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Sequoyah National Golf Club Hosted
the second annual Smoky Mountain Regional tournament Saturday and Sunday, April
8 and ninth. Unfortunately, Saturdays first round was interrupted by heavy
rains in the afternoon, and with less than half the field finishing nine holes,
the entire tournament became an 18 hole event on Sunday. In the morning, the
players woke up to beautiful sunny skies and temperatures by mid-day in the
60s.
In Champ flight, Lance Lacombe from Jacksonville came out firing, shooting a 2 under 34 on the front side taking a one shot lead over Dan Constantino from Upstate, SC and RJ Foltz from Kentucky. Two shots back was fellow Jacksonville player Jim Hammons. After bogeying 10, Lacombe was tied going into 12, the only unreachable par five on the golf course. He promptly holed it from 100 yards out for an eagle 3, Foltz par and Constantino’s bogey, the tie became a 2 shot lead. Jody Clary from Charlotte snuck up after shooting a front side 39 by making birdies on 11 and 12 to get back in the tournament. Foltz stayed within 1 until a bogey on his 17th hole derailed him. Lance held steady the rest of the round, and with a birdie on the last hole, to shot 35 on the backside for a total of 69 and a three-shot win over Clary, who was 2nd on the card beating out Foltz and Constantino.
In A fight, four players were within 2 shots of the lead going
into the last hole with Al Reams from Eastern NC holding a one shot advantage
over William Walkingstick from the Charlotte tour, playing on his home course, going
to the last hole. After Reams bogey and Walkingstick’s par, the two went back
out to playoff on 18… Reams parred 18 to become the A flight winner, with
Walkingstick 2nd, Brian Haney from Columbus 3rd and Kyle Dotson from
Hilton Head 4th.
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B flight also had four players within two shots of the lead
going into the final three holes. J Eagleman from the Charlotte tour, took
advantage of his home course and finished the last 3 only 1 over par and hung
on for the one shot victory over Zach Shelly from Upstate, SC, and two shots
over Danny Eastep from Charlotte and Jim Owle from Nashville.
In C flight, Greg Farrell from Eastern NC held a three shot lead
into the final hole over Cody Markiewicz from Upstate SC and Colton Vaughn from
Alabama. Unfortunately for Ferrell, his triple bogie on the final hole tied him
and forced a three-way playoff. As fortunes changed, Farrell made the best of a bad situation and came out
on top in the playoff with Markiewicz getting second on the card and Vaughn
getting third.
In D flight, we also saw four players within two shots of the
lead going to the last few holes. Mark Dyvig carried a two shot lead going to
the final hole but unfortunately for him a triple bogey with Tim Rabon from
Columbia, Sc making par on the last, is what made the difference. Jesse Durham
from Atlanta also had two bogeys coming in to finish third on the card behind
Dyvig and Gary Parnell from Columbia finishing fourth another shot back.
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