Levi Nix win his third straight Chicken Dinner golf title in a playoff.
Any other year and Levi Nix would have the been one leading the cheers for recent Southeast Whitfield High School graduate Matthew Cleary as the ex-Raider standout made a charge on the back nine in Sunday’s final round of the Chicken Dinner golf tournament at the LaFayette Golf Course.
Except Cleary wasn’t just trying to become one of the youngest players to ever win the long-standing tournament; he was also trying to prevent Nix from winning it a third consecutive time.
In the end, Nix’s veteran experience got the nod over Cleary’s youthful exuberance, but only just barely.
It would take 37 holes to finally crown a champion in the 81st edition of the tournament. Cleary would put the pressure on with a birdie on the first playoff hole, only to see Nix drain an eagle putt to claim the championship.
With the victory, Nix becomes just the fifth player to win the Chicken Dinner three times and he’s the first to win at least three in a row since tournament director and LaFayette teaching pro Eddie Jackson won five straight from 1978-1982.
“It’s always great to defend your title, but when you get to defend it two years in a row, that’s pretty phenomenal,” Nix said afterward. “But really all I can say is that Matthew Cleary gave me a run for my money. He’s a fantastic player and he’s going to do a lot of great things when it comes to golf and academics at Valdosta State. I was actually nervous for him, because I wanted him to play well also.”
Nix, who finished up his college career at Dalton State a year ago, finally broke through with his first Chicken Dinner win in 2015, coming back from four shots down on Sunday to win by a stroke. Then last year, he shot an opening round 65 and took a one-shot lead into the final round before again hanging on to win by one.
This time around, Nix again led by one after Saturday’s first 18 holes and again after shooting an openinground 65. However, Cleary – who tied for 11th place in last month’s Class AAAA state tournament in Columbus with a 2-over par 73 – was will within striking distance as he shot a 66 on the par-72 layout on Saturday.
The two would play in the final foursome on Sunday alongside 2016 runner-up Ryan Carrington and Tripp Harris, who both shot 3-under 69 in the first round.
Nix gained a stroke on Cleary with birdies on No. 1 and No. 4, the two par-5’s on the front side. Both players would bogey the tough par-3 sixth hole, but
finished with three straight pars as Nix took a two-stroke lead going into the final nine.
However, they had some company in the form of rising LaFayette High senior Gage Smith, who shot a frontside 32 in the penultimate grouping to go 6-under for the tournament. Meanwhile, Harris used a 34 on the front to move to 5-under, along with Beau Gammage. Gammage, playing in the next-to-last group with Smith, shot a 33 on the front. Both Smith and Gammage shot 2-under in their opening rounds.
But Nix would roll in a clutch birdie putt from just off the green on the par-4 10th hole and matched Cleary with a birdie on the
par-5 11th to increase his lead. However, Nix would pull his drive on No. 12 into the trees and ended up with a bogey to give the shot right back.
As Smith and Gammage began to cool off just ahead of them, Cleary turned up the heat by sticking his approach on the par-3 14th hole and making the short birdie putt. Harris, who went birdie-birdie to start the back nine, saw his momentum stopped with a bogey on the hole and never threatened the lead again.
Both Nix and Cleary nearly made birdie on the par-4 16th. Nix’s putt came up just short of the cup, while Cleary just missed a chip-in from off the green. However, Cleary got back on track by rolling a 15-footer for birdie on No. 17 to tie Nix at 9-under and the
tournament would go to a playoff after both came up just short on birdie putt attempts at No. 18.
The pair both reached the par-5 first hole in two, but Cleary’s second shot left him some 18 feet of green to navigate, while Nix fired at the flag and stuck his approach inside of four feet. Cleary’s eagle attempt was just off the mark and he settled for a tap-in birdie, but he could only watch as Nix confidently dropped the eagle putt for the win.
“Going in as a twotime champion, I just took some confidence into this year,” Nix explained. “I knew I had won it twice, so I kept telling myself ‘there’s no reason you can’t win it a third time’. I haven’t been playing or practicing a whole lot lately, so I wasn’t expecting a whole
lot, but sometimes I guess having lower expectations can work out for you.
“I will say I was a little more nervous this year with folks talking about a threepeat. Matthew and I are pretty familiar with each other. He works down at The Farm in Dalton and he’s a baller, that’s for sure.”
Cleary said he knew the score was tied after his birdie on No. 17.
“I was keeping track the whole back nine and I wasn’t going to let him out of my sights,” he said with a grin. “I had a kind of slow front nine, but that birdie at 14 really put it in my head that I had a chance to win it. It was a great run. A real David versus Goliath, but Goliath took it.”
Cleary said that he plans to use this experience with the
(NCAA) Division II Blazers next season.
“This was just a great experience,” he added. “I think it will do a lot for my confidence (in college) being able to compete against someone like Levi, who’s a great golfer and who had a great collegiate career. It just tells me I can play with anybody.”
Harris shot a backside 35 to finish at 6-under and take third place in the championship flight, one shot clear of Carrington. Carrington birdied three of his final four holes to shoot 70 and finish at 5-under for the tournament. Smith (70-70) finished at 4-under and took fifth in a playoff, while two-time champion P.J. Shields (71-69) and Gammage (70-70) finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Former champion Jay Potter (75-69) won the first flight, while another former champion, Shonn Weldon (76-71), won the second flight. Third flight honors went to Chad Revis (80-75), while Chris Hardy (8578) won the fourth flight.