Calhoun County Championship

Calhoun County, AL – McGatha, Cole 8 under, tied for the lead after first round. Wigington withdraws because of COVID, clinching Player of The Year for Cole

By Joe Medley

Flash back to 2019, and the Calhoun County Golf Tour Player of the Year battle came down to Ty Cole and Gary Wigington at the County Championship.

Wigington tried to play with an elbow injury and couldn’t, and Cole shot a 13-under-par 57 on The Hill at Anniston Municipal that day.

History might not repeat itself, but it sure has a way of echoing.

Wigington never played a hole in the 2023 Calhoun County Championship. He withdrew because of COVID, a reality that cliched a sixth Player of the Year honor for Cole.

Cole, who came into the tournament leading the season points and needing only a fifth-place finish, did his part, anyway. He shot an 8-under 62 to match Jeremy McGatha for the lead headed into Sunday’s final round.

The reality of how the 2023 points title ended left Cole with mixed emotions. He and Wigington are long-time friends and playing partners in team events like the Sunny King Charity Classic.

“I hate it for him,” Cole said. “I know he’s a competitor, and he wants to tee it up and do all of that, but I understand COVID. My wife is a teacher, and COVID is back going around, or whatever.

“With his situation with (son) Peyton, it’s nothing to joke about because of Peyton being immunocompromised. He’s got to handle that, and golf will always take a back seat to that.”

Wigington, who won the 2023 Calhoun County Golf Tour’s first event at Silver Lakes, was the only player besides Cole who entered the final points event in contention for Player of the Year. County marked Wigington’s only miss of the season, which included eight points tournaments.

Final points factor in the top-five finishes, and County counts 1.5 times.

Cole entered the County Championship in the driver’s seat with a season resume that includes three wins. To unseat Cole, Wigington needed to win at The Hill and for Cole to finish fifth or worse.

Cole clinched his sixth player-of-the-year title, all coming in the past 10 seasons. He thanked his County Championship co-leader, who also happens to be the Tour’s CEO, and Matt Rogers, who runs the County Championship.

“It’s nice,” Cole said. “I’ve kind of cut back my schedule a little bit. I skipped Silver Lakes this year and just played the few I could play, but it’s always nice to win.

“Jeremy and Matt have put so much into this for the last 10 or 15 years, whatever it is now. It’s nice to see, over the course of a summer, you put in some good rounds. You’ve won a few, lost a few, but at the end of the year, they say, ‘OK, well you’re the player of the year,’ or whatever. I’m just glad Jeremy and Matt have put so much into it over the years for us to kind of have something to shoot for and not just be a bunch of old men out there, just trying to relive the glory days.”

There’s still one more day for Calhoun County Tour glory, and McGatha looks to join Cole, Wigington, Jacob LeCroy, John Rollins and Andrew Brooks on the list of tournament winners for 2023.

Saturday’s shotgun start had McGatha starting on his traditional first hole, No. 6. He birdied four of the first five holes, what he called “the hard stretch,” to send off on a journey of nine birdies and one bogey, No. 11.

Now, it’s all about finishing.

“These things, you’ve got to put two rounds together,” he said. “I’ve shot a 64 in the Etowah County (Open) and followed it with a 74 and didn’t even come close.

“I love it up here. I’ve won the County three times and finished second nine times. Honestly, I’m tired of finishing second, but I’m getting older. I’ll try my best tomorrow and see what happens.”

Calhoun County Championship scores

CHAMPIONSHIP A FLIGHT
NAME	RD. 1	RD. 2	TOTAL
Jeremy McGatha	62		62
Ty Cole	62		62
Brennan Clay	63		63
Chad Calvert	63		63
John Rollins	64		64
Chris Cox	64		66
Vance Lewis	67		67
Chip Howell	68		68
Sawyer Edwards	68		68
Clay Calkins	68		68
Gary Wigington	WD
CHAMPIONSHIP B FLIGHT
Ott Chandler	69		69
Jonathan Pate	69		69
Zach Mangum	69		69
Tim Woodard	70		70
Billy Thompson	70		70
Andrew Brooks	70		70
Benji Turley	70		70
Kevin Daugherty	70		70
Daniel Black	70		70
FIRST FLIGHT
Tanner Wells	71		71
Dustin Travis	71		71
Randy Lipscomb	71		71
Keaton Borrelli	71		71
Tim Steward	72		72
Chris Sprayberry	72		72
Landon Holley	72		72
Chris Randall	72		72
Matt Rogers	72		72
Bob Eaton	72		72
David Coffee	72		72
Mark McCaig	72		72
Jeff Noah	72		72
SECOND FLIGHT
Chris Reaves	73		73
Rush Rutledge	73		73
Doug Gardner	73		73
Will Brown	73		73
Chase Hollingsworth	73		73
Chris Hubbard	73		73
Josh Poole	73		73
THIRD FLIGHT
Tim Turner	74		74
Ted Towns	74		74
Lamar Carter	74		74
Landon Straub	74		74
Scott Watson	74		74
Nick Ledbetter	74		74
Kolby Slick	75		75
Dennis Austin	75		75
FOURTH FLIGHT
Mike Hughston	76		76
Johnny Barnes	76		76
Layton Bussey	76		76
Chance Harris	76		76
Kenny Fulmer	76		76
Eric Cannington	76		76
Ted Heim	77		77
Cam Hurst	77		77
Ryder Hudgins	77		77
Vann Hall	77		77
Tyler Dopson	77		77
FIFTH FLIGHT
Tyler TenEyck	78		78
Russ Montgomery	78		78
Mark Cotton	78		78
Taylor Vera	78		78
Bradley Elliott	79		79
Gage Ledbetter	79		79
Doug Huie	79		79
Chad Mullinax	80		80
George Salmon	80		80
Hunter Carr	80		80
Jimbo Phillips	80		80
Marc Gaines	80		80
Nick Hubbard	80		80
SIXTH FLIGHT
Austin Jones	81		81
Blake Jones	81		81
Danny Whitaker	81		81
Logan Watson	81		81
Randy Watson	82		82
Gene Hicks	84		84
Carson Chandler	84		84
Casey Turner	88		88
Kelly Rogers	88		88
Larry Champion	91		91