Edwards, Straub shoot bogey-free 66s, hold 3-shot lead over field in Oxford City Championship at Cider Ridge; story will be updated
By Al Muskewitz
OXFORD – Sawyer Edwards got his driver fixed and he scrapped the arm-lock putter that served him well in the high school sectionals last week after losing two putting contests with it to the local pro since. The combination led to the best tournament round he’s played in his young life and earned him a share of the overnight lead in the Oxford City Championship.
The White Plains sophomore who’s still not old enough to drive on his own – he’s still 10 days from his 16th birthday – shot a bogey-free 6-under-par 66 and posted the score for everyone at Cider Ridge Golf Club to shoot for. Landon Straub caught him, putting up his own bogey-free 66 a few groups later, but no one in the morning wave of the 120-plus-player field did better.
Jake Goggans is third after 69. He birdied his last four holes and five of his last six. Brennan Clay, Jeremy McGatha, Layton Bussey and Morton Holcomb all shot 70. They were the only players under par.
Edwards has posted better scores before – 65 twice at Pine Hill, with nine birdies – but nothing in the heat of competition like he put together here.
The only hole he came close to making bogey was No. 2 when he found the water off the tee. But after taking his penalty he stuck his approach to four feet and made the putt. It was the only green he missed in regulation in the round. He saved a par on 10 for par after running his birdie putt some eight feet past the hole.
He three-putted for par on 15, but made a 20-footer on 18 for a closing birdie, the only putt of an appreciable length he had all day.
“I’ve shot better before, but I was really consistent,” he said. “First ever time I had no bogeys, so I was really proud of myself for that.”
People may remember Edwards’ broke his driver at the tip on the his 11th hole in the Boys 4A sectional at Silver Lakes Monday. He didn’t use it the rest of the round and shot a medalist-winning 75, but it was in his bag Saturday although he didn’t really need it as short as the course played.
He also showed up with the arm-lock putting style made popular by PGA Tour pro Matt Kuchar after goofing around in the Pine Hill pro shop and winding up making a bunch of birdies over the weekend. It fell out of favor when he wasn’t making enough short putts to be good and lost a putting contest with Cider Ridge director of golf and swing teacher Jammie Lett. He was back to the old style Saturday.
“Get that out of here,” he said with a dismissive wave.
Straub said he didn’t have any expectations coming into the round, but his hopes took a big turn when he eagled No. 9 after hitting from 162 yards to 15 feet. That got him to 4-under for the round and he added birdies on 11 and 18 on the back.
He missed three fairways, but birdied two of them and parred the other in large part because he hit 17 of 18 greens. The 66 beat his previous low round on the Calhoun County Golf Tour by three shots — here in last year’s final round.
“I came in today with no expectations,” he said. “I’m ecstatic, honestly. I hadn’t been playing great coming in to this weekend. We’ve just been really busy at work so golf has been kind of on the back burner.”
Goggans wasn’t expecting much, either. He hadn’t hit any balls since hurting his ribs a couple weeks ago and was just hoping for the best. He bogeyed two of his first three holes and was 2-over through 12 before catching fire.
He would have finished with six birdies in a row but left his 10-footer on 14 dead in the heart but one inch short. He two-putted for birdie on the par-5 15 and hit the pin on 16 then made two short birdie putts on 17 and 18.
