CHUCKEY — The final event of the year for Graysburg Hills is fast approaching. The club’s Fall Four-Ball is set for October 16th and 17th with the entry deadline of October 13th. 

The course made it through the hot summer in good shape and we are scheduled to aerify the greens Sept. 7th and 8th so the golf course, by tournament time, should be in top condition.

Leif Ratliff, left, won the Champhionship Flight championship and Dean Morelock, right, the Senior Division in The Crossings' Club Championship. Photo by Ron Bliss.

By Ron Bliss
GKGA Golf
 
JONESBOROUGH — Leif Ratliff took a five-shot lead after just two holes Sunday and never looked back en route to a nine-shot victory over Shannon Morelock in The Crossings Club Championship.

Ratliff shot a second-straight 70 on Sunday and moved five up when Morelock made a double bogey at No. 2. Ratliff, 18, turned the front nine one under par with the help of birdies at Nos. 4 and 5 and added birdies at Nos. 11 and 14 after reaching each of the par fives in two shots.

A big tee ball was the key for him.

“I was hitting it about 300, with the roll I got out there,” said Ratliff, who is ready to commit to Tusculum College though he still has a year of high school remaining.

Ratliff is being home-schooled, but didn’t start school until he was six.

Two other members of The Crossings are currently members of the Tusculum team — Nick York and David Talley.

“I play with them a lot and know other guys on the team and I will definitely consider going there, if I get an offer,” said Ratliff.

He can’t play high school golf, but will play four or five events on the All-American Golf Tour that will have fall events in the area.

“They are all on weekends,” noted Ratliff, who said the farthest he had to go last year was Memphis.

The club championship means a lot to him. York and Talley were off playing in the TriCities Amateur Championship, but still his four-under-par total for 36 holes was strong.

“I would think two rounds under par in a tournament would help me with any golf coach,” said Ratliff.

Morelock finished at 73-76–149 and was second.

Dean Morelock, Shannon’s father,  won the Senior Division title for the fifth time by beating Cecil Crawford on the first hole of a playoff. Crawford, who had a four-shot lead with six holes to play, came back to make a birdie at No. 18 to force the playoff, but then three-putted from the back edge at No. 1 while Morelock two-putted for a par and the win.

Morelock rallied to make birdies at Nos. 13, 15 and 16 to get back into it after Crawford had taken advantage of his bogey at No. 12 to go four up. Morelock needed just three holes to tie it. He made birdies at Nos. 13 and 15 while Crawford bogeyed both holes. Morelock then went one up with a birdie at No. 16 before Crawford came back to birdie at No. 18 and force extra golf.

Both golfers had 75-72–147 totals for the tournament.

Here are final results:

Championship Flight
Leif Ratliff, $50, 70-70–140
Shannon Morelock, $25, 73-76–149
Drake Crawford, 81-74–1554

 Senior Flight
xDean Morelock, $50, 75-72–147
Cecil Crawford, $30, 75-72–147
Jim Lee, $20, 83-80–163
Buddy Broyles, 87-79–166

First Flight
Bob Cooley, $50, 74-71–145
Frank Horne, $25, 77-75–152
Seth Crawford, 75-81–156

Second Flight
Bear Johnston, $50, 80-79–159
Mike Ballard, $25, 80-80–160
Garland Spears, 80-82–162

Third Flight
Johnny Oudom, $50, 81-75–156
Don Kilgore, $25, 81-78–159
Mickey Grant, 84-86–170

Fourth Flight
xForrest Brumby, $50, 97-82–179
Glenn Wynn, $25, 94-85–179
Brian Ratliff, 91-95–186
X – Won position in playoff.

JONESBOROUGH — Lucas Armstrong of Church Hill shot an even-par 72 on Sunday and held on to win the first Tri-Cities Amateur Championship at The Ridges Golf and Country Club by three shots over Joe Meade of Greeneville.

Armstrong had a 140 total to Meade’s 143 total. Armstrong had shot a four-under-par 68 on Saturday.
 
Armstrong continued the impressive resume of Silver Lake Golf Club golfers. He won the TriCities Junior Amateur Championship in 2009 at The Virginian where fellow Silver Lake golfer Carlson Cox had previously won. Cox followed by winning the Greater Kingsport Amateur last year and had previously won the TriCities Junior Amateur Championship.

Here are final results of this week’s tournament and final season points standings.  The Cup teams were also set following Sunday’s play. Qualifiers are shaded below:

SENIOR RESULTS

1 – Mike Freels           73 72 – 145

2 – Brady Richards     75 75 – 150

3 – Tony Green           77 75 – 152

4 – Bob Ross               81 72 – 153

5 – Lyman Fulton       78 79 – 157

6 – Les Ward              78 85 – 163

Carlson Cox won the regular-season points title. He had won the GKGA points title last year.

