Ones and Twos of Oxford City Championship

Two holes-in-one highlight first round that sees Wigington, McGatha shoot twin 69s to lead Oxford City Championship by one stroke.

By Joe Medley

Good things came in twos during Saturday’s first round of the Oxford City Championship.

Correction: good things came in ones, twice.

On a day when Jeremy McGatha and Gary Wigington shot twin 69s to lead by one stroke, David Coffey and Mike Lett hit the shots of the day with twin holes-in-one.

Even in a field of 162 golfers, Cider Ridge owner and president Cory Etter called two aces in one round “very rare.”

Coffey hit the day’s first ace, using a pitching edge from 134 yards on No. 8. Witnessed by foursome partners Tanner Wells, Layton Bussey and Cam Hurst, the ace was Coffey’s first.

“Good solid contact shot,” he said. “I knew about halfway there that it was going to be all over the stick. Just over the flag, and it started trickling back to the cup.

“I thought I saw it disappear and turned to Cam, and he said, “That’s In!” It was great.”

Lett hit a pitching wedge from 120 yards on No. 17, scoring his second ace. He played with son James Lett, Scotty McFry and David Medders Jr.

“The funny part was, my son James had hit his tee shot to about 2 feet for closest to the pin,” he said. “So dad had to do a little better.”

The two aces highlighted a day that saw a rain delay and two sub-70 rounds. McGatha turned in the day’s first sub-70 score, with birdies on 5, 9, 11, 13 and 15.

“Steady round,” he said. “Hate playing in the rain.”

Wigington shot a 32 with four birdies on the front nine.

“Just a solid round,” he said. “Never got in any trouble but just needed to close it out a little better.”

Each player seeks his third career victory in Tour events at Cider Ridge.

Defending champions and three-time winner Ty Cole and Tanner Wells each shot a 70 to sit one stroke back.

“This is a lot of players to get through an event,” Etter said, “but I want to give props to our staff for working extremely hard and allowing us to get 162 golfers through with three different rainstorms during round one.”

Scores

Sunday’s tee times