“It felt good,” he said. “It was all fairways and greens. There weren’t any weird shots, it was just normal golf.” [*** read more]
Oxford City Championship
| CHAMPIONSHIP A | |||
| Sawyer Edwards | 33 | 33 | 66 |
| Landon Straub | 32 | 34 | 66 |
| Jake Goggans | 37 | 32 | 69 |
| Morton Holcomb | 33 | 37 | 70 |
| Layton Bussey | 32 | 38 | 70 |
| Jeremy McGatha | 35 | 35 | 70 |
| Brennan Clay | 35 | 35 | 70 |
| Kent Whitley | 36 | 36 | 72 |
| Ty Cole | 32 | 40 | 72 |
| Alex Harper | 33 | 39 | 72 |
| Corey Ray | 33 | 40 | 73 |
| Matt Bell | 36 | 37 | 73 |
| Gary Wigington | 37 | 36 | 73 |
| CHAMPIONSHIP B | |||
| Clay Calkins | 36 | 38 | 74 |
| Dalton Chandler | 39 | 35 | 74 |
| Kevin Daugherty | 36 | 38 | 74 |
| Landon Winfrey | 35 | 40 | 75 |
| Ryan Limbaugh | 40 | 35 | 75 |
| Brad Moultrie | 43 | 32 | 75 |
| Mason Dennis | 36 | 39 | 75 |
| Timmy Woodard | 39 | 36 | 75 |
| Logan Archer | 40 | 35 | 75 |
| Randy Archer | 35 | 40 | 75 |
| Daniel Black | 37 | 38 | 75 |
| Gage Miller | 39 | 36 | 75 |
| Chance Harris | 38 | 37 | 75 |
| FIRST FLIGHT | |||
| Adam Wright | 38 | 38 | 76 |
| Chad Calvert | 34 | 42 | 76 |
| Chris Reaves | 40 | 37 | 77 |
| Scott Martin | 36 | 41 | 77 |
| Billy McCroskey | 41 | 36 | 77 |
| Jason Rich | 40 | 37 | 77 |
| Hunter Carr | 37 | 40 | 77 |
| Wesley jenkins | 41 | 37 | 78 |
| Justin Graveman | 40 | 38 | 78 |
| Billy Thompson | 38 | 40 | 78 |
| Logan Craft | 39 | 39 | 78 |
| Chase Hollingsworth | 37 | 41 | 78 |
| Zac Mangum | 42 | 36 | 78 |
| SECOND FLIGHT | |||
| CJ Taylor | 39 | 40 | 79 |
| Kenny Wright | 40 | 39 | 79 |
| Mark McCaig | 39 | 40 | 79 |
| Casey Harmon | 42 | 37 | 79 |
| Kenny Okins | 39 | 41 | 80 |
| Chip Howell | 42 | 38 | 80 |
| Ward Campbell | 37 | 43 | 80 |
| Lamar Carter | 38 | 42 | 80 |
| Danny Whittaker | 40 | 40 | 80 |
| Skylar Dennis | 38 | 43 | 81 |
| Harrison Hughston | 40 | 41 | 81 |
| Tanner Wells | 41 | 40 | 81 |
| Dre Davenport | 37 | 44 | 81 |
| Eric Cannington | 44 | 37 | 81 |
| THIRD FLIGHT | |||
| Daily Thomas | 40 | 42 | 82 |
| Jared Chapman | 40 | 42 | 82 |
| Cole McNeal | 42 | 40 | 82 |
| Mark Durden | 42 | 40 | 82 |
| Jeff Bain | 41 | 42 | 83 |
| Bradley Elliott | 42 | 41 | 83 |
| Clayton Chandler | 38 | 45 | 83 |
| Andy Jenkins | 42 | 41 | 83 |
| Maurice Dates | 42 | 42 | 84 |
| Ryan Huff | 39 | 45 | 84 |
| Josh Poole | 47 | 37 | 84 |
| Josh Reynolds | 41 | 43 | 84 |
| FOURTH FLIGHT | |||
| Jared Waits | 41 | 44 | 85 |
| Brock Young | 40 | 45 | 85 |
| Matt Rogers | 41 | 44 | 85 |
| Michael Casey | 42 | 43 | 85 |
| Landon Holly | 43 | 42 | 85 |
| Rick Okins | 45 | 41 | 86 |
| Chance Haywood | 39 | 47 | 86 |
| Scott Watson | 43 | 43 | 86 |
| Austin Elliott | 46 | 41 | 87 |
| Tray Floyd | 45 | 42 | 87 |
| Adam Johnson | 40 | 47 | 87 |
| Benji Turley | 44 | 43 | 87 |
| Mike Hughston | 43 | 44 | 87 |
