Trio of Local Golfers Competing In Tennessee Junior Cup

The Tennessee Junior Cup, a Ryder Cup-style competition of the state’s best high school golfers, will feature three local participants when the event is staged this weekend at Nashville’s Hillwood Country Club.

Griffin Law and Tucker Wick of East Hamilton High School will join McCallie School’s Thad Whitfield as members of the East squad. The East and West teams are comprised of 10 boys and four girls who will compete in rounds of Foursomes and Four-Ball matches on Saturday, followed by Singles matches on Sunday.

After beginning in 2012 with the support of PGA Tour professional Scott Stallings, the Tennessee Junior Cup celebrates its 12^th year of competition.

Whitfield, a senior who will continue his golfing future at MTSU next year, has had an impressive year of competition. The Signal Mountain resident won the Tennessee Junior PGA Championship in June, and finished fourth in the Tennessee Junior Amateur Championship. Whitfield also won the title at the Signal Mountain Invitational after finishing fourth last year in the TSSAA Division II-AA state tournament.

A contestant in the U.S. Junior Amateur tournament earlier this summer, Whitfield is excited to make a return trip to the Tennessee Junior Cup with his local golfing compadres.

“I just think it’s really cool that I grew up playing with Tucker and Griffin in small local tournaments and now we are all going to be competing together in the Junior Cup,” Whitfield said. “I didn’t play great last year in this event, so I’m looking forward to being able to get another go at it. My game is in much better shape this year and it will be fun to see where it stands in a match play format against some of the best junior golfers in the state.”

Law and Wick, both juniors, have been instrumental in the development of the golf program at East Hamilton.

“We are very proud of all that Tucker and Griffin have accomplished this year in competitive golf across the state and nationally,” said East Hamilton golf coach Jeff Stetzler. “Their impact on our team has been evident since they were in the eighth grade. They constantly drive each other and the rest of their team to get better.”

Wick finished in a tie for sixth in last year’s TSSAA Class AA state tournament as the Hurricanes placed fifth. Law was medalist at this week’s District 6-AA tournament at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay with a 3-under 69 after winning the City Meet there a few weeks ago. Law also narrowly missed match play after losing in a playoff at the U.S. Junior Amateur and finished tied for 11^th at the Tennessee State Amateur this summer.

“It was awesome playing in it last year. It will be fun being on the team with other high-caliber players in a Ryder Cup format,” said Law, who committed to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga last week. “We get to team up with guys you always compete against.”

This will be Wick’s first appearance in the Junior Cup, but it will be more special going with his high school teammate and Whitfield.

“It’s an honor and a blessing to be chosen, especially being able to do it with Griffin and Thad,” Wick said. “We’ve played a lot of golf together and it’s going to be special to be able to experience this with two of my best friends in golf.”

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Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com