Chattanooga Area Golfers Competing In Tennessee State Open

When the 75^th Tennessee State Open tees off on Tuesday at GreyStone Golf Club in Dickson, the Chattanooga area will be well-represented in the field of 144 participants.

The 54-hole event returns to GreyStone for the tenth time in its history, where former University of Tennessee golfer Hunter Wolcott won the tournament in record-setting fashion last summer 40 years after his father captured the title.

Bob Wolcott won in 1983 at Valleybrook Golf and Country Club, and is now the owner of GreyStone after a professional career with 168 starts on the PGA Tour.

Hunter Wolcott set a tournament record by finishing 22-under over three days, shooting a final-round 60 to defeat his brother, Ben, by two shots.

Among the 13 entrants with connections to the Scenic City, two current University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfers – Braedon Wear and Dalton Chuba – will join recent Moc graduate Samuel Espinosa Trueba in the field.

Chuba is one of five former Baylor School golfers entered to compete. Others include Sheldon McKnight, now attending MTSU; Haden Maxwell, now at Tennessee Tech and professionals Blake Maum and Hayden Hunneke.

Thad Whitfield, a recent McCallie School graduate headed to MTSU in the fall, hopes to keep his hot streak alive after recently qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur and the first stage of U.S. Amateur qualifying.

Former Chattanooga Christian golfer Jonathan Xoinis, who now competes at UT-Martin, is also among the participants along with professional Brooks Thomas, who played at UTC and now is a women’s coach at Kennesaw State.

Others in the field with local ties are Keoni Vidrine of The Ooltewah Club, Lookout Mountain Club’s Zeb Patten and Council Fire Club member Brendon Wilson.

An amateur has won this tournament only once in the past ten years.

For live scoring go to Tennessee State Open Scoring.

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Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com