Chris Hubbard	77	79	156
Ryder Hudgins	76	81	157
Tom Liles	77	81	158
Chris Randall	77	82	159
Chris Reaves	77	83	160
Ted Gregerson	77	84	161
Greg Harrelson	76	86	162
Lamar Carter	76	89	165
FLIGHT 4
James Lett	80	70	150
Caden Wood	78	73	151
Hunter Carr	78	74	152
Bob Eaton	78	74	152
Hunter Fordham	78	74	152
Jared Waits	79	73	152
Will Brown	79	74	153
Dre Davenport	78	76	154
Cain Hollingsworth	79	75	154
Gage Miller	80	74	154
Danny Whittaker	78	78	156
Keaton Borrelli	80	76	156
Shane Lee	79	78	157
Ethan Turner	78	61	159
George Salmon	79	80	159
Houston Black	79	82	161
Chris Sprayberry	80	81	161
Brock Young	79	83	162
Heath Waldrop	80	82	162
Johnny Barnes	78	85	163
FLIGHT 5
Trevor Lane	81	76	157
Jay Whaley	81	77	158
David Coffey	81	78	159
Wade Richardson	81	80	161
Henry Pritchett	82	80	162
Bart Smith	81	83	164
Heath Hammond	83	81	164
Scott McFry	83	82	165
Sean Hayes	82	85	165
Sean Kline	82	85	167
Greg Rainey	83	86	169
Phillip Sanderson	84	85	169
Scott Watson	84	89	173
Ricky Carden	84	90	174
George Austin	84	91	175
FLIGHT 6
Joe Hedgepeth	86	77	163
Ray Doss	86	82	168
Austin Jones	89	80	169
Jimbo Phillips	86	84	170
David Medders Jr.	90	81	171
John Grubbs	87	85	172
Austin Grubbs	85	88	173
Courtney Loveless	87	87	174
Mike Ledbetter	90	85	175
Mikey Jones	91	88	179
Jeff Roszell	89	91	180
Tyler Rich	85	96	181
Bryan Beal	87	97	184
Keith Hutcheson	91	95	186
Jake Gilley	91	104	195
FLIGHT 7
Cole Chandler	94	83	177
Chris Hollingsworth	95	89	184
Spence Florczak	100	84	184
Dison Durden	92	95	187
Ken Renfroe	95	94	189
Marlee Hedgepeth	92	98	190
Adam Benefiel	93	101	194
Blake Jones	98	96	194
Jeremiah Boyd	105	93	198
Rob Jones	95	105	200
Jason Swope	104	97	201
Lincoln Forsyth	101	112	213
Kelly Rogers	93	WD
Tyler Jarrell	97	WD
SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Chip Howell	69	68	137
David Sanders	72	72	144
Kurt Duryea	74	73	147
Ted Heim	72	76	148
Greg Garner	73	76	149
Steve Davis	74	75	149
Robbie Hurst	75	76	151
Keith Haywood	75	77	152
David Messer	76	78	154
Rick Barthel	74	84	158
Jimmy Ingram	76	82	158
Tim Steward	76	84	160
SENIOR 1
Bob Feicht	77	74	151
Dennis Austin	80	72	152
Eddie Reese	79	79	158
Wilton Page	77	82	159
Bob McClain	80	79	159
Glenn Heathcock	83	79	162
Steve Williams	83	81	164
Steve Borrelli	83	84	167
David Medders Sr.	82	96	178
Allen Mangham	82	WD
SENIOR 2
Mike Thompson	84	84	168
Lee Clark	84	86	170
Steve Perry	84	86	170
Randall Doss	84	88	172
Frank Cobb	93	81	174
Rickey Hurst	91	86	177
Steve Smith	92	87	179
Robbie Robertson	91	95	186
Sam Morgan	98	96	194
Randy Liles	87	WD
Doug Sears	88	WD
Carter Gable	94	WD

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