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Familiar Frontrunner in Calhoun County Golf

Familiar frontrunner

Calhoun County, AL –  Gage Ledbetter grabs first-round lead in area stroke play tournament for third week in a row, leads at Pine Hill by 2

By Brant Locklier

Gage Ledbetter can thank his wife for his recent surge to the upper echelon of the Calhoun County Golf Tour. He is currently sitting 16th in the points race, the final qualifying spot for the County Match Play Championship, but has shown signs of moving up the leaderboard quickly.

He was a winner last week at the Dub Ellis Invitational at Cherokee County Country Club and Saturday in the 15th annual Pine Hill Invitational he opened first-round play with a masterful 7-under-par 65 to take a two-stroke lead over Ty Cole of Albertville and Brad Moultrie of Decatur..

“I played golf at Gadsden State, but had quit playing for nine months,” Ledbetter said. “I guess my wife got tired of me being around the house all the time and she encouraged me to get back out there playing and here I am..

“I was feeling a little slow this morning, but I birdied four of my first five holes. I made some good putts on the back nine, but I think I hit my best shot on 18 (No. 9).”

The 23-year-old welder hit his approach shot 30 feet over the green and had a downhill chip to save par. He lofted the shot high in the air and it landed within two feet and he tapped in for a par.

It’s the third tournament in a row, across three separate counties, he has shot a blistering Saturday round. He shot 65 in the opening round of the Etowah Open to get into the final group of Sunday, a 62 in the opening round of the Dub Ellis, and Saturday’s 65.

He’d like to finish strong. He shot 73 in the final round at Briarmeade to finish T-6. He won in Centre, but shot a 76 in the final round.

“I’ve been practicing,” he said. “I work 10 hours a day and I practice five. Now I need to learn how to close and control my nerves; that’s my only missing piece. I can play golf, I just need to figure out how to beat myself.”

Cole closed with a back nine 32 to move into second. Moultrie started his round with a chip-in eagle on 1, but turned in 1-under and shot 33 on the back to pull into a tie. Most everyone in the tournament’s largest and strongest field played the back nine better.

Jonathan Pate, Nick Ledbetter and Josh Reynolds are all at 68 and six-time event winner Gary Wigington is among eight players at 69 to complete the championship flight.

“The trees were my friends today,” Ledbetter said. “I got to see a lot of them. I had one spurt where I birdied 11, 12 and 13 and then it was mostly pars the rest of the afternoon.”

The course endured five hours of rain overnight, including a stretch in which two inches fell in an hour then when the workers got to the course in the morning they discovered it had no water due to a nearby main break.

Despite all the rain, the course held up well, yielded some good scores and drew raves. There were 31 scores of par or better in the round, 25 under par.

“The comments we’ve gotten on the facility have been unbelievable,” Pine Hill operator Cory Etter said. “People have said it’s the best they’ve seen the golf course. We’ve had those kinds of comments come in all week and all day today. Our staff has done a really, really good job. They take pride in making this a fun event.”  [** read more]

Pine Hill Invitational

CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT FIRST FLIGHT
Gage Ledbetter 65 Kobie Webb 70
Ty Cole 67 Layton Bussey 70
Brad Moultrie 67 Chip Howell 70
Jonathan Pate 68 Chris Randall 71
Josh Reynolds 68 Mason Dennis 71
Nick Ledbetter 68 Chance Harris 71
Jeremy McGatha 69 Wesley Jenkins 71
Brennan Clay 69 Gage Miller 71
Landon Straub 69 Greg Barnett 72
Kenny Okins 69 Billy Thompson 72
Gary Wigington 69 Vance Lewis 72
Chad Calvert 69 Jeff Noah 72
John Rollins 69
Seth Wallace 69
SECOND FLIGHT THIRD FLIGHT
Clay Calkins 73 Mark McCaig 76
Riley Boyd 73 Nick Hubbard 76
Chase Hollingsworth 73 Will Brown 76
Randy Lipscomb 73 Casey Harmon 76
Benji Turley 73 Hunter Carr 76
Daily Thomas 74 Bob Eaton 76
Landon Winfrey 74 Joe Hedgepeth 76
Coleman Messer 74 Marcus King 76
Kent Whitley 74 Mark Durden 76
Bradley Elliott 75 Sawyer Edwards 76
Tyler Teneyck 75 Brock Young 76
Craig Duncan 75 Mark Minton 77
Chris Hubbard 75 Cam Hurst 77
Matt Rogers 75 Tony Hicks 77
Cain Hollingsworth 75 Houston Black 77
Daniel Black 75 Lamar Carter 77
Jimbo Phillips 75
FOURTH FLIGHT FIFTH FLIGHT
Shannon Page 78 C.J. Murphy 81
Aaron Whitley 78 Heath Waldrop 81
Shawn Ledbetter 78 Chris Reaves 81
Nick Pollard 78 Terry Cobb 81
Mark Minton 78 David Coffey 81
Johnny Barnes 79 Wyatt Cotney 81
Zack Goss 79 Frankie Hanvey 82
Patrick Cooper 79 Sean Kline 82
Chris Sprayberry 79 Heath Hammond 82
Spence Florczak 79 Landon Holley 83
Samuel Wallace 79 Greg Rainey 83
Shane Lee 80 Bart Smith 83
Jared Waits 80 Mike Wallace 83
Austin Elliott 80
SIXTH FLIGHT SEVENTH FLIGHT
Billy McCroskey 84 Jeff Roszell 88
Steve Taylor 84 Ryder Hudgins 88
Austin Jones 84 Keith Hutcheson 89
Mark Gaines 85 Mason Nolen 89
Blake Jones 85 Logan Turner 90
Keaton Borrelli 85 Ken Renfroe 91
Jared Joiner 85 Shaughn Rankin 91
Ethan Davis 86 Alex Whaley 92
Taylor Vera 86 Mickey Sheppard 94
David Medders Jr. 86 Wimberly Scarbrough 94
Scott Watson 86 Greg Goodwin 96
Jarred Driggers 87 Kelly Rogers 97
Warren Sewell 87 Johnston Smith 99
Mike Ledbetter 87 Jake Moore 100
Eddy Burks 87
SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP SENIOR FIRST
Robbie Hurst 69 Dennis Austin 75
Mike Lett 71 Allen Mangham 75
David Sanders 71 Ted Heim 75
Rick Barthel 72 Frank Toland 75
James Beavers 72 Jerry Irwin 76
Jerry Kemp 73 Bob McClain 76
Tim Steward 74 Keith Haywood 77
Ron Wheeler 74 David Messer 77
David Toland 77
Buddy Eiland 78
SENIOR SECOND SENIOR THIRD
Randall Doss 79 Steve Perry 85
Jim Landers 81 David Stephens 85
Gary Austin 81 Bobby Vinson 85
Lamar Ward 81 Ron Fleming 85
Carter Gable 82 Frank Cobb 86
Tim Hill 82 Greg Thrower 86
Steve Williams 82 Lee Clark 86
Wilton Page 82 David Medders Sr. 87
Robbie Robertson 82 Paul Dorsey 96
Steve Smith 83 Sam Morgan 97
Mike Thompson 83 Steve Borrelli 102

