Cole’s roll continues
- Updated: June 25, 2016
(Final update) Two-time defending champion Cole shoots 67, leads Silver Lakes by 1
Chad Calvert (L) watches Chad Reavis putt on the 16th green during Saturday’s first round of the Silver Lakes Championship.
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
SILVER LAKES — Ty Cole stood in the middle of the 16th fairway Saturday lamenting the fact he hadn’t made a birdie on the gettable par-5s all day.
When he walked off the green of his final par-5 of the day he still hadn’t made a birdie on the scoreable holes – but he added to his lead.
Huh? If you hadn’t figured by now, Cole made eagle on the hole, chipping in from below the green, to get his round to 5-under-par and the number he eventually posted to take the first-round lead of the Silver Lakes Championship.
Cole’s bogey-free 67 was one shot better than former Anniston Country Club pro Kevin Daugherty and Georgia amateur P.J. Shields, and two shots better than Alexandria’s Dalton Chandler. Chase Cole of Trenton, Ga., is alone in fifth (70) and three players, including former Silver Lakes pro Brennan Clay and Ryan Huff’s first-ever round under-par, are at 71.
“I hit it good all day, pretty much,” Cole said. “I mean, on the par-5s on the front I put myself in position that was hard to make birdie – one with the tee ball, one with the second shot and 10 I three-putted.
“As short as the golf course played you need to be 2- or 3-under on the par-5s; at least I had other chances on the par-4s. I could’ve probably been one shot worse today, that’s about it. I hit it god enough where 4-under was about as bad as I could’ve played.”
He finally broke through the par-5s with the eagle on 16 (Heartbreaker 7). He hit his second shot partway up the slope that elevates the green, and then chipped the next shot into the hole.
“When I saw where it landed and saw it roll I said that’s got a chance to go in and if it doesn’t it’ll be like a foot (from the hole),” he said. “When it went in I was like, ‘I still haven’t made a birdie on a par-5.”
That’s what happens when you’re on a roll. Cole has won the last three tournaments he’s played – last week’s Gadsden CC Invitational, the amateur side of the Fort McClellan Credit Union Pro-Invitational at Cane Creek the week before and the Cherokee County CC Two-Man with Gary Wigington Memorial Day weekend where he said he “found a little something” that sharpened his game. He has led or had a share of the lead after eight of those nine rounds.
“I’m hitting it pretty good right now, rolling it pretty good with the putter,” he said. “We’re going to see how long we can ride it. Hopefully it’ll last for the rest of the season … the Sunny King and the couple Tour events we have left. If it ain’t broke, I ain’t going to try to fix it.”
Daugherty has a second and a third among his three Calhoun County Golf Tour starts and put himself in contention for his first win by stringing together three straight birdies in the middle of the Mindbreaker side. He went to 4-under with a birdie on Heartbreaker 1 and then parred his way home.
He hit 13 fairways and 16 greens and for the most part avoided “the stupid stuff” that wound up costing him in the long run.
“It’s about time (to win),” he said. “That was kind of my goal this year, to win at least one of our Calhoun County (Tour events) this year; I’m running out of chances. I’ve had some good tournaments – I’m close — somewhere in there I keep making a few mistakes that cost me two or three shots that at the end of the tournament they’re big.”
Shields made four birdies in a row on Mindbreaker 5 through 8 and turned in 5-under, but didn’t make any birdies on what he thought were considerably faster greens on the Heartbreaker nine. He played the side in 1-over-37.
Chandler got off to a similarly fast start. He had five birdies and was 5-under through eight holes, but took a three-putt bogey on Mindbreaker No. 9 to turn at 4-under and played the Heartbreaker in 37.
“It was good early,” he said. “Even after that I didn’t play bad, it’s just I could never get it back going for some reason.”
Jeff Borrelli and Matt Rogers both were on the verge of taking deep. Borrelli was 3-under through 13 holes, then the heat of the day caught up to him and he went bogey-double-bogey over the next three holes. Rogers birdied four of his first five holes, then fell back with a double bogey on Mindbreaker No. 9 and bogeyed Heartbreaker 8 and 9 trying to finesse wedges close to close.
