Hair-Raising Adventure for Weaver, Alexandria, Oxford, and White Plains

Weaver’s Ledbetter, White Plains’ Edwards share county boys medalist lead after posting 70s; Alexandria’s Sechrest holds 5-shot lead among the girls

By Al Muskewitz

Weaver’s Nick Ledbetter retreated to the spot on the edge of the green from where he just set up his final two-putt of the day for birdie, leaned his head back into the breeze and tossed his hair all around. It was as if he was saying to the locks, “OK, fellas, I came through for you today.”

Ledbetter birdied three of his last four holes and shot 32 on the back nine Friday at Pine Hill Country Club to complete a 2-under-par 70 that pulled him and his hair into a share of the Calhoun County Tournament lead with White Plains’ Sawyer Edwards.

The deadlock is significant because the two favorites for the boys medalist have a wager going that whoever loses between them has to cut their significant mullets. Because of Ledbetter’s strong finish, no one got clipped in the first round, but it was a close shave.

“I was standing over there and I was looking at it and I was like, ‘I’m not going to lose the hair today,’” Ledbetter said.

Of course, there’s a little more to the bet than just who posts the best score. One of them has to win the tournament. If someone else is low medalist, both mullets come off.

And for the first half of the round Friday that looked like that was going to be a subplot for the final round.

Oxford’s Nic Boyd, embracing his role as an underdog, birdied both of the back-to-back par-3s on the front, chipped in for a terrific birdie on 6 after finding the water with his second shot and had a two-shot lead on the field at 3-under through eight holes.

“I told (Edwards) after 6, I didn’t think we were both going to lose our heads,” Ledbetter said. “The goal is for only one of us; I don’t want both of us to lose it. One of us has to win it. On the second hole I told him somebody in this tournament is playing third, that me and him should have first and second locked down so only one of us loses our hair.”

The way his round started, Ledbetter wouldn’t have needed clippers; he could have pulled his hair out. In the first eight holes he hit every fairway, hit every green inside 10 feet and two-putted every hole. Things looked even grimmer at the turn when he shanked his second shot on 9 trying to recover from trouble off the tee and made a double bogey to fall four off the lead.

“When I came off 9 I was like I just can’t lose it today,” Ledbetter said. “You can’t win it on Friday, but you can definitely lose it. That’s what coach (Justin) Brown and my dad have told me all week. So, I just got on the back nine and just grinded and grinded and they finally started falling.”

He birdied 10, driving the green and hitting the hole with his eagle putt. As the two favorites crossed back over the bridge, Ledbetter suggested to Edwards they both go on a tear. One did, one didn’t. Ledbetter birdied 15, 17 and 18. Edwards birdied 10, 13 and 17 to take a two-shot lead into 18, but had “terrible bogeys” on 14 and 18 and an equally unpleasant par on 15 to sour the round.

But just as Ledbetter’s fortunes turned on the inward nine, so did Boyd’s. The Yellow Jackets junior found the water behind the green off the tee on the short par-4 10^th and made double bogey, allowing Ledbetter to close the gap and Edwards to take the lead.

Boyd gained a shot back with a birdie on 11, but then the putter left him. He misgauged the speed on a short birdie putt on 13, three-putted 14 for a double, three-putted 15 for bogey and bogeyed 16 after missing the green.

“It was going pretty good early,” Boyd said. “For the most part I was feeling very confident, then the back nine hit, I had that double and it went downhill from there.”

With neither of the favorites getting a leg up Friday, it makes Saturday even more fun.

“I think it’s better now; I do,” Edwards said of the wager. “It’s whoever wins tomorrow is all that matters.”

Sechrest leads girls by 5

The contenders in the girls field don’t have any kind of wager like the boys, but if Alexandria’s Lauren Sechrest really thought about it “that’d be pretty hilarious if we did.”

Sechrest and her closest challenger, defending champion Abby Gattis of White Plains, work together at Silver Lakes and talk “a lot,” but the competition, Sechrest said, is too intense to allow such jocularity.

The Lady Cubs’ senior played her best round in three County Tournament appearances Friday, putting together a 5-over-par 78 to open a five-shot lead over Gattis. Her previous best was an 82 in the final round of last year’s runner-up finish.

“When I think about my round, I was so relaxed; it was just a good day,” she said. “I really wasn’t worrying about my score too much. I just was wanting to enjoy it, have fun, because I knew it was the first day so I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. I was patient and played every shot safe.”

That meant setting herself up for a good approach shot and two-putt for par. She had one birdie – on the par-5 sixth – that got her to 1-over for the tournament.

She said the five-shot lead going into the final round gives her “a little wiggle room, not a lot.” She plans to take the same approach Saturday.

“I’m just going to take it easy tomorrow, not really think too much about it,” she said. “Just trust my swing, trust my clubs and hopefully it’ll be another great day tomorrow.” [*** read more]