Big Finish for Calhoun County Golf Tournament

Calhoun County, AL –  McGatha goes 6 under par for final six holes, including an eagle, to rally for his fourth victory in Calhoun County Championship.

By Joe Medley

Jeremy McGatha ended the 87th Calhoun County Championship the way he started it, and he has a fourth victory in Calhoun County Golf Tour’s season-ending event to show for it.

McGatha shot 6 under par for the final six holes, including an eagle, and rallied to pass Chad Calvert on the final hole Sunday at Anniston Municipal Golf Course.

McGatha shot 12-under-par 128 (62-66) for the tournament and edged Calvert by two strokes.

The victory was the 46-year-old McGatha’s first Tour victory of the 2023 season and 12th since the Tour started in 2007. Ty Cole, who finished fifth in the County Championship while clinching his sixth Tour points title, and Gary Wigington, who had to withdraw while quarantining with COVID, are tied for the career lead t 25 victories apiece.

McGatha started this weekend’s tournament with four birdies in the first five holes en route to a tie for the first-round lead with Cole. McGatha bested that hot start with a big finish.

After everything that happened in the middle, he came away relieved.

“I’m superstitious, man,” he said. “There’s no lead big enough for me. I’ve always got that demon on my shoulder, saying, don’t screw up, don’t to this, don’t do that. I can’t help it. It’s just me.

“It’s great to get that fourth county. I never thought I’d get there, especially pushing 50 and all of these young guys.”

Sunday’s came down to two venerable Calhoun County Tour veterans.

Calvert made his move, working from 7 under par and one shot off of the lead after the first round, to 12 under Sunday. His best surge started with a 42-yard chip for eagle on No. 8, a shot that put him at 10 under for the tournament.

“I just hit a 3 wood and really got lucky,” Calvert said. “Hit it just right, and it trickled on up an went in.”

A string of three birdies in a five-hole stretch, from 10-14, moved Calvert to 12 under.

“I hit it all over this place but scored,” Calvert said. “You’ve got to give it to Jeremy. He shot 6 under for the last six holes.

“I didn’t lose it. He won it.”

McGatha’s big finish featured his own chip-in eagle, from 45 yards on 14. The idea of how to play that came from watching Brennan Clay, McGatha’s long-time friend and playing partner in events like the Sunny King Charity Classic.

Clay, the 2022 county player of the year who was tied with Calvert for second place coming into Sunday, played in the foursome with McGatha, Cole and Calvert. McGatha noted a technique nuance in Clay’s short game.

“He’s got one of the best short games in the county, and he kind of opens it up on those little 45ers and then accelerates,” McGatha said. “I was like, ‘Man, he’s been doing that so good.’

“Right in the middle of a tournament, I’m like, ‘I’m going to try that.’ I got a perfect lie and open it up, and accelerate through, and it hits and spins and goes in the hole.”

After parring 15, McGatha birdied out. He entered No. 18 tied at 11 under, and Calvert hit out of bounds.

McGatha finished with a 10-foot birdie putt and waved to the gallery before hugs and congratulations from friends on the Tour.

He considers the County Championship special. Same for winning it a fourth time, with nine second-place finishes.

“The oldest tournament in this county is the County, 87 years old,” McGatha said. “It’s the one everybody wants to win.”

With McGatha’s victory in the season’s final points event, he won the chance to speak to his other Tour hat … as president. He said he considers the state of the Calhoun County Golf Tour strong.

In Dunn’s HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical, the Tour found a new sponsor going into 2023 and continued to be what it has been for players.

“We’ve a sponsor for the past five years to where nobody has had to pay an entry fee,” McGatha said. “If you play, you’re in the Calhoun County Golf Tour. Before that, we had to charge people 25 bucks to join the Tour to pay for the trophies, the banquet, the match play, everything we try to do.

“This year, our two sponsors before said we can’t do it, and Dunn’s stepped up.”

Final scores