Jackson top seed for Match Play
Tim Jackson from Williston can win his 21st Tennessee Golf Association championship this week after co-leading the qualifying for the 2018 Tennessee Match Play tournament at Council Fire. Jackson, a member at The Honors Course, shot a 4-under-par 68 Tuesday for a two-day 137 and the top seed for the 16-man match-play field, but he has a formidable opponent this morning in Knoxville’s Steve Golliher, who won a three-man playoff for the final spot at 145. The Jackson-Golliher winner will face either Cookeville’s Lee Maxwell or University of Tennessee at Chattanooga player Oliver Simonsen (141) from Baylor School in the quarterfinals. Simonsen is the son of the head professional at The Honors Course, and another Honors representative, Jack Smith (143) of Knoxville, will face another Baylor graduate, defending champion Chase Roswall (140) from Bristol and the Tennessee Volunteers, in the round of 16. Ben Rebne from Dalton State College and Heritage High — and the son of Council Fire’s head pro — is the fourth seed after a 139 and plays Tennessee Tech golfer Bracton Womack (143) from McMinnville. Germantown’s Jordan Botwinick tied Jackson at 137 and is the No. 2 seed. Michael Barnard of Gallatin shot 138.
› Defending champion Colette Murray, the UTC women’s golf coach, shot a 71 Tuesday and took a two-shot lead over high school state champion Lindsey Hollis from Signal Mountain in the Women’s City Amateur tournament at WindStone, with Miranda Rich another five strokes back in third place. Murray was at 147 for 36 holes with Hollis at 149 after a 73 in the championship flight of the open division. Behind Rich at 154 were Ryann McCuistion at 155, Macall Miller at 158, Mary Melissa Manuel at 162 and Kathy Vaughn at 164. Linda Carter at 165 had a one-shot lead in the first flight over Barb Monaghan, and Tracy Carpenter at 177 was seven clear of second-place Sharon Powell in the second flight. The tournament ends today with the senior division rejoining the open competitors.
› Nicole Adam of Pinehurst, North Carolina, who has grandparents in Red Bank, shot 147 in qualifying for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur at Pebble Beach, California, and seemed to have one of the 64 matchplay spots, but many of the 156 players had not finished their second round at press time Tuesday night. Ashley Gilliam of Manchester, Tennessee, also was on pace to advance but was still on the course.
› Alexander Riddle from Notre Dame High School was named the most dedicated player on the Tennessee Tech men’s golf team for 2017-18, his senior season, and McMinnville’s Bracton Womack shared the men’s impact award as a freshman while Kate Mashburn from Calhoun, Georgia, got the women’s impact award. “What can I say about Alexander? Pretty much for his entire career he was one of the most dedicated players on the team,” coach Polk Brown said in a TTU release. “He brought a great work ethic with him that I think was contagious for the rest of the guys. I think the team looked to him for guidance on how to practice and go about doing things to prepare for tournaments.”
FISHING
› Bryan College anglers Jacob Foutz and Jake Lee will be on Tenkiller Lake in Oklahoma this week as they try to repeat the Carhartt Bassmasters College Series national title they won last summer in Minnesota. The two Lions then wound up meeting for the College Bracket individual championship, with Foutz winning. The tournament at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, is set to start Thursday with 136 boats representing 78 universities and colleges, and Bryan has five qualifying boats besides the defending champs: Thad Simerly with Ethan Shaw, Nathan Bell with Cole Sands, Johnathan Peck with Griffin Heffington, brothers Chandler and Conner Fogg, and Dalton Price by himself. The top 12 duos after Friday’s round will vie Saturday for the championship, and the final top four will advance as eight individuals to the College Bracket in mid-August on Milford Lake in Kansas.