E.A. Sports Today

Ones and twos

Two holes-in-one highlight first round that sees Wigington, McGatha shoot twin 69s to lead Oxford City Championship by one stroke.

Cover photo: David Coffey (left) and Mike Lett had the shots of the day during Saturday’s first round of the Oxford City Championship at Cider Ridge, each hitting a hole-in-one. (Submitted photos)

By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD — Good things came in twos during Saturday’s first round of the Oxford City Championship.

Correction: good things came in ones, twice.

On a day when Jeremy McGatha and Gary Wigington shot twin 69s to lead by one stroke, David Coffey and Mike Lett hit the shots of the day with twin holes-in-one.

Even in a field of 162 golfers, Cider Ridge owner and president Cory Etter called two aces in one round “very rare.”

Coffey hit the day’s first ace, using a pitching edge from 134 yards on No. 8. Witnessed by foursome partners Tanner Wells, Layton Bussey and Cam Hurst, the ace was Coffey’s first.

“Good solid contact shot,” he said. “I knew about halfway there that it was going to be all over the stick. Just over the flag, and it started trickling back to the cup.

“I thought I saw it disappear and turned to Cam, and he said, “That’s In!” It was great.”

Lett hit a pitching wedge from 120 yards on No. 17, scoring his second ace. He played with son James Lett, Scotty McFry and David Medders Jr.

“The funny part was, my son James had hit his tee shot to about 2 feet for closest to the pin,” he said. “So dad had to do a little better.”

The two aces highlighted a day that saw a rain delay and two sub-70 rounds. McGatha turned in the day’s first sub-70 score, with birdies on 5, 9, 11, 13 and 15.

“Steady round,” he said. “Hate playing in the rain.”

Wigington shot a 32 with four birdies on the front nine.

“Just a solid round,” he said. “Never got in any trouble but just needed to close it out a little better.”

Each player seeks his third career victory in Tour events at Cider Ridge.

Defending champions and three-time winner Ty Cole and Tanner Wells each shot a 70 to sit one stroke back.

“This is a lot of players to get through an event,” Etter said, “but I want to give props to our staff for working extremely hard and allowing us to get 162 golfers through with three different rainstorms during round one.”

Scores

CHAMPIONSHIP A FLIGHT
PLAYERRD. 1RD. 2TOTAL
Jeremy McGatha6969
Gary Wigington6969
Ty Cole7070
Tanner Wells7070
Dawson Day7171
Mason Dennis7171
Ethan McCareeth7171
Matt Wilson7171
Layton Bussey7272
Graham Morrow7272
Kevin Daugherty7272
Logan Forrester7272
CHAMPIONSHIP B FLIGHT
Greg Shultz7373
Andrew Weathers7373
Brayden Cochran7373
Caleb McKinney7373
Benji Turley7373
Jake Goggans7474
Austin Elliott7474
Chip Howell7474
Chase Hollingsworth7474
Hunter Carr7474
Kilgore Knight7474
Will Reaves7474
FIRST FLIGHT
Janson Wilborn7575
Ryan Huff7575
Cam Hurst7575
Jonathan Pate7575
Jared Waits7575
Chad Calvert7575
John Rollins7575
Billy Thompson7575
Chris Reaves7676
Andrew Brooks7676
Jeff Bain7676
Ott Chandler7676
Carson Chandler7676
John Swader7676
Sawyer Edwards 7676
Dalton Chandler7676
SECOND FLIGHT
Matt Miller7777
Dustin Travis7777
Tim Wilcox7777
Coleman Messer7777
Cain Hollingsworth7777
Chance Harris7777
James Otwell7777
Dre Davenport7777
Vann Hall7777
Daniel Black7777
Bob Eaton7878
Bradley Elliott7878
Kobe Messer7878
Landon Winfrey7878
Caden Wood7878
Stephen Keen7878
Nick Ledbetter7878
Lamar Carter7878
THIRD FLIGHT
David Coffey7979
Josh Reynolds7979
Luke Armstrong7979
Chad Key7979
Skylar Dennis7979
Jason Rich8080
Billy McCroskey8080
Jimbo Phillips8080
Mark McCaig8080
FOURTH FLIGHT
James Lett8181
Kyle Glover8181
Blake Drummond8181
Randy Archer8181
Michael Rich8181
Nathan Williams8181
Wesley Jenkins8181
Ryder Hudgins8181
Cody Boyd8181
Robin Wood8282
Timmy Woodard8282
Clayton Chandler8282
Jamarus Stokes8282
Wyatt Cotney8282
FIFTH FLIGHT
Scotty McFry8383
Caleb Bowen8383
Caleb Morrow8383
Wade Richardson8383
Sean Kline8383
Cole McNeal8383
Craig Duncan8484
Shane Lee8484
Mark Gaines8484
Cypress Hathorne8484
Matt Greer8484
Ray Stover Jr.8484
SIXTH FLIGHT
Bradley Young8585
Hunter Fordham8585
Bart Smith8686
Braxton Burnham8686
Nash Messer8686
Aaron Gregerson8686
Danny Whittaker8686
Ricky Carden8686
Drake Bearden8787
Scott Watson8787
Andrew Miller8787
SEVENTH FLIGHT
Matt Rogers8888
Chance Haywood8888
Greg Rainey8888
Bailey Masters8888
Joey Folker8989
Nate Pearce8989
Jeff Roszell8989
Tyrel Tucker9191
Allen Hamlin9191
Jesse Miles9191
Ted Gregerson9191
Larry Champion9191
Jason Payne9191
EIGHTH FLIGHT
David Medders Jr.9292
Chase Thomas9292
Daniel Ricks9292
Heath Waldrop9393
Kolby Slick9595
Houston Black9696
Adam Benefiel9696
Daniel Mitchell9696
Scott Jimerson9696
Chris Hollingsworth9696
NINTH FLIGHT
Logan Turner9898
Hayden Mann100100
Zoey Etter100100
Andrew Kennemer101101
Keith Hutcheson102102
Bill Gowan104104
Jason Swope108108
Palmer Pearce113113
Shaughn Rankin114114
SENIOR A FLIGHT
Kevin Wells7474
Mike Lett7575
David Messer7676
Bob Feicht7676
Jerry Kemp7777
Keith Haywood7777
Andy Jenkins7777
Jimmy Ingram7979
Gary Austin7979
Charley Estes7979
David Sanders8080
SENIOR B FLIGHT
Ron Wheeler8181
Wilton Page8181
Ron Fleming8181
Allan Mangham8282
Tim Steward8282
Rich Etter8484
Dennis Austin8888
Mike Thompson8989
Steve Perry8989
Richard Patty9191
Lee Clark9292
Lamar Ward9696

Sunday’s tee times

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