Taking the fifth
- Updated: July 21, 2019
Cole wins fifth Etowah Open title in record fashion, wins for the fourth time this season on the Calhoun County Golf Tour
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
GLENCOE – The newest event on the Calhoun County Golf Tour has a familiar champion.
Ty Cole added to his collection of County Tour wins Sunday when he won the Etowah Open for the second time in three years and fifth time since 2009 in record fashion at the Links at Briarmeade.
Cole shot a final-round 64 and finished with a tournament-record 127. He won by seven shots over Jeremy McGatha, the player with whom he shared the lead at the start of the day, and nine over third-place Gary Wigington.
It was his record-tying fourth win on the Calhoun County Tour this year, virtually locking up Player of the Year honors with two events to play. It also moved him to the top of the County Tour all-time wins list with 17.
He’s won the Etowah Open in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2017 and 2019. Stanley Hawkins has won it 11 times. Scott Smith has won it 10.
The win took away the sting of last week’s fifth-place finish at the Sunny King Charity Classic, which he and Wigington had won the previous three years in a row. Cole said that wasn’t as much a factor in the dominating win at Briarmeade as much as fixing a flaw in his setup that led to more solid play.
“I just fixed it,” he said. “It wasn’t some big secret. My posture was bad and when my posture gets bad I come over the top of it.”
Cole hit 19 fairways and 25 greens on the weekend and got around in 24 putts each day. He may have missed 11 greens over the two days but got up and down for par or better all 11 times. He made 15 birdies.
“I told Luke (Armstrong) last night I’m going to go out and try to shoot 59,” he said. “Maybe in the back of your mind you think OK you’ve got a two-shot lead after two holes, but at the end of the day I’m just trying blister the thing. In spots it was really good and in spots it was just god-awful.”
The separation in the round came on the second hole when Cole birdied and McGatha bogeyed after his approach shot into the par-4 caught a tree.
“I got greedy,” McGatha said. “I told Brennan (Clay, his cart partner) I was going to go low and then I saw an opening to try to hook one around and when I hooked it it hit the tree limb and kicked straight down.”
McGatha has finished second 16 times now since the County Tour began in 2007, and he has played in all 97 events. It’s the fourth time he has been in the top three this year and sixth time since winning the 2017 County Championship. The only Tour events he hasn’t had a runner-up finish since its inception are the Gadsden Invitational, which has only been on the schedule two years, and the King of The Hill at Anniston Municipal, which isn’t played anymore.
“I had my chances; how many putts did I just barely miss,” McGatha said. “Even if I’d have made them all I still would have had a hard time catching him. … If Ty’s hitting the ball the way he’s hitting it, the only thing we can do is play better. It’s hard to beat him.”
While the trees took a toll on McGatha early in the round, they were kind to Cole. The winner got two big breaks out of the trees to keep his round going. The hardwoods threw what would have been wayward tee shots back into the fairway on holes 7 and 10, and he took advantage of the break to make birdie each time to extend his lead.
“Anybody who has ever won a tournament you don’t just hit it good all the time,” Cole said. “You look at the British Open or any other PGA Tour event the guy who wins the tournament at some point he got some kind of break. It might not have mattered this week but normally whoever wins a tournament they get some sort of break and if they take advantage of it it’s even better.”
NOTES: Cole has not made a bogey in his last 45 Etowah Open holes … The old tournament record was 133 by Scott Smith in 2008 … Wigington climbed into third place with a 66; he birdied three of his last four holes. Championship B winner Tee Brown also shot 66 in the final round … It was the fourth time this Tour season Cole has shot 64 or better … Cole won four times on the Tour last year as well … The next event on the Tour schedule is the Pine Hill Invitational next weekend. Call the pro shop to register … The County Match Play Championship will be the 100th event in the Tour’s history … McGatha is the only player to have played in all 97 events.
Etowah Open
At the Links at Briarmeade
Final scores
Championship A
Ty Cole 63-64—127
Jeremy McGatha 63-71—134
Gary Wigington 70-66—136
Brennan Clay 69-70—139
Shawn Ledbetter 68-73—141
Zack Contris 69-73—142
Chad Hare 70-72—142
Chris Cox 71-72—143
Scott Smith 72-71—143
Brian Baugh 71-74—145
Devin Downs 71-77—148
Championship B
Tee Brown 72-66—138
Brad Connor 73-68—141
Frank Brady 74-72—146
Sam Bone 72-74—146
Chad Reavis 72-76—148
Chris Leonhardt 72-76—148
Mason Dennis 72-77—149
Brock McNeely 74-77-151
Mark Spurlock 72-79—151
Jeff McRae 74-78—152
Clay Calkins 74-79—153
Drew Anderton 74-83—157
Championship C
Michael Rich 76-70—146
Neal Keener 76-71—147
Andrew Brooks 75-73—148
Blake Grisham 75-73—149
Justin Graveman 75-74—149
Stanley Hawkins 78-73—151
Chad Calvert 75-78—153
Harrison Hughston 76-78—154
Bumper Jones77-77—154
Matt Rogers 76-81—157
Kyle Rosenbauer 78-91—169
Championship D
Cole Contris 80-79—159
Justin Graham 85-76—161
Scott Medders 83-80—163
Casey Harmon 82-82—164
Trent Ralston 81-83—164
Chris Holderfield 81-84—165
Greg Hare 82-84—166
Kevin Lipscomb 83-88—171
Andrew Lang 89-82—171
Eric Hoskins 82-94—176
Blake Lipscomb 99-98—197
Jake Ball 80-WD
Trevor Hamilton 111-WD
Randy Lipscomb DQ
First flight
Brad Baird 69-71—140
Ron McClellan 73-74—147
Mike Estes 75-73—148
Doug Gardner 70-79—149
Larry Gilchrist 75-74—149
Frank Barnes 73-80—153
Greg Davenport 75-79—154
Craig Colvard 76-80—156
Wayne Downey 76-80—156
Wesley Watkins 73-83—156
Chuck Medders 75-83—158
Jay Shields 77-82—159
Second flight
Jason Shields 81-74—155
Craig Graves 78-78—156
Dustin Underwood 81-75—156
Chris Sanford 79-77—156
Justin Wood 79-77-156
Wayne Ball 80-77—157
Gary Hopper 80-79—159
Phillip Eades 78-82—160
Derek Epperson 81-80—161
Lee Vinson 81-81—162
Richard Johnson 82-80—162
Jamie Betterton 82-83—165
Third flight
Kenny Fulmer 83-79—162
Frankie Leath 88-77—165
George Morris 86-80—166
Dani Bone 85-83—168
Paul Allen 86-86—172
Dale Owens 84-92—176
Josh Colvard 83-94—177
Casey Downs 88-92—180
Kelly Rogers 93-87—180
Gary Singleton 104-94—198
Blake Erwin 83-WD
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