Cole Blooded at Oxford Golf Championship

Oxford, AL – Cool Cole finishes with birdie in the rain to edge Okins, Graveman for a one-stroke stroke victory in Oxford City Championship

By Joe Medley

The hole that marred Ty Cole’s mood Saturday became his birdie for the win on Sunday, and a tournament he nearly missed became his second win on the 2023 Calhoun County Golf Tour.

Cole fought off Kenny Okins’ Sunday surge, sinking a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to clinch a one-stroke victory in the Oxford City Championship at Cider RIdge.

Cole’s bagged his second Tour victory this year, the first coming at Twin Bridges in June, and his 24th Tour victory overall.

Cole’s par-72 round on Sunday backed up a 64 on Saturday to finish at 8-under 136. It was just enough to edge Okins, who led by two strokes through 15 holes while shooting a Sunday-best 66, and Justin Graveman by one shot.

Cole very nearly didn’t play in the Oxford City Championship. He wasn’t listed in Thursday night’s release of tee times but called Friday to get back in.

“It was just one of those deals,” he said. “I had committed a long time ago, and then kind of committed to a buddy of mine. I was kind of going back and forth.”

When Cole saw Scottsboro’s Thomas Looney was playing in the Scottsboro-based tourney, he changed course again.

“Realistically, up there, you’re not going to beat him,” Cole said. “I would’ve literally been going up there to play for second.”

Cole prevailed in the season’s fifth Calhoun County Tour points event. The field of 148 marked the largest individual stroke-play event in Tour history, breaking marks set at Cider Ridge then broken at Pine Hill in 2022, according to Cory Etter, pro at both courses.

Because of rain throughout the week, including a 3-inch downpour on Friday, Etter placed the field on shorter white tees on Saturday. The Championship A and B flights played on longer blue tees on Sunday.

“Shooting par ended up being good enough,” Cole said. “Kenny played great. To shoot that number from those tees, and where the pins were, that’s a damned good score.”

Every stroke mattered, including Cole’s 25-foot putt to save bogey on No. 9.

Then came the big finish on No. 18, which had its own back story. His bogey on 18 Saturday soured his mood after a round that otherwise featured nine birdies. He left the course abruptly to work through misadventures from just outside the bunker and in the bunker and a missed 8-foot putt.

On Sunday, Cole caught two breaks that helped him score the decisive birdie on 18.

He hit four inches behind the ball on his 5-iron second shot, but the shot settled just short of the green, and not in the sand trap that bedeviled him Saturday.

Rain started to fall before his third shot.

“The rain helped on 18 because I could skip it from the fringe,” Cole said. “If it wouldn’t have rained, I didn’t know what I was going to do. When it rained, and the grass got wet, I knew I could skip it.”

His third shot settled 4 feet short of the hole, and rain became a motivator as he sought to avoid a playoff.

“I’m standing over the putt going, ‘You’re playing in the rain if you miss it. You’re playing in the rain if you miss it,’” Cole said. “That was going through my head. I did not want to play in the rain.”

Okins, who began the day in the Championship B Flight after shooting a 71 on Saturday, hoped for a hole or two in the rain.

Playing four groups ahead of Cole’s final group, Okins reached 8 under par for the day with a birdie on 15. That birdie put him at 9 under for the tournament, then two strokes ahead of Cole.

The former White Plains High and Southern Union Community College golfer shot his big number for the day using irons.

“I didn’t hit anything more than a 3 iron today,” he said. “I’ve been struggling with my driver bad.

“I played real consistent for the first 15 holes. I hit about every fairway, almost every green and made a lot of putts.”

Okins said he became aware of his score relative to Cole’s after birdies on Nos. 10 and 11. Okins’ momentum changed when he missed a 2-foot par putt on 16.

After parring 17, he hit into the woods on 18 and had to chip out. He missed a 12-foot par putt.

He wound up tied for the tournament’s second-best score and first place in the Championship B Flight, where he started the day. He called his run at a Tour victory “kind of crazy.”

“I’m done playing college golf, and I really hadn’t been playing much,” he said. “It was unexpected, to say the least. I can’t lie. I was kind of shocking myself out there.”

Final scores