Mike Freels won the Senior Division title and season points standings.

REGULAR RESULTS

1 – Lucas Armstrong  68 72 – 140

2 – Joe Meade             72 71 – 143

3 – Carlson Cox          73 71 – 144

4 – Sasha Catron         74 72 – 146

4 – Bryan Sangid        70 76 – 146

6 – Jared Songster       74 74 – 148

6 – Zach Botts             79 69 – 148

8 – Nick York             74 75 – 149

9 – Chip Spratlin         77 73 – 150

10 – Chris Wynne       79 73 – 152

11 – Preston Marshall 79 76 – 155

12 – Blake Howard     80 76 – 156

13 – David Talley       80 77 – 157

14 – Todd Ricker        77 84 – 161

15 – Adam Mahan      79 84 – 163

Lucas Armstrong is the first-round leader at The Ridges. He won the TriCities Junior Amateur championships in 2009. Photo by Ron Bliss.

GKGA Golf

JONESBOROUGH — Lucas Armstrong carved out a four-under-par 68 Saturday to take the first-round lead in the Food City Tri-Cities Amateur Championship wrapped  at The Ridges Golf & Country Club. 

    Leading the Senior division is Mike Freels.  Freels is leading the points race and has three wins already this summer.   Armstrong went -4 under on the front nine.  Bryan Sangid had no bogeys and 2 birdies on his way to a round of 70.  In third place is Joe Meade who double bogeyed the last hole to shoot even par.  

Here are Sunday’s pairings:

Round 2 Pairings – SENIOR

8:00AM           Les Ward 78, Lyman Fulton 78, Bob Ross 81          

8:10AM           Mike Freels 73, Brady Richards 75, Tony Green 77

Round 2 Pairings – REGULAR

 8:20AM           Blake Howard 80, Clay Shelton 95

8:30AM           Chris Wynne 79, David Talley 80

8:40AM           Adam Mahan 79, Zach Botts 79, Preston Marshall 79

8:50AM           Nick York 74, Chip Spratlin 77, Todd Ricker 77

9:00AM           Carlson Cox 73, Jared Songster 74, Sasha Catron 74

9:10AM           Lucas Armstrong 68, Bryan Sangid 70, Joe Meade 72

By Ron Bliss
GKGA Golf

JONESBOROUGH — Leif Ratliff has not had the privilege of playing high school golf in the area, since he has been home-schooled. But the young golfer is still hoping to earn a college golf scholarship, based on what he has done this summer.

Leif Ratliff

Ratliff won three TriCities Junior PGA events this summer and has gotten the attention of Tusculum golf coach Bob Dibble. Ratliff will meet with Dibble this week to discuss scholarship possibilities. Saturday, Ratliff helped his chances by shooting a two-under-par 70 to take a three-shot lead over Shannon Morelock in The Crossings’ Club Championship.

Ratliff made an eagle and five birdies in his round to off-set a double bogey on the normally easy No. 6 hole and bogeys at Nos. 3, 13 and 14 to shoot his 70.

“For here, it was a good round for me,” said Ratliff, who could not play for any high school team since he was home-schooled. “It could have been really good, had I cut out the mistakes.”

On No. 6, he hit his tee shot left into high grasss, had a bad second shot and missed the green on his third shot on the par four hole. He hit a tree on his tee shot at the par three No. 3 hole, and missed the green at Nos. 13 and 14.

He offset that with an eagle three at No. 2, where his 8-iron second shot settled within seven feet of the hole and added birdies at Nos. 8, 9, 11, 16 and 18. He rolled in a 45-foot birdie putt at No. 16 and knocked it tight at the other four.

Ratliff had four rounds under par on the TriCities PGA Junior Tour and won three tournaments.

Ratliff is not related to UT-Chattanooga golfer Alex Ratliff, though many think he is.

“As far as I know, we are not related,” said Ratliff. “I am from Southwest Virginia. My family lived in Richlands before moving to this area.”

Ratliff did not play much in open events this summer, entering only the Tillinghast Invitational in Johnson City and the East Tennessee Amateur in Elizabethton.

Morelock, the winner of The Crossings Invitational this year, matched Ratliff on the front nine with a 35, but fell off the pace with a double-bogey six at No. 10 and then made a bogey to Ratliff’s birdie at No. 18. Morelock actually led by one after Ratliff’s bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14, but lost four shots in the last five holes to fall three back.

