Clay’s day
- Updated: August 4, 2024
Clay shoots final-round 64, overcomes leaders to win Dub Ellis Invitational going away, bags second consecutive victory on the Calhoun County Golf Tour
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
CENTRE — Two weeks ago, Brennan Clay wondered if he’d ever win again on the Calhoun County Golf Tour.
Two weeks later, with eight of nine points events in the books, he’s the 2024 Tour’s first multiple-event winner and just improved his prospects for a second player-of-the-year honor in three years.
Clay shot a 7-under-par 64 in Sunday’s final round of the Dub Ellis Invitational at Cherokee Pines and finished at 13-under 129 for the two-round tournament, beating runner up Dawson Garrett by five strokes.
Clay also won the Pine Hill Invitational a week prior to winning at Cherokee Pines. His victory at Pine Hill marked his first in a Tour points event since 2022, at Gadsden.
The victory comes less than 24 hours before the Clay’s 5-week-old son Walker is scheduled to undergo a procedure to treat pulmonary stenosis at Children’s Hospital, in Birmingham.
“I guess when you get a win, you’re kind of like, ‘OK, that’s great,'” Clay said. “I told my wife Friday, after winning, I need to get back in this weekend, get back in tournament zone. I’m not used to playing back-to-back weekends.
“Then, with Walker’s thing going on, I’ve got to get back in the zone. Yesterday, when I got out here, I didn’t think much about him. I tried to just get away from that for a minute and did a pretty good job.”
As for Clay’s prospects to win Tour player of the year, they got a lot better in two weeks.
The top four going into the weekend were Gary Wigington (1,412.5), John Rollins (1,382.5), Clay (1,312.5) and Jeremy McCatha (1,245). Ty Cole (925), the 2023 player of the year, was fifth.
Clay added another victory to his total. Rollins finished tied for fourth at 5 under, McGatha tied for eighth at 4 under and Wigington tied for 10th, at 1 under.
Cole shot 7-under 64 Saturday and entered Sunday tied with Garrett for a 1-shot lead. A Sunday 74 left Cole in a tie seventh, with McGatha and Tanner Wells.
The 88th Calhoun County Championship is Aug. 17-18 at Anniston Municipal, and points become points-and-a-half for the season’s final points event. McGatha won his fourth County Championship in 2023.
The gap between the top-four players will become more compact after the Dub Ellis.
“That’s really going to shrink now,” Clay said. “That’s going to be a fun weekend. It’s going to be close-close, which is good. I don’t know if we’ve ever had that many people. It’s usually down to two, and Ty has wrapped it up before the County before.”
If Clay were to prevail in the points, he’d go from a two-year winless streak to winning his second player of the year in three years.
Such is life on the 2024 Tour, where seven different players won the first seven points events. That includes three first-time winners.
As for the other contenders going into County, Wigington, Cole and Rollins have all won once.
Clay went into Sunday’s final round at Cherokee Pines tied with Rollins for second, one stroke back. It very quickly became Clay’s tournament after a string of three consecutive birdies, on Nos. 4,5 and 6.
He very nearly made it four in a row but missed a two-foot birdie putt on 7.
He rebounded with a 15-foot eagle putt on No. 9, taking a five-stroke lead.
“I was like, ‘OK, just keep in the fairway and out in front of you in the back,'” he said. “I did for the most part, with one bogey on the back.”
Clay bogeyed No. 13, and Garrett birdied to close within three strokes, but Clay birdied the two par-5s, 14 and 16.
“I hit the ball great both days,” Clay said. “I putted great. I had one short miss today and missed a par putt. I think I missed a short birdie yesterday, but overall, it was a good solid two days. I will take it. It was fun.”
