Amateur Players Tour Nashville takes on Old Fort

On Saturday, the Nashville chapter of the Amateur Players Tour visited Old Fort Golf Club in Murfreesboro, TN.  The players were treated to perfect greens and plush fairways.  The weather was hot, steamy and muggy and provided an additional test to stay mentally focused.

In Division 1, six players battled and were within two strokes of the lead at the turn.  The inward half of the round was the deciding factor in crowning a champion today.  Robert Sain (36-39-75) held the early lead after nine holes with an even par 36. His chances were upended with an untimely double-bogey six on the long par 4 16th.  Tim Saunders (38-36-74) from the Smoky Mountain chapter birded the first two holes of the back nine to get into the lead, but bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes pushed him back into a second-place finish.  In the end, Andrew Neely (38-35-73), made 8 pars on the back nine, including a birdie on the par 4 15th, to edge out Saunders for the 1st place trophy.

In Division 2, five players battled for the lead all day long.  Tournament champion, Harrison Loyd, posted three birdies on his outward nine to shoot one-under 35 and hold a two-stroke lead over Adam Corona (37-43-80) and John Bradshaw (37-39-76).  Bradshaw and Loyd were tied through 12 holes after Loyd bogeys 11 and Bradshaw birdies the par 3 12th.  Harrison was able to finish his round with three straight pars to capture the win by two strokes over Bradshaw.

In Division 3, at the turn, all were within four strokes of each other.  Garrett Gordon (36-40-76) had two birdies on the front to take a one-stroke lead to the back nine over Cage Ellis (37-40-77) who opened with a hot front nine with 8 straight pars.  Not to be outdone, James Newkirk (39-39-78) was lurking three strokes back going into the back nine.  Through 12 holes, all three players were tied at 3-over and things started to shape up.  On the par 5 14th, Newkirk mistakenly played one of his competitors’ ball and made triple bogey to take him out-of-the-hunt.   This left Ellis and Gordon to battle down-the-stretch.  The long par 4 16th proved to be the difference when Gordon made par to give him the win as Ellis made bogey.

In Division 4, Sammy Sedman (43-38-81) from the Smoky Mountain chapter made the turn four strokes off the lead and blazed a trail on the back side with a two-over 38 to win by three strokes over James Jacobs (39-45-84).  James got off to a hot start on the front, posting 39, but a long string of bogeys derailed his quest to capture first place and finishes in second.

In Division 5, the back nine at Old Fort proved to be the difference maker.  At the turn, four players were within one stroke of the lead with three players tied at 46.  The challenging #10 and #11 reduced the lead group to two players: Rachel Guthrie (46-42-88) and Thurman Boyd (46-46-92).  Still tied through 11 holes, Rachel made birdie on the par 3 12th while Thurman made bogey to take the lead and never looked back to capture her 1st win on the APT.  Thurman finishes in second place.

Upcoming Events:

Saturday-Sunday, June 26 & 27 – Two-Day at The Brae – Heatherhurst – Joint Event with Smoky Mountain Chapter

Saturday July 10th – Ted Rhodes (Nashville Chapter)