Rogers finished at 71, Borrelli at 73. Both will be playing Sunday from the Championship Flight tees (6,655 yards). The rest of the field will be playing it even shorter than they all did Saturday – 6,069 yards.
“Anything under par is good for me right now because I hadn’t been playing well at all,” Rogers said. “I’ve got a few things I figured out.”
Borrelli, meanwhile, was feeling less than pleased.
“It’s the easiest day we’ve ever had out here,” he said. “I left a bunch of them out there – and I don’t get to say that often.”
SILVER LAKES CHAMPIONSHIP
First round scores
Championship flight
Ty Cole 34-33—67
Kevin Daugherty 33-35—68
P.J. Shields 31-37—68
Dalton Chandler 32-37—69
Chase Cole 36-34—70
Ryan Huff 35-36—71
Matt Rogers 34-37—71
Brennan Clay 35-36—71
Cypress Hathron 36-36—72
Gary Wigington 37-36—73
Jeremy McGatha 37-36—73
Lance Evans 39-34—73
Jeff Borrelli 35-38—73
Caleb Bowen 36-37—73
First flight
Billy Thompson 35-39—74
Scott Martin 37-37—74
Adrian Geeting 35-39—74
Chad Calvert 41-34—75
Corey Ray 36-39—75
Doug East 37-38—75
Jake Goggans 39-38—77
Chad Reavis 40-37—77
Chris Maye 39-38—77
Brandon Roberts 36-41—77
Dustin Travis 39-39—78
Janson Wilborn 40-39—79
Clay Calkins 39-40—79
Second flight
Austin Minter 35-45—80
Benji Turley 40-40—80
Alan Darnall 37-44—81
Clayton Chandler 40-41—81
Cain Hollingsworth 39-42—81
Timmy Woodard 38-44—82
Luke Armstrong 41-41—82
Brian Woodfin 42-40—82
Andrew Brooks 41-41—82
Daniel Black 43-40—83
Jono Waugh 40-43—83
Jeff Bain 43-41—84
Allan Mangham 44-40—84
Chase Thomas 43-42—85
Third flight
Tim Steward 43-43—86
Dustin Underwood 43-43—86
Marty Branson 42-44—86
Jarrod Smith 47-40—87
Dan McClellan 41-46—87
Andrew Picton 45-42—87
Adams Carns 45-43—88
Johnny Tucker 46-43—89
Casey Harmon 47-44—91
Rob Riddle 45-47—92
Kelly Rogers 49-45—94
Curtis Barker 45-50—95
LEADERS SCORECARDS
(Mindbreaker-Heartbreaker)
Player 534 354 444 36 544 434 534 36 72
T. Cole 534 354 334 34 544 433 334 33 67
Daugherty 534 343 344 33 444 434 534 35 68
Shields 434 343 334 31 544 435 534 37 68
Chandler 433 343 435 32 544 425 535 37 69
Sunday’s pairings
7:30 a.m. — Curtis Barker, Marty Branson, Kelly Rogers
7:40 — Rob Riddle, Casey Harmon, Johnny Tucker, Adam Carns
7:50 — Andrew Picton, Jarrod Smith, Dustin Underwood, Tim Steward
8:00 — Chase Thomas, Allan Mangham, Jeff Bain
8:10 — Jono Waugh, Daniel Black, Timmy Woodard
8:20 — Andrew Brooks, Brian Woodfin, Luke Armstrong, Cain Hollingsworth
8:30 — Clayton Chandler, Alan Darnall, Benji Turley, Austin Minter
8:40 — Clay Calkins, Chris Maye, Dustin Travis, Janson Wilborn
8:50 — Chad Calvert, Chad Reavis, Jake Goggans
9:00 — Doug East, Corey Ray, Brandon Roberts
9:10 — Adrian Geeting, Scott Martin, Billy Thompson
9:20 — Jeff Borrelli, Caleb Bowen, Lance Evans
9:30 — Jeremy McGatha, Gary Wigington, Cypress Hathorn
9:40 — Brennan Clay, Matt Rogers, Ryan Huff, Chase Cole
9:50 — Dalton Chandler, P.J. Shields, Kevin Daugherty, Ty Cole
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