Sunday pairings

Early Wave
No. 1 Tee
7 a.m.: Steve Borrelli, Sam Morgan, Paul Dorsey, Jim Landers
7:10: Lee Clark, Greg Thrower, Steve Smith, David Medders Sr.
7:20: Ron Fleming, Bobby Vinson, Lamar Ward, Frank Cobb
7:30: David Stephens, Steve Perry, Randall Doss, Robbie Robertson
7:40: Jake Moore, Johnston Smith, Kelly Rogers, Shaughn Rankin
7:50: Scott Watson, David Medders Jr., Taylor Vera, Ethan Davis
8:00: Austin Jones, Mark Gaines, Blake Jones, Keaton Borrelli
8:10: Billy McCroskey, Barat Smith, Landon Holley, Heath Hammond
8:20: Greg Rainey, Sean Kline, Heath Waldrop, Frankie Hanvey
8:30: Jared Waits, Samuel Wallace, Patrick Cooper, Zack Goss
8:40: Johnny Barnes, Mark Minton, Nick Pollard, Shawn Ledbetter

No. 10 Tee
7:00: Mickey Sheppard, Wilmberly Scarbrough, Jason Nolen
7:10: Greg Goodwin, Mike Wallace, Alex Whaley, Steve Taylor
7:20: Mike Thompson, Wilton Page, Steve Williams, Gary Austin
7:30: Ken Renfroe, Keith Hutcheson, Jeff Roszell, Logan Turner
7:40: Eddy Burks, Mike Ledbetter, Warren Sewell, Jarred Driggers
7:50: Ryder Hudgins, Terry Cobb, Jared Joiner
8:00: Carater Gable, Tim Hill, Buddy Eiland, Keith Haywood
8:10: Wyatt Cotney, David Coffey, Chris Reaves, C.J. Murphy
8:20: Austin Elliott, Shane Lee, Spence Florczak, Chris Sprayberry
8:30: Aaron Whitley, Shannon Page, Lamar Carter, Houston Black
8:40: Tony Hicks, Cam Hurst, Josh Poole, Brock Young

Late Wave
No. 1 Tee
11:20 a.m.: Sawyer Edwards, Will Brown, Mark McCaig, Nick Hubbard
11:30: Hunter Carr, Casey Harmon, Mark Durden, Marcus King
11:40: Bob Eaton, Joe Hedgepeth, Cain Hollingsworth, Craig Duncan
11:50: Jimbo Phillips, Daniel Black, Chris Hubbard, Tyler Teneyck
Noon: Matt Rogers, Landon Winfrey, Bradley Elliott, Kent Whitley
12:10 p.m.: Open
12:20: Randy Lipscomb, Chase Hollingsworth, Clay Calkins
12:30: Chad Calvert, Gary Wigington, Brennan Clay
12:40: Jeremy McGatha, Landon Straub, Nick Ledbetter, Josh Reynolds
12:50: Gage Ledbetter, Ty Cole, Brad Moultrie, Jonathan Pate

No. 10 Tee
11:20 a.m.: Coleman Messer, Daily Thomas, Benji Turley, Riley Boyd
11:30: David Toland, David Messer, Frank Toland, Dennis Austin
11:40: Jeff Noah, Vance Lewis, Billy Thompson, Greg Barnett
11:50: Gage Miller, Wesley Jenkins, Chance Harris, Mason Dennis
Noon: Chris Randall, Chip Howell, Layton Bussey, Kobie Webb
12:10 p.m.: Open
12:20: Seth Wallace, John Rollins, Kenny Okins
12:30: Jerry Irwin, allen Manghaaam, Ted Heim
12:40: Tim Steward, Jerry Kemp, Ron Wheeler, Rick Barthel
12:50: Robbie Hurst, David Sanders, Mike Lett, James Beavers

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