Quick learner

Weathers masters first look at Twin Bridges, withstands Cole’s 66 on Sunday to win Gadsden City Championship by one stroke.

By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today

GADSDEN — Andrew Weathers got his first look at the Twin Bridges golf course during a Friday practice round. Two sub-70 rounds later, he posed for trophy pictures.

The Chattanooga resident overcame current Calhoun County Golf Tour points leader and reigning player of the year Ty Cole with a birdie on 16 and finished off a one-stroke victory in the Gadsden City Championship on Sunday.

Weathers shot 67-68–135 and withstood Cole’s tournament-low 66 on Sunday for a second Tour victory, Weathers also won the 2024 RTJ-Trail Championship at Silver Lakes.

First-round co-leader Chad Hare (67-73–140) finished third, one shot ahead of John Rollins.

Weathers had a good feeling about the weekend while playing Friday’s practice round, his first look at Twin Bridges.

“I think I drive the ball pretty straight, so I knew I was going to have a lot of wedges coming in with the length we were playing it from,” he said. “It set up well. I just had to go out and execute.”

He also had to withstand a charge from the Tour’s best stalking horse. Cole entered the final round three-shots back after shooting 2-under 70 on Saturday but went birdie, birdie, bogey birdie to start Sunday’s final round.

Cole’s 6-under Sunday included eight birdies, including five in a row from Nos. 11 to 15. He rode momentum going into No. 16 with a one-shot lead, but Weathers answered with a 7-iron to the middle of the green and a 20-foot, uphill putt for birdie.

Cole bogeyed, and Weathers held a one-shot lead.

It came down to the par-4 final hole, and Cole kept the pressure on. After a drive and approach, he sat 5 feet from the hole with an uphill look.

Weathers’ drive went to the extreme left of the fairway, and his second shot left him at the leading edge of the green, 40 feet out.

Furthest out, Weathers putted conservatively, leaving it 5 feet out and just downhill.

“I just wanted to get it at least past the hole to have an uphill putt coming back,” Weathers said. “I was expecting Ty to make that (birdie putt). It should’ve gone in.”

Cole’s birdie putt horseshoed around the lip, right to left, and Weathers hit his par putt to clinch it, surviving a Sunday charge from the Tour’s seven-time player of the year.

“You’ve always got to be on top of your game,” Weathers said. “You know he’s won a ton of these tournaments. I knew he was going to make a charge on the back nine.

“I was glad to hold him off.”

Weathers now aims at the Chattanooga City Championship in two weeks, and Cole remains in prime position to capture another Tour player-of-the-year honor. He has three victories, a runner-up and a third-place finish in five starts.

Cole will pick up 250 points from his runner-up finish at Twin Bridges to reach 1,375 points on the year with three points events left. Player of the year factors in the five best finishes after nine points events, and he won with 1,450 in 2025.

He would only need to finish 28th or better in his next start to reach 1,450 points for this year.

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