Fehr recalls late father in Chattanooga TPC victory
The Chattanooga Tournament Players Championship was always one of the late Mike Fehr’s favorite golf events.
In fact, it would have been one of his choice tournaments to win, but he never had the opportunity. Fehr passed away last year from colon cancer.
However, Sunday at Council Fire Golf and Country Club, Fehr’s son and namesake Mikey Fehr hoisted the trophy and remembered his late dad’s most fervent golf wish.
Fehr won arguably Chattanooga’s most prestigious city event, beating Cres Dodd 1-up in 20 holes in the 26th edition of the tournament.
“It’s a big deal for me,” said Fehr, a recent graduate of Lipscomb, where he played college golf for four years. “You live around here and it’s the pinnacle of golf events for amateurs. My dad loved this tournament.”
Fehr hit a spot-on flop shot to within three feet, his third on the par-5 second and the second sudden-death playoff hole, to ease by Cres Dodd 1-up in 20 holes. It was only Fehr’s second time playing in the tournament started in 1993 by Chattanooga amateur and event organizer Mike Jenkins.
Jenkins said he thought this year’s sudden-death event was only the third in the event’s history.
While the 23-year-old Fehr was winning the Chattanooga TPC for the first time, the Senior TPC winner was no stranger to the throne room. Pat Corey defeated Bob Rice of Pikeville to win that division 2-up in 17 holes.
It was Corey’s first Chattanooga TPC Senior title, but the Lookout Mountain resident won three of the first four regular-division titles more than 20 years ago. Bob Rice has been runner-up in the senior division twice. He lost two years ago to Scott Patton.
Fehr birdied the second extra hole, borrowing the putt’s line from Dodd, who missed a 15-footer that was on a very similar line as Fehr’s.
“Mine was only three feet, but it was a left-toright slider, as was his,” Fehr said. “The greens here were perfect, so I putted it on the same line.”
The two traded mostly pars on the first 18 holes. The match went to extra holes after Fehr three-putted the par-4 18th. They traded pars on the short par-4 first, and the math ended with Fehr’s short birdie on the par-5 second.
The turning point in the match came at the par-5 when Fehr halved the hole with a birdie, two-putting from 30 feet. He went 2-up with a par at 15, but Dodd hit it stiff the 16th and Fehr three-putted 18 to send the match to extra holes.
Fehr beat Jimmy White in the semis 3 and 2, while Dodd was beating Chase Deck 6 and 5.
Corey took advantage of Rice’s errant putting to capture the senior division.
“It seemed like Bob was putting for birdie on every hole,” Corey said. “But fortunately for me, not many of those went in.”
But it was Corey’s ball striking that was the difference. He recently went through a swing change that has him striking the ball much the way he did when he was winning a plethora of tournaments a little more than 20 years ago.
“I finally changed my swing, and I’m playing better than I have in the last 10 years,” Corey said. “Today I just tried to keep the ball in front of me and out of the rough. I managed to do that.”
Corey defeated Scott Patton 1 up in the semis, while Rice beat Randy Yoder 3 and 2.
Contact Sam Woolwine at sports@timesfreepress.com.