Cole & Wigington Win Ted’s Charity Invitational in Epic Finish

Veteran duo of Cole-Wigington adds Ted’s Charity Invitational title to its tally of two-man titles, edging King-Fite in epic foursome showdown. (Photo gallery, complete scores)

By Joe Medley

ANNISTON — Golfers get old, but winning never does.

Ty Cole and Gary Wigington added another two-man tournament to their list of conquests Sunday, winning the second Ted’s Charity Invitational.

The area’s top tandems shot 58-62—120 Saturday and Sunday at Gadsden Country Club  and Anniston Country Club and prevailed by two strokes over Jackson King-Freeman Fite.

Cole-Wigington is a four-time winner of the Sunny King Charity Classic. They’ve also won the Calhoun County 2-Man Championship, most recently in 2023.

The pair has combined for 11 player-of-the-year titles on the Calhoun County Tour.

“I’m tickled to death to win,” Cole said. “I don’t know how many more we’ve got in us, because we’re both getting older, but we’ll keep going at it as long as we can take it back and swing it forward.”

This year marked the second for the Ted’s Charity Invitational, and it generated $21,226.84 for Saks Elementary School. The field nearly doubled in size this year, swelling to 139 teams and added Gadsden Country Club to its course.

Half of the field played at Gadsden Country Club on Saturday then played Anniston Country Club on Sunday, and vice versa.

Weather delays pushed the field up against darkness in Sunday’s final round, and the final foursome of Cole-Wigington and King-Fite played out No. 18 with the aid of cell-phone flashlights.

“Hats off to Ted,” Cole said. “I think this can be a great tournament, going forward. He’s done it right.

“The weather delay today was a little rough, finishing in the dark, but you can’t control that. As far as the players, I haven’t heard one person in two years say anything but positive things about it. I’m sure it’s going to be around for a while, if he wants to continue doing it.”

Cole-Wigington led by one stroke after playing Saturday’s first-round at Gadsden Country Club. King-Fite and Randy and Will Reaves lurked one stroke back. Jacob LeCroy-Tanner Wells and John Hilliard Catanzaro-William Catanzaro entered Sunday’s play at Anniston Country Club two strokes back.

Cole-Wigington and King-Fite played in the final group, and their heavyweight showdown, and neither team blinked. The most pivotal moment involved Wigington’s chip-in on the par-5 No. 11 to match Fite’s eagle and keep Cole-Wigington in the lead.

“It was a hard hole,” Wigington said. “We played the practice round on Friday and told myself, ‘Don’t hit left of this pin,’ Of course, that’s where I was, left of the pin.

“I hit a good chip, and it just went in.”

Fite’s second shot on No. 11 nearly went for an albatross.

“We had some guys watching up by the green, and he hit 230 in,” King said. “They said it went in the hole and popped out to 2 inches.

“He tapped in for eagle, and ‘Twig’ (Wigington) just hit an unbelievable shot. He was left of the green, which, if you’re left of the green, that’s almost dead. He chipped it in, and it rolled in like a putt.”

Fite birdied Nos. 2, 6 and 16, and King birdied 17. They went into the final hole down two shots, but not without hope.

“We knew it was kind of out of reach, but it still gave us a little bit of hope,” King said. “Who knows? They might lose a ball, or whatever.

“It was a lot of fun playing with Ty and Twig. It’s fun watching them do what they do. They win a lot for a reason, and it was fun to see why.”

Photo gallery by Joe Medley

’25 Ted’s Charity Invitational scores