Breakthroughs

Georgia native Rollins prevails for first Calhoun County Golf Tour victory, and White Plains grad Jason Rich has ‘by far’ his best Tour outing for third

By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today

When John Rollins stops sawing logs at 5:30 a.m. Monday to go cut logs for a living, he’ll wear a grin wider than two-man saw.

When Jason Rich awakens to deliver food, he’ll be the happiest 2 a.m. riser driving a truck east of the Mississippi River.

Both men made huge breakthroughs on the Calhoun County Golf Tour this weekend, with Rollins scoring his first Tour victory in the Pine Hill Invitational and Rich scoring his Tour-best third-place finish.

Rollins shot a 4-under-par 68 Sunday to back up his 65 from Saturday to beat Ty Cole by four shots. Cole finished second after winning the past two Tour events, on the Links at Briarmeade and at Cider Ridge.

A cutter operator for Triple J, in Summerville, Ga., Rollins is playing his first season on the Calhoun County Tour. He’s also on a roll, having finished third and Briarmeade a week prior to winning at Pine Hill.

He was ninth in Tour points before Pine Hill. The 2023 Tour wraps up with the Calhoun County Championship on Aug. 19-20 at Anniston Municipal.

A former high school state champion and winner of two junior-college events for Northwest Georgia Technical College, Rollins called the Calhoun County Tour “a little bit better” than what he’s used to in Georgia.

After emerging victorious in foursome that included Cole, Brennan Clay and Chad Calvert, Rollins called it “the best feeling in the world ever.”

“Them guys, they’re hounds,” he said. “To be in the final group and win is great. It’s great.”

Rollins entered the final round with a one-stroke lead over Clay and Cole and trailed briefly, after Clay chipped in from 25 feet on No. 4 to reach 8 under. Rollins birdied No. 7 to draw even with Clay at 8 under then regained a one-shot lead after the turn.

After bogeying No. 13 to fall back into a tie with Clay, Rollins hit a 15-foot birdie putt on 14 to take the lead for good.

“Finally, I got the long putt to go on the par-4 on the back,” Rollins said. “That really got me going, after that bogey.”

Rollins finished with a birdie, chipping from 15 yards to within 2 feet and tapping in after Clay teed into the woods.

“I was nervous on that last hole, trying to figure out what I needed to hit,” Rollins said. “I was telling them, I need to hit less club because my adrenaline was up so much because Brennan is a great golfer, and he took a bad break on that hole.

“I’ve been there, done that.”

Clay scored a 9 on 18, helping Rich achieve his best Tour finish.

Rich shot 70-68—138 and waited out the finish at the clubhouse. He had the low score before the final foursome finished.

He started on No. 10 and birdied. After leaving a putt short on 11, he went on what he described as “a bit of a birdie rampage” on the back nine.

The third-place finish was quite a coups for the long-time Pine Hill member and 2008 White Plains High graduate who described himself as “a nobody” in high school golf.

“I didn’t get a college scholarship,” he said. “I didn’t start getting a lot better at this game until later on in life. I just kept on playing, no lessons, and got better.

“It seems like, out here, for whatever reason, the last couple of months, I just can’t play bad out here. That’s not the case, if I go to Silver Lakes or Cider Ridge.”

Rich didn’t get to celebrate long. The final round concluded about 6 p.m., and he has to be up at 2 a.m. Monday to get ready to make his delivery rounds for Sysco.

Sleep or no sleep, he’ll be one happy delivery man.

“This is by far the best I’ve ever done,” he said. “This is, like, one of the best days of my life, to be honest with you. This the first time I’ve made the Championship A Flight and played incredible, considering the pressure.”

