LeCroy repeats

South Alabama junior pulls away on Backbreaker 9 to win RTJ Championship at Silver Lakes for second year in a row

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

SILVER LAKES – The crew at Silver Lakes that set up the golf course Sunday moved the tees up on the first hole of the Backbreaker to bring some fun, excitement, risk and drama to the start of the back nine. It did what it meant to do.

Only one shot separated Jacob LeCroy and Alex Harper at the top of the leaderboard when the final group reached the now drivable par-4. When they walked off the green, LeCroy’s lead was four and the South Alabama junior was on his way to winning the RTJ Championship for the second year in a row by a wide margin.

LeCroy shot a final-round 69 and had a two-putt birdie on 18 to put an exclamation point on a 10-under-par 134. Because of the way the back nine unfolded, he won by six shots over Gary Wigington and seven over Brennan Clay, who raced up the leaderboard from the First Flight with the best round of the day (65). Harper finished tied for sixth overall.

“I’m excited to go back-to-back,” LeCroy said. “I showed up that first day and played an unbelievable round of golf and that kind of catapulted me (to the win).”

Last year he needed birdie on the final hole to win and did them one better with an eagle at the last to win by two. This year’s tournament turned out to be not as stressful, but that didn’t stop him from grinding all the way to the end.

The tournament turned when the group turned from the Heartbreaker to Backbreaker. By the time LeCroy and Harper made the turn, they had put some distance between themselves and their playing partners and separated themselves from the rest of the field. It looked like it was going to be a two-man shootout on the back nine.

Moving the tee up on Backbreaker 1 gave players the option to roll the dice. LeCroy pulled out a driver and his his shot off the tee found the deep bunker in front of the green. Harper tried to hit a trapped 5-iron safely up the fairway, but pull hooked it right to the edge of the left grassy hazard.

Standing in the high grass, he tried to make the smart recovery, but the shot came out hot and found the tall stuff left of the green. He made solid contact on his flop shot, but it caught a small limb and knocked down. His recovery didn’t make it to the green and it took him two to get it in the hole for double-bogey 6.

LeCroy, meanwhile, blasted out of the bunker to 10 feet behind the hole and made the putt for birdie. He went to 9-under and Harper fell to 5.

“I thought it was the right play overall,” he said. “I’d rather be in the bunker than the rough. I didn’t hit it good and wound up in the bunker and probably the only bad thing that could happen is getting a bad lie. I had a decent lie and I had to get it up pretty quick.” 

Harper’s trouble didn’t end there. He bogeyed five of the next six holes and fell off the pace.

It wasn’t that the Backbreaker 1 totally deflated him mentally. The swing flaw he had been trying to fix for the longest time and stayed away for 27 holes just emerged at the worst possible time.

“I made four of those hooks swings and it cost me five or six shots,” he said. “Four bad swings I’ve been working with Jammie (Lett) at Cider Ridge to fix because that’s the mistake I’ve been making since college.

“The same thing happened at Cider Ridge. I finished the tournament there 5-over and had a 10 and three doubles; do the math. I’m 8-under if you eliminate those and every one of them were flip hooks. But it’s getting better because I played 27 holes (here) without hitting a flip hook.”

While it might not have happened for him Sunday, Harper, who caddies for former PGA and Korn Ferry Tour pro Willy Wilcox, had nothing but praise for the way LeCroy golfed his ball.

“Jacob truly has the golf swing, speed, fundamentals and extension through impact of a Tour player,” he said. “And the two guys he works with are PGA/Korn Ferry players’ coaches, so he’s getting top-end instruction. No doubt he’s got aa legit chance to play for a living. I hope to see it.”

NOTES: Since 2018 LeCroy has played six events on the Calhoun County Golf Tour. He has three wins and two thirds … The runner-up finish was Wigington’s 30^th since joining the CCGT … Clay’s 65 featured six birdies, a bogey and a hole-out from the bunker for eagle on Heartbreaker 7. He played the par-5s in 5-under Sunday. “It’s amazing what you do when you play the par-5s great, which out here you have to do to play good,” he said. Clay has finished third in each of his two CCGT starts this season … The next event on the CCGT is the Wilfred Galbraith Anniston CC Invitational June 3-5.

RTJ Championship

(Heartbreaker-Backbreaker)
CHAMPIONSHIIP A
Jacob LeCroy	65	69	134
Gary Wigington	68	72	140
Dane Moore	69	73	142
Zach Contris	71	71	142
Dalton Chandler	72	71	143
Alex Harper	66	77	143
Jeremy McGatha	72	75	147
Harrison Hughston	70	78	148
CHAMPIONSHIP B
Landon Straub	75	69	144
Nick Lee	74	72	146
Jason Britton	75	72	147
Will Reaves	74	75	149
Corey Ray	74	76	150
Chris Cox	73	77	150
Chandler Richards	75	76	151
Luke Armstrong	74	78	152
Chad Calvert	73	80	153
Layton Bussey	73	80	153
Nick Ledbetter	73	80	153
Clay Calkins	75	79	154
Cain Hollingsworth	74	82	156
FIRST FLIGHT
Brennan Clay	76	65	141
Jeff Chapman	77	74	151
Shawn Ledbetter	77	75	152
Randy Reaves	77	76	153
Daily Thomas	78	77	155
Randy Lipscomb	77	78	155
Chase Hollingsworth	76	79	155
Jody Wooten	77	79	156
Casey Harmon	77	81	158
Matt Rogers	76	87	163
Jake Goggans	76	88	164
Hunter Carr	78	87	165
SECOND FLIGHT
Mason Dennis	80	72	152
Morton Holcomb	79	75	154
Ott Chandler	80	77	157
Chris Sanford	79	78	157
Alex Argo	79	79	158
Tanner Wells	79	79	158
Patrick Cooper	81	79	160
Robert Daniel	81	80	161
Cole Contris	81	83	164
Trent Ralston	79	86	165
Mike Hughston	81	85	166
Vance Lewis	79	92	171
Jake Williams	81	94	175
Ted Heim	80	95	175
Cole McNeal	80	100	180
THIRD FLIGHT
Jeff Bain	83	75	158
Michael Casey	84	74	158
Corey Mize	82	79	161
Ethan Davis	84	80	164
Joseph Hedgepeth	82	82	164
Zack Graham	85	83	168
Daniel Black	83	85	168
Mike Lett	86	85	171
Tyler Romine	85	82	172
Jared Patterson	86	87	173
Joe Williams	83	90	173
Cliff Tucker	82	92	174
Matt Greer	84	92	176
Noah Huckeba	86	91	177
FOURTH FLIGHT
Logan Forrester	88	78	166
Nathan Williams	90	82	172
Dre Davenport	87	86	173
Jason Payne	88	86	174
Mike Ledbetter	90	86	176
Jeff Noah	87	90	177
Craig Graves	92	89	181
Kevin Godshall	91	92	183
Bill Gilchrist	87	96	183
Mason Aulsbrook	92	93	185
David Scruggs	89	97	186
FIFTH FLIGHT
Cam Hurst	98	80	178
Danny Casey	94	88	182
Parker Staton	93	90	183
Fisher Prichard	101	90	191
Scott Jimmerson	93	101	194
Gavin Johnson	102	95	197
Kenny Fulmer	94	104	198
Mark Rains	108	102	210
Marlee Hedgepeth	104	107	211
Keith Hutcheson	112	100	212
Andy Lang	108	108	216
Tyrell Tucker	99	WD	WD

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