McNabb’s Late Eagles Earn Share Of State Am Lead With Denman

Defending champion Payne Denman made an early statement Tuesday morning at the 110th Tennessee State Amateur. But Bennett McNabb issued an even louder proclamation with his play later in the afternoon.

Denman, who won the title last year at Tennessee National by a comfortable four shots, opened play with an impressive 7-under 64 at historic Holston Hills Country Club, making his intentions known his plans to become the first repeat champion since George Creagh accomplished the feat in 1976-77.

Denman, who serves as an assistant golf coach at the University of Tennessee, put together a round that featured seven birdies with no bogeys. His loop was highlighted by a stretch of four straight birdies on holes 7 through 10 to post an early lead.

But as impressive as Denman’s early showing was, McNabb had his own heroics during his trek that brought the venerable Donald Ross design to its knees. After starting his round on No. 10 five hours after Denman, the rising senior at Lee University who prepped at McCallie School struck with back-to-back eagles to close his afternoon tied for the lead at 7-under 64.

McNabb was only 1-under after three birdies and a pair of bogeys over his opening nine. The WindStone Golf Club’s member then birdied holes 1 and 5 to move to 3-under before his furious finish. He canned his approach on the 355-yard, par-4 6th, then backed that up by eagling the par-5 7th playing at a meaty 562 yards, accounting for two of the five eagles surrendered on the first day by posting a tidy 30 on his final nine holes.

Brentwood’s Ryan Terry is alone in 3rd place following a tidy score of 5-under 69, tallying six birdies against a lone bogey for his day’s work.

Five golfers are tied for 4th at 3-under 68. Bristol residents Jack Tickle and Chase Roswall are among that quintet, joined by Patton Samuels of Clarksville, Belmont senior Conner Brown of Shelbyville, and Ethan Whitaker, a native of Powell entering his sophomore year at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Nine participants closed tied for 9th at 2-under 69, while seven others shot 1-under 70 on a day when Holston Hills yielded an average score of 75.08 among all participants.

The field of 143 will be cut to the low 60 scores plus ties following Wednesday’s play for the final two rounds of the Tennessee Golf Association event state championship.

For complete results, go to Tennessee State Amateur.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com