2024 Calhoun County Golf Tour schedule
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), Brennan Clay
Aug. 17-18 – 88th Calhoun County Championship (Anniston Municipal), Jeremy McGatha (2023)
Sept. 28-29 – Calhoun County Match Play (Anniston Municipal), Gary Wigington (2023)
Final-round scores
| CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT | |||
| Brennan Clay | 65 | 64 | 129 |
| Dawson Garrett | 64 | 70 | 134 |
| Nick Sawyer | 66 | 70 | 136 |
| Mason Dennis | 66 | 71 | 137 |
| John Rollins | 65 | 72 | 137 |
| Matt Miller | 68 | 69 | 137 |
| Tanner Wells | 67 | 71 | 138 |
| Jeremy McGatha | 69 | 69 | 138 |
| Ty Cole | 64 | 74 | 138 |
| Chad Calvert | 67 | 73 | 140 |
| Gary Wigington | 67 | 73 | 140 |
| Lee Hubbard | 67 | 73 | 140 |
| Billy Thompson | 68 | 81 | 149 |
| Chris Reaves | 68 | 84 | 152 |
| FIRST FLIGHT | |||
| Chad Hare | 71 | 70 | 141 |
| Chase Hollingsworth | 71 | 70 | 141 |
| Dustin Travis | 72 | 70 | 142 |
| Robin Wood | 71 | 71 | 142 |
| Blake Grisham | 72 | 70 | 142 |
| Chris Sanford | 73 | 70 | 143 |
| Cam Hurst | 71 | 74 | 145 |
| Billy McCroskey | 73 | 72 | 145 |
| Caleb Marrow | 72 | 75 | 147 |
| Matt Rogers | 72 | 75 | 147 |
| Heath Hammond | 72 | 83 | 155 |
| Daily Thomas | 72 | WD | |
| SECOND FLIGHT | |||
| Hunter Carr | 74 | 70 | 144 |
| Scotty McFry | 75 | 72 | 147 |
| Jeff Noah | 74 | 74 | 148 |
| Sid Garrett | 75 | 74 | 149 |
| Caden Wood | 74 | 76 | 150 |
| Aaron Gregerson | 75 | 76 | 151 |
| Chance Harris | 75 | 77 | 152 |
| Mark Sawyer | 75 | 77 | 152 |
| Kole Chandler | 74 | 85 | 159 |
| Mark McCaig | 75 | WD | |
| THIRD FLIGHT | |||
| Wayne Garrett | 76 | 69 | 145 |
| Chris Cox | 77 | 72 | 149 |
| Bumper Jones | 78 | 73 | 151 |
| Houston Black | 76 | 76 | 152 |
| Paul Wynn | 76 | 77 | 153 |
| Grant Hockman | 77 | 76 | 153 |
| Kenny Fulmer | 77 | 77 | 154 |
| Dre Davenport | 76 | 79 | 155 |
| Will Bedwell | 76 | 84 | 160 |
| Jack Davis | 79 | 82 | 161 |
| FOURTH FLIGHT | |||
| Brian Johnson | 83 | 71 | 154 |
| Ross Johnson | 83 | 73 | 156 |
| Greg Hare | 81 | 82 | 163 |
| Mark Gaines | 83 | 80 | 163 |
| J.R. Young | 82 | 84 | 166 |
| Bear Jones | 83 | 85 | 168 |
| Devin Williams | 82 | 87 | 169 |
| Adam Cochran | 88 | 81 | 169 |
| Nathan Williams | 83 | 89 | 172 |
| Keith Hutcheson | 89 | 93 | 182 |
| Tim Fulmer | 83 | WD | 83 |
| Lou Williams | 96 | WD | 96 |
| Adam Benefiel | 102 | WD | 102 |
| SENIOR DIVISION | RD. 1 | RD. 2 | TOTAL |
| Clay Calkins | 64 | 69 | 133 |
| Tim Hill | 74 | 72 | 146 |
| Wilton Page | 76 | 76 | 152 |
| Johnny Neyman | 77 | 76 | 153 |
| Terry Tallent | 80 | 73 | 153 |
| Kurt Duryea | 74 | 81 | 155 |
| Steve Baker | 80 | 80 | 160 |
| Tony Graham | 85 | 87 | 172 |
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