Scores

CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
PLAYER	RD. 1	RD. 2	TOTAL
John Rollins	65	68	133
Ty Cole	66	71	137
Jason Rich	70	68	138
Brennan Clay	66	73	139
Chad Calvert	68	71	139
Jonathan Pate	69	71	140
Vance Lewis	69	73	142
Jeremy McGatha	69	73	142
Hunter Carr	69	74	143
Dalton Faulkner	69	76	145
Sawyer Edwards	68	78	146
Jeff Noah	70	76	146
Bob Eaton	70	77	147
FIRST FLIGHT
Gary Wigington	71	66	137
Billy McCroskey	71	70	141
Janson Wilborn	71	71	142
Matt Evans	71	72	143
Chase Hollingsworth	72	71	143
Mason Dennis	72	71	143
Tanner Wells	72	71	143
Nick Ledbetter	72	73	145
Clay Calkins	71	75	146
Daniel Black	72	75	147
Tyler Romine	71	77	148
Randy Lipscomb	72	76	148
Casey Harmon	72	77	148
Kenny Okins	71	WD
SECOND FLIGHT
Mark McCaig	74	70	144
Andrew Brooks	73	72	145
Bradley Elliott	75	72	147
Caleb Bowen	74	73	147
Layton Bussey	75	72	147
Eric Cannington	73	76	149
Samuel Wallace	75	74	149
Coleman Messer	75	75	150
Cain Hollingsworth	74	76	150
Seth Wallace	73	78	151
Billy Thompson	75	76	151
Dustin Travis	74	78	152
Chris Reaves	75	77	152
Josh Poole	73	80	153
Josh Reynolds	75	78	153
Nick Hubbad	75	79	154
THIRD FLIGHT
Matt Wilson	77	68	145
Shannon Page	76	71	147
Landon Winfrey	77	71	148
Mark Durden	76	74	150
Cam Hurst	77	73	150
Tim Turner	77	75	152
Riley Boyd	77	76	153
Greg Shultz	77	76	153
Ethan Davis	76	78	154
Matt Rogers	76	78	154
Heath Hammond	76	79	155
Logan Watson	77	80	157
Chris Hubbard	77	80	157
Zac Goss	77	81	158
Bart Smith	76	86	162
FOURTH FLIGHT
Daily Thomas	78	73	151
Will Brown	78	74	152
Luke Armstrong	79	74	153
Caleb Morrow	79	77	156
Chris Randall	79	77	156
Wesley Jenkins	79	78	157
Jared Waits	79	78	157
Doug Huie	79	80	159
Chance Harris	78	81	159
Shane Lee	78	82	160
Brian Edwards	79	82	161
Daniel Ricks	79	88	167
Joe Hedgepeth	78	WD
Trevor Lane	79	WD
Brad Baird	79	WD
FIFTH FLIGHT
Craig Duncan	80	74	154
Sean Kline	81	74	155
Zack Limberis	82	76	158
Houston Black	80	78	158
Tony Hicks	80	79	159
Chris Sprayberry	82	77	159
Ethan McCareeth	82	78	160
Chris Maye	81	79	160
Jason Payne	82	80	162
Chad Mullinax	82	81	163
Terry Cobb	81	83	164
Keaton Borrelli	81	84	165
Heath Waldrop	81	84	165
Ethan Turner	82	84	166
Johnny Barnes	82	91	173
Taylor Morrow	80	WD
SIXTH FLIGHT
Jimbo Phillips	85	75	160
Landon Holley	85	77	162
David Coffey	86	76	162
Vann Hall	85	78	163
Dakota Clark	85	80	165
Scott Watson	85	83	168
Mark Gaines	86	82	168
Spence Florczak	86	83	169
Zack Henderson	84	87	171
Ricky Carden	85	86	171
Anthony Turner	83	91	174
Greg Rainey	86	91	177
Keith Hutcheson	85	92	182
Blake Woodard	84	WD
SEVENTH FLIGHT
David Medders Jr.	88	79	167
Jared Joiner	88	83	171
Wilson Lowe	88	88	176
Mike Ledbetter	88	88	176
Jeff Roszell	88	90	178
Kelly Rogers	88	94	182
Casey Turner	88	96	184
Josh Swope	90	95	185
Eli Gravitt	89	WD
EIGHTH FLIGHT
Kolby Slick	95	84	179
Adam Benefiel	94	88	182
Jason Swope	96	87	183
Bill McPherson	92	91	183
Tyrell Tucker	92	91	183
Eddy Burks	92	91	183
Warren Sewell	98	96	194
Larry Champion	100	94	194
Ken Renfroe	92	103	195
Shaughn Rankin	95	WD
SENIOR DIVISION
Championship Flight	RD. 1	RD. 2	TOTAL
Chip Howell	65	66	131
David Sanders	72	69	141
David Messer	75	73	148
Kurt Duryea	73	75	148
Tim Steward	73	75	148
Keith Haywood	73	77	150
Jerry Irwin	73	79	152
Dennis Austin	73	79	152
Robbie Hurst	75	83	158
First flight
Rick Barthel	79	73	152
Wilton Page	77	76	153
Allen Mangham	78	75	153
Andy Jenkins	76	77	153
Jerry Kemp	78	77	155
Gary Smith	79	79	158
Charley Estes	79	79	158
Bob McClain	79	80	159
Steve Perry	77	85	162
David FItzgerald	79	83	162
Carter Gable	78	88	166
Ron Wheeler	76	WD
Second flight
Frank Toland	80	75	155
Randall Doss	81	76	157
Ricky Hurst	82	77	159
David Medders Sr.	80	79	159
Tim Hill	80	80	160
Steve Williams	82	78	160
Steve Smith	80	81	161
Mike Thompson	81	82	163
Frank Cobb	82	81	163
Third flight
Greg Thrower	88	82	170
Robbie Robertson	85	86	171
Steve Borrelli	87	85	172
Lee Clark	87	85	172
Lamar Ward	84	90	174
Jim Landers	89	91	180
Terry Thompson	101	98	199
Sammy Wynn	102	101	203

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