Shear Excitement

Edwards holds onto his hair – and some of his opponent’s – after trimming Ledbetter for Calhoun County medalist, leading White Plains to team title

By Al Muskewitz

Sawyer Edwards got to keep his hair – for the time being anyway – but he was cutting it close there for a while.

The White Plains sophomore became one of the youngest players to win medalist honors in the Calhoun County Golf Tournament Saturday when he shot 2-under-par 70 for the second straight day at Pine Hill CC.

The 15-year-old made six birdies in a frenetic final round, three on the back nine to help him pull away for his second tournament victory of the season. His 4-under 140 total was six shots better than Weaver’s Nick Ledbetter and eight ahead of Oxford’s Nic Boyd, but he was tied with Ledbetter for the lead going to the back nine.

“I was told my multiple people if you shoot 70 you win,” Edwards said. “I didn’t really believe it and I didn’t want to shoot 70 — I wanted to do a lot better — and then I came out and started hitting it bad.

“I just tried to keep grinding, made the turn and tried to keep grinding; luckily it paid off. I knew me and Nick were gonna be close; he’s a great player. I just think he had a couple bad holes and kept thinking about it.”

There was a lot on the, um, hairline, between them this week. By pulling away on the back, Edwards won their wager that the loser — as long as one of them won the tournament — had to surrender their substantial mullet.

“I think it was just a pride thing between me and him, whoever won got to keep it; that’s been the talk for a while,” Edwards said. “I think it was way more important to him.”

But Ledbetter honorably sat for a ceremonial clipping at the hand of Edwards in the clubhouse after the awards ceremony. The rest of the mullet is expected to come off in a more private setting later in the week.

“‘It was a fun two years with it,” the Bearcats junior said. “It is what it is. I made the bet and lost it. There was definitely a few tears in the bathroom a minute ago.”

Edwards admitted the mullet he had been growing since the summer of 2020 is going to come off in the next few days, too, but he was “absolutely” trying to protect it during the tournament.

The drama of the bet looked like it would be over early as Edwards birdied the first two holes despite hitting adjacent tees off the tee to open a three-shot lead, but it actually was just beginning.

A three-hole stretch of bogeys in the middle of front nine dropped Edwards two shots behind Ledbetter and got him thinking about his own hairline.

“On 6 I was down two and I looked at Nick and said, well, I’m going to be mullet-less in a couple hours,: the eventual medalist said.

Hole 6 was a turning point. The second shots of both Edwards and Ledbetter found water on the hole, but a matter of about 30 feet and the type of water they found made the difference in a two-shot swing that flipped the leaderboard.

Edwards found the lake. Ledbetter’s ball came to rest in a patch of casual water on the path between the lake and the sixth green. Ledbetter got a free drop. Edwards took a penalty drop. Ledbetter made birdied – his third in four holes – while Edwards took a bogey.

But that’s where Edwards turned it around. He finally hit a correct fairway on 7 and worked back to a tie at the turn, then took the lead for good on the gateway to the back nine. He went par-birdie on 10 and 11, while Ledbetter made a double bogey on 10 after a flyer from the fairway found the water behind the green and a three-putt bogey on 11.

“I knew neither one of us was going to run away with it, until the end, and he did,” Ledbetter said. “It was there but the putts just didn’t fall. I was hitting them close enough to make the birdies and I just didn’t make them.”

Ledbetter did par his next six holes, but he needed birdies to make a move. He birdied 15, 17 and 18 in each of his previous two county tournament rounds, but couldn’t find the same magic on this day.

While Edwards and Ledbetter were duking it out, Boyd for the second day in a row was quietly moving into the picture.

The Oxford junior with the smooth swing birdied 5 and 6 and got within three of the lead at the turn. He actually moved ahead of Ledbetter on 11 and stayed there until a sloppy three-putt on 18 produced a double-bogey to end his round and hopes of a runner-up finish.

White Plains shot 294 as a team Saturday and won the team championship by a whopping 71 shots over Oxford and Alexandria, who went to two on-course tiebreakers before being declared co-runner-ups.

The Wildcats counted four rounds in the 70s. In addition to Sawyer’s 70, Dalton Faulkner gave them a 73 and a pair of eighth-graders — Wyatt Cotney and Cam Hurst — gave them a 75 and 76. The four counters combined for 15 birdies in the round.

“The boys have played about as good as they could play,” White Plains coach Chris Randall said. “I’m really excited about what the rest of the year has in store for us. We have improved a bunch. Those (eighth-graders) are really turning into players.”

“They’re going to be super good,” Edwards said of the eighth-graders. “Cam, he can get up and down from anywhere on the golf course. Wyatt hits it farther than me, just rips the ball.”  [*** read more]

Calhoun County Tournament