Anniston City Championship: ‘Ugly,’ in a Good Way

By Joe Medley

CANE CREEK — Ty Cole acknowledges making life “changes” recently.

If his start to the 2024 Calhoun County Golf Tour indicates anything, the six-time and reigning county player of the year just might be finding a next level as he nears 49 years old.

Cole shot a 3-under-par 69 Sunday to finish at 5-under-par 139 and win the Anniston City Championship at Cane Creek.

He edged Chad Calvert, who chipped in from 25 yards on No. 18 to finish 70-72–142 and win a battle with John Rollins for second place.

Rollins finished 70-74–144 and tied with Jeremy McGatha for third.

Cole’s victory in the season’s first points event comes three weeks after he and Gary Wigington won the Calhoun County Team Championship at Silver Lakes. Cole’s biridies on two of the last three holes made the difference there.

Cole’s start to the season signals that he remains as much a threat as ever to win another county points title. He just might be more of a threat, if personal adjustments take a few more strokes off of his game.

“I played pretty good drunk,” he said. “It may be ugly, if I’m sober. It could get ugly. It could get silly good, being clear headed.”

Lots of golfers go out on the course with their best friends, be they playing partners, a comfortable iron and/or the “loose juice.”

Cole has a long-time playing partner in teammate Gay Wigington. Between them, they have 11 county player-of-the-year honors, and they’re always contenders in team events.

As for irons, Cole said the “jury is still out” on this year’s bag adjustments. If equipment changes run their normal course, he said, he’ll probably default to irons he replaced.

He wouldn’t be the first golfer to regularly bite the hook of buying new equipment in hopes of trimming strokes, though he says he bites that hook as often as he does “because I’m an idiot.”

As for a golfer’s liquid friend, Cole’s jury came back.

“I’ve made a lot of changes over the last few months,” he said. “I’ve quit drinking, so this is the first tournament I’ve played, as an individual, in probably 15 years that I’ve played sober.

“I just had some stuff happen, and it was time to quit. It’s time to lay it down, and it’s been great. It’s been eye opening. Just things are better.”

Cole’s 2024 start would say so, but check back later. It could get better.

“I knew the golf, when I got into pressure, that it may take awhile for me to get used to playing like that,” he said.

Like the rest of the field at Cane Creek this past weekend, Cole fought wind. He played Sunday’s round without Wigington, who started the final round a group ahead of Cole’s foursome.

Golf is a hole-to-hole, shot-by-shot temptation toward frustration, and Cole had his ups and downs. He shook off a double bogey on No. 10 well enough to birdie 12, 14 and 18.

He did it without an old friend … the liquid kind with the always flexible tee time.

“I’m really proud of how I fought, not really nerves, but just the uneasiness of not having that as a crutch,” Cole said. “Just get my mind out of it and just worry about hitting golf balls.”

Cole was one of six golfers who entered Sunday’s round one shot back of first-round leader Brennan Clay. Cole separated quickly by reaching 4 under par by No. 8, but Calvert and Rollins wound up locked in a battle for second.

Calvert made it moot quickly on No. 18. Situated 25 yards out, between the bunker and clubhouse, he holed in.

‘“I just got lucky,” he said. “It was going dead right, and it kicked left and, luckily, it rolled in.”