Tournament Champions
View Tournament Results
The East Tennessee Amateur Players Tour returned to Island Pointe Golf Club on Sunday, November 1, 2026 in Kodak, Tennessee for a premier amateur golf tournament, and the Island Pointe Breezy Shootout delivered one of the tightest afternoons of the fall across the chapter’s slice of Chattanooga amateur golf tournaments. A field of 32 players competed across five divisions, with two net games alongside them, in an Elevated Event carrying over $1,000 in prize money. Players are flighted into divisions based on their APT Tournament Index.
Island Pointe has been a fixture in East Tennessee since it opened in 1991, a true links-style layout spread over more than 175 acres of river ground between Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains. The par-72 course was in excellent shape for the visit, with greens in perfect condition and very tricky to read — a combination that rewarded patience and punished anyone guessing at speed. The par-3 3rd was the hardest hole on the property, surrendering a single birdie all day and playing nearly a shot and a half over par, while the par-4 13th was the most generous, giving up seven birdies.
Light rain and wind persisted all day, and with the ball refusing to run on a links-style course and the greens already demanding, the conditions were the main thing standing between the field and lower numbers.
Breezy sponsored the day and lent its name to the Shootout. Our thanks to Breezy for supporting the East Tennessee chapter.
Division 1 produced the low round of the day and a finish that went the full 18. Braydon Bean of Knoxville, Tennessee signed for 4-over 76 to take the title by a single stroke. It did not come easily. Matt Crowder of Georgetown, Tennessee was three clear of Bean after six holes and turned in even-par 36, with birdies at the par-5 6th and the par-5 9th. Bean answered on the same stretch — he birdied the 1st, the 7th and the 9th — and by the twelve-hole mark, after a fourth birdie at the par-4 12th, he had turned that three-shot deficit into a three-shot lead. Crowder got all the way back, drawing level with three to play, but Bean played the last three in 1-over to Crowder’s 2-over and claimed medalist honors with matching nines of 2-over 38. Ryan Cannington posted 78 in the division. Six of the seven finishers were within seven shots of the winning number.
Division 2 belonged to Jimmy Pierce of Dayton, Tennessee, who went out in 4-over 40, came home in 4-over 40 and signed for 8-over 80 and a five-shot win. Pierce was never headed — one stroke clear after six holes, four clear after twelve, five clear after fifteen — and he finished the job in style, birdieing the par-4 18th after picking up his first of the day at the par-4 7th. Joseph Sprenz of Knoxville, Tennessee took runner-up honors with 13-over 85.
Tommy Lee of Maryville, Tennessee won yet again, adding Division 3 to a season that keeps producing trips to victory lane. Lee’s 6-over 78 was built on four birdies — at the par-5 9th, the par-4 10th, the par-4 13th and the par-3 17th — and matching nines of 3-over 39 each way. He needed every one of them. Daniel Andrews of Sevierville, Tennessee was level with Lee through six holes and, after going out in 7-over 43, came home in 1-over 37 with birdies at the 10th and the 13th to close within two by the time the last three holes arrived. Lee held firm for a two-shot win, and Andrews took second with 8-over 80. Two more finished bunched together at 85, and four players ended the day within seven of the lead in the chapter’s deepest division of the afternoon.
Jason Copeland of Crossville, Tennessee broke through for his first career victory in Division 4, and he had to hold off a hard charge to do it. Copeland led by six after six holes and by seven at the twelve-hole mark, but Marquise Snead of Rossville, Tennessee refused to let the thing end quietly, cutting the deficit to three with three holes to play and continuing to press all the way to the house. Copeland’s 19-over 91 stood up by a single stroke over Snead’s 20-over 92. It was one of the most closely contested flights of the day from top to bottom: two players finished within two of the winning score, four within five, and six of the seven within seven.
Division 5 turned on the closing stretch. Aaron Smith of Chattanooga, Tennessee trailed Roger Vaughn of Jamestown, Tennessee by five after six holes and was still three behind at the twelve-hole mark, but Smith flipped the switch on the inward half. He played the back nine in 7-over 43 after going out in 15-over 51, picking up birdies at the par-4 13th and the par-5 14th, and had closed to within one with three to play. Vaughn, who had birdied the par-3 3rd and the par-5 6th on a front nine of 8-over 44, played the last three in 5-over, and Smith’s 22-over 94 edged him by a stroke. Vaughn finished second with 23-over 95.
Smith was not finished. He completed the double-dip in the Mid-Am Net, where his net 1-under 71 was the only net number under par in the game and good for a one-shot win. John Hipp of Christiana, Tennessee held the advantage for a long stretch of the afternoon and finished strongly placed on net even-par 72, taking second. Two players came in within two of the winning net score and six of the seven were within seven, making it the closest of the two net games.
Lee also returned to the Winners Circle twice. The Division 3 champion added the Senior Net by four strokes, posting net 7-under 65 — the lowest net score anywhere on the property. Shane Kennedy of Chattanooga, Tennessee was a stroke back after six holes before Lee pulled clear, and Kennedy’s net 3-under 69 earned runner-up honors to round out the money positions. Two winners, four trophies between them: Lee and Smith each carried off both a gross division and a net game.
Next up in the East Tennessee chapter — a trip to Bear Trace at Harrison Bay on Sunday, November 8th. Space is limited and registration closes November 5th. One week later the chapter heads to Avalon Country Club on Sunday, November 15th, with registration closing November 12th.