| Scotty McFry | 38 | 49 | 87 |
| FIFTH FLIGHT | |||
| Brad Young | 43 | 46 | 89 |
| Craig Duncan | 44 | 45 | 89 |
| Shane Lee | 46 | 43 | 89 |
| Heath Hammond | 46 | 44 | 90 |
| Kolby Slick | 49 | 43 | 92 |
| Mark Gaines | 48 | 45 | 93 |
| Bart Smith | 40 | 53 | 93 |
| Mark Guyther | 42 | 52 | 94 |
| Josh Davis | 50 | 44 | 94 |
| SIXTH FLIGHT | |||
| Alex Whaley | 44 | 51 | 95 |
| Nash Messer | 47 | 48 | 95 |
| Seth Collett | 54 | 44 | 98 |
| Riley Boyd | 48 | 51 | 99 |
| Kasey Ray | 49 | 51 | 100 |
| Ty Johnson | 49 | 52 | 101 |
| Rickey Carden | 45 | 57 | 102 |
| Kobe Messer | 47 | 57 | 104 |
| Ken Renfroe | 54 | 52 | 106 |
| Warren Sewell | 59 | 60 | 119 |
| SENIOR A | |||
| James Beavers | 39 | 33 | 72 |
| David Messer | 37 | 36 | 73 |
| Tim Steward | 35 | 39 | 74 |
| Gary Austin | 39 | 37 | 76 |
| Jerry Kemp | 39 | 37 | 76 |
| Charlie Estes | 38 | 39 | 77 |
| SENIOR B | |||
| Keith Haywood | 37 | 41 | 78 |
| Lamar Ward | 47 | 38 | 85 |
| Rick Barthel | 40 | 47 | 87 |
| Dennis Austin | 43 | 47 | 90 |
| Lee Clark | 47 | 57 | 104 |
Sunday pairings
7:30: Kobe Messer, Ken Renfroe, Warren Sewell
7:40: Kasey Ray, Ty Johnson, Rickey Carden
7:50: Alex Whaley, Nash Messer, Seth Collett, Riley Boyd
8:00: Lamar Ward, Rick Barthel, Dennis Austin, Lee Clark
8:10: Tim Steward, Jerry Kemp, Charlie Estes, Keith Haywood
8:20: James Beavers, David Messer, Gary Austin
8:30: Bart Smith, Mark Guyther, Josh Davis
8:40: Heath Hammond, Kolby Slick, Mrk Gaines
8:50: Scotty McFry, Brad Young, Craig Duncan, Shane Lee
9:00: Tray Floyd, Adam Johnson, Benji Turley, Mike Hughston
9:10: Rick Okins, Chance Haywood, Scott Watson, Austin Elliott
9:20: Brock Young, Matt Rogers, Michael Casey, Landon Holly
9:30: Ryan Huff, Josh Poole, Josh Reynolds, Jared Waits
9:40: Bradley Elliott, Clayton Chandler, Andy Jenkins, Maurice Dates
9:50: Jared Chapman, Daily Thomas, Mark Durden, Jeff Bain
10:00: Tanner Wells, Dre Davenport, Eric Cannington, Cole McNeal
10:10: Lamar Carter, Danny Whittaker, Skylar Dennis, Harrison Hughston
10:20: Casey Harmon, Kenny Okins, Chip Howell, Ward Campbell
10:30: Logan Craft, CJ Taylor, Kenny Wright, Mark McCaig
10:40: Hunter Carr, Billy Thompson, Zac Mangum, Chase Hollingsworth
10:50: Billy McCroskey, Jason Rich, Justin Graveman, Wesley Jenkins
11:00: Adam Wright, Chad Calvert, Chris Reaves, Scott Martin
11:10: Starters Time
11:20: Randy Archer, Daniel Black, Gage Miller, Chance Harris
11:30: Mason Dennis, Timmy Woodard, Logan Archer
11:40: Landon Winfrey, Ryan Limbaugh, Brad Moultrie
11:50: Clay Calkins, Dalton Chandler, Kevin Daugherty
Noon: Alex Harper, Corey Ray, Matt Bell, Gary Wigington
12:10 p.m.: Brennan Clay, Kent Whitley, Ty Cole
12:20: Morton Holcomb, Layton Bussey, Jeremy McGatha
12:30: Sawyer Edwards, Landon Straub, Jake Goggans