In the Senior Flight, Dean Morelock and Cecil Crawford each shot 75s to share the lead.

Here are first-round results from The Crossings Club Championship that concludes on Sunday:

Championship Flight
Leif Ratliff, 35-35–70
Shannon Morelock, 35-38–73
Drake Crawford, 40-41–81

 Senior Flight
Cecil Crawford, 37-38–75
Dean Morelock,  35-40–75
Jim Lee, 42-41–83
Buddy Broyles, 40-47–87

First Flight
Bob Cooley, 37-37–74
Seth Crawford, 39-36–75
Frank Horne, 36-41–77

Third Flight
Don Kilgore, 42-39–81
Johnny Oudom, 40-41–81
Mickey Grant, 43-41–84

Fourth Flight
Brian Ratliff, 46-45–91
Glenn Wynne, 47-47–94
Forrest Brumby, 52-45–97

KINGSPORT — Aaron Bond’s team shot a 17-under-par 55 and edged Dan Estes’ team in a scorecard playoff Saturday to win the Tennessee Delta Force golf outing at Warriors Path Golf Course.

Bond’s team shot nines of 27 and 28 and won the scorecard playoff with a birdie at the par four No. 1 hole. Other members of his team included Jeff Bond, Ronald Bond and Brad White.

The team of Dan Estes, Carole Fuller, John Estes and Travis Pickell combined for a 55 on nines of 26-29, but parred the first hole. There were 60 golfers in the tournament. A team headed by Chris Holt placed third with a 58, while Steve Holmes’ team was fourth with a 60.

Terry Cannon won Long Drive, while Paul Murray (No. 4), Travis Pickell (No. 7), Randy Cole (No. 11) and Bill Claire (No. 14) won closest to the pin awards.

The Tennessee Delta Force is a new football program for boys 7-12 that is not associated with any school. It is a travelling football league which has practices at Dobyns-Bennett High School, Sullivan South High School and Science Hill High School. Their teams travel to play other teams throughout the area with play beginning Aug. 28 and running through Nov. 13.

Recently, the players visited facilities at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The program also develops cheerleaders in the same age group. They play other teams in Northeast Tennessee and hope to expand to the Knoxville area, as well as Middle and West Tennessee.

Here are season schedules for each of their teams:

Tournaments:

One Post-Season Weekend Tournament at The Battle at Rocky Top in Knoxville

Dustin Coats, left, and father David Coats shot a 12-under-par 60 on Sunday and won The Crossings Member-Guest by six shots. Photo by Ron Bliss.

By Ron Bliss
GKGA Golf

JONESBOROUGH — Dustin and David Coats took no prisoners on Sunday, combining for a 12-under-par 60 to win The Crossings Member-Guest by six shots over two other teams.

Dustin Coats accented the round with an eagle on the par four No. 10 hole where he drove the green and holed a 25-foot putt.

The pair also made birdies at Nos. 2, 4, 8 and 9 on the front and 11, 12, 14, 16 and 18 on the back nine. They finished with a 119 total.

They bested Roger and Lynn Wolfe, another father-son team, and Dean Morelock and Mack Patton. The Wolfes shot a 62 on Sunday for a 125 total, while Morelock and Patton shot a 64 for their 125 total.

The victory was the first in the member-guest for the Coats.

Here are winners in the tournament that included 40 two-man teams:

Flight One
David-Dustin Coats, $220………………..59-60–119
Roger-Lynn Wolfe, $110…………………..63-62–125
Dean Morelock-Mack Patton, $110…..61-64–125

Flight Two
Jody Wolfe-John Dockery, $220………66-66–132
Nick Bevins-Tim Thayer, $72…………..68-66–134
Brad Hoover-Rick Tunnell, $72………..66-68–134
Shannon Morelock-Jeff Bradley, $72..68-66–134

Flight Three
Darrell Winegar-Mike Lane, $220……70-62–132
John Branum-Fred Fleetwood, $110..70-63–133
Tim Chandler-Chad Sizemore, $90….70-68–138

Flight Four
Mickey Grant-Larry Arnold, $220….71-66–137
Michael Bryant-Kevin Capps, $130…72-66–138
Joe Gonzalez-Jack Fox, $90…………….71-69–140

Flight Five
Richard Parkinson-Glen Davis, $220..73-71–144
Buddy Broyles-B. Lane, $130……………73-73–146
Ralph Campbell-Mike Campbell, $90..74-73–147

Ron Waters, left, accepts winning crystal trophy from Graysburg Hills pro Steve Munson after winning by one shot Sunday. Photo by Ron Bliss.