Pinson Wins Tennessee Junior Amateur On First Playoff Hole

Please forgive Will Pinson if he doesn’t immediately respond to phone calls or text messages for a few days. It’s understandable, given the fact he’s had a precious little time to rest this week due to his ritual of late-night arrivals back home to Franklin coupled with bleary-eyed wake-up calls with only a few hours of sleep in between.

Don’t let the lack of a reply worry you…he’s perfectly fine. In fact, the recent graduate of Franklin High School would gladly replay his chaotic week at the 66^th Tennessee Junior Amateur Championship that unfolded at Dickson’s GreyStone Golf Club given the final outcome.

A line of thunderstorms – a common theme at GreyStone this week – rolled through Wednesday evening as Pinson and Parker Tenent of Memphis were preparing for a playoff after matching scores of 12-under 204, postponing the sudden death showdown until 7 o’clock Thursday morning.

Operating on barely six hours of sleep, Pinson was able to quickly take care of business with a birdie on the first hole of the playoff, draining an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 10 to claim the title.

“I feel pretty good, but I’m a little tired,” said Pinson, who will continue his golf career this fall at Middle Tennessee State University. “I woke up at 4:45, and my only goal was to just keep things the same as how I’ve done in the actual tournament. I knew sudden deaths can go one hole, or you can go 10 holes. I had to be prepared for whatever was going to happen, so I stuck to my same warm-up plan and just went out there and treated it like I was going to play another round.”

Pinson’s level-headed approach paid immediate dividends as he took on the downhill, dogleg-left 434-yard par-4 assignment. His perfectly executed tee shot cut the corner and left him 55 yards to the hole. Meanwhile, Tenent was well behind Pinson in the fairway, and his approach came up short.

After Tenent chipped onto the green with 12 feet left for par, Pinson promptly rolled in his downhill putt to take matters into his own hands and slam the door on his victory.

“It means everything to me,” Pinson said. “This is the first really big tournament I've won since 2022 when I won the Junior PGA out at Old Fort. But this feels cooler than that one did because it’s been a while. I've played some really good golf in the last month or so, and it’s nice to finally close the deal.”

Pinson has endured a couple of near misses over the past few weeks that have left his summer plans in limbo. He lost in a playoff at the Tennessee Junior PGA Championship for the second qualifier slot, relegated to the second alternate position into the National PGA Junior tournament.

That outcome was preceded by a runner-up finish at the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier on May 28^th at the Country Club of Birmingham won by Brentwood’s Andrew Sciortino, leaving him on the waitlist to find out if he could wrangle a spot into the event to be held July 21-26 at Trinity Forest Club in Dallas.

Thanks to Thursday’s outcome that grants the winner an automatic exemption, Pinson can book his trip to Texas.

“I didn’t want to take the chance of being an alternate, so I tried to get it done today,” Pinson said.

Despite the hectic week where the maintenance crew at GreyStone did an exemplary job of keeping the golf course playable between waves of rain, Pinson completed 55 holes in the tournament with only one score above par. That lone blemish also resulted in a fretful night’s sleep on Monday after he had completed his opening 14 holes in 6-under.

“I hit my tee shot on 15 into the tall grass and had to take a lost ball,” Pinson said. “They actually blew the horn when I was going back to the tee, so I had to restart on 15 on Tuesday hitting three off the tee. I had to make sure that I didn't let that affect me. Obviously taking triples are not good, but when you’re playing a 54-hole tournament you have time to make up for it. I just had to make sure to stay patient because I knew I was playing well.”

Pinson responded to the triple bogey by playing the last 40 holes in flawless fashion, carding 10 birdies along with 30 pars. His stellar play extended a recent stretch of six competitive rounds covering 111 holes where he’s recorded only four holes over par, the other three being bogeys.

“I’ve learned by maturing in golf that the best college and pro golfers aren’t the ones making 12 birdies a round,” Pinson said. “Scottie Scheffler is out there hitting fairways, hitting greens and taking advantage of the holes where he can make birdie. But he's not making bogeys that other guys make. So, the entire goal this summer is about taking it one shot at a time, and then just give myself the best chance for birdie or par. I have come to realize that par isn’t a bad score.”

The final stretch of holes on Wednesday that led to playoff presented a compelling duel between Pinson and Tenent. After trailing for much of the round, Pinson pulled even at 11-under when Tenent bogeyed the 16^th. Pinson then birdied 17 with a clutch 8-foot putt to move to 12-under and a one-shot lead headed to the final hole with storms encroaching.

“As we approached 18, the TGA officials told us we needed to play this hole fast because the sky was black and we barely had enough daylight,” Pinson said “We sort of played speed golf on the last hole, and it was a pretty crazy finish. Parker stuffed his approach to about three feet and made birdie to tie, and it started pouring right when we walked into the clubhouse. That’s when they decided the best thing would be to come back in the morning for the playoff.”

It made for another abbreviated night of shuteye for Pinson, but it was well worth the sacrifice given the outcome.

“I'm happy the way it turned out, even though it required another early wake up call,” Pinson “It was something I'd be willing to do every time if it meant I had the chance to win.”

Second-round leader Jack Doyle of Brentwood tied for 3^rd at 7-under 209 with 2024 champion Maddox Crowder of Lafayette. Walker Webb of Brentwood joined Knoxville’s Colmore Sprouse and Turner Cline of Nashville at 4-under 212, good for a 5^th place tie.

Franklin’s Leo Froio was 8^th at 3-under 213, one shot better than Ben Blackburn and Braden Ray of Franklin who closed at 2-under 214 to deadlock in 9^th. Chattanooga’s Joshua Mauk shot even par 216 to take the 11th spot.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com