Jake Eickhoff, left, congratulates champion Spencer Provow after their match in the finals of the 2024 Tennessee Match Play
photo by Tennessee Golf Association
The passage of time waits for no one, and that fact became a stark reality for Spencer Provow during the championship match of last year’s Tennessee Match Play tournament.
Provow had previously won this event in 2007 as a promising 23-year-old fresh out of MTSU, defeating the legendary Tim Jackson during his heyday in the finals by a 4 & 3 count. After taking a sabbatical for several years from competitive golf, Provow suddenly found himself back in the final match last year after a 17-year interval.
Provow had turned 40 earlier in the year, and his finals opponent was Jake Eickoff, a 16-year-old rising star out of Arrington. The Murfreesboro native emerged victorious with a 2 & 1 decision, but it also represented a full-circle moment in his competitive amateur career.
The victory brought Provow’s Tennessee Golf Association win total to four, having teamed with Nashville’s Craig Smith to claim the 2011 Tennessee Four-Ball and joining his father, Tom, to capture the 2001 Tennessee Parent-Child event.
But as a married father of three, Provow decided last year’s State Match Play championship served as the perfect time to exit the stage of competitive golf to focus more time on his family.
“Shortly after winning last year, I decided to go out on a personal top,” Provow said. “I’m enjoying a break from tournament golf and just having fun playing casually. I can actually have fun shooting my 75s now.”
With Provow not in the mix seeking to defend his 2024 title, a new champion will be crowned this week as the 26th Tennessee Match Play Championship will run from Tuesday through Friday at Vanderbilt Legends Club’s South Course.
The 64-player field is divided into 16 pods, with each comprised of four players competing in three round-robin matches to determine the 16 golfers advancing into the match play bracket.
Notable players in the field are the 2024 Tennessee Mid-Amateur Champion Winston Margaritis, 2024 Tennessee Match Play Runner-Up Eickhoff and 2023 Tennessee Match Play Champion Cooper Hayes. They make up the first three top seeds in the 16 pools thanks to their outstanding finishes over the past few years.
The remaining top-seeded players in each pool are made up of past champions, 2024 Match Play competitors who advanced to bracket play, and recent Challenge Cup team members. The remaining 50 players were sorted by handicap, with the top two earning top seeds in the final pools and the rest sorted into three tiers.
The first tier was randomized to fill the second seed in each bracket, with that process repeating itself for the second tier into the third seed and the third tier filling out the fourth seed in each bracket.
In order to advance to the 16-player bracket, players must earn points in pool play. Winning a match will net a full point, while tying a match earns a half-point split. The player with the most points following the three matches of pool play will advance. Any ties following the conclusion of pool play will be settled via sudden-death playoffs.
From there, a classic 16-player bracket will determine the 2025 Tennessee Match Play Champion. The winner will need to win four consecutive matches over two days of play, with the Round of 16 and Quarterfinals taking place on Thursday, and the Semifinals and Finals matches taking place on Friday.
Three Women’s State Titles to be Awarded This Week
A trio of state championships will be staged Tuesday and Wednesday at Johnson City Country Club with two defending champions on hand hoping to extend their reign.
Susan Miller of Loudon pursues defense of last year’s win as the 47th Tennessee Women’s Senior Amateur unfolds. Miller is chasing her third win in this event having also won in 2018, and she enters as the two-time reigning TGA Women’s Senior Player of the Year.
Other former champions among the participants are 2023 winner Leslie Letner of Crossville along with 2022 victor Rhonda Switzer-Nadasdi.
The inaugural tournament was held in 1979 at Lookout Mountain Club and was won by Alice Lupton on her home course. Lupton was the wife of The Honors Course Founder and Tennessee Golf Foundation benefactor Jack Lupton. She was also sister-in-law to the legendary Betty Probasco of Lookout Mountain who won her lone Tennessee Women’s Senior Amateur title the next year in 1980 to go with her eight Tennessee Women’s Amateur crowns.
No golfer in Tennessee golf history – men’s or women’s – became synonymous with dominating a single tournament than Cleveland’s Maggie Scott in the Women’s Senior Amateur. Her unprecedented streak of nine titles over a 12-year stretch starting in 2001 is the standard for excellence, part of her career total of 14 TGA wins.
Also taking place in Johnson City will be the 6th Tennessee Women’s Super Senior Amateur, where Franklin’s Gena Ridings enters having won the past two tournaments. Darlene Werhnyak, the 2020 title holder, is the only other former champion in the field.
The 9th Tennessee Women’s Mid-Amateur championship is the last of the three women’s trophies to be awarded this week. The past two champions – 2024 winner Priscilla Harding of Nashville and 2023 medalist Katie Woodruff of Ooltewah – will not be on hand seeking another crown.
Mourning Loss of Four-Time Player of Year Wimberly
Lynda Wimberly, a four-time TGA Women’s Senior Player of the Year, passed away at the age of 65 on Aug. 2. The Brentwood resident was the recipient of the coveted statewide recognition in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Wimberly won four Tennessee Women’s Senior Amateur championships over a six-year period from 2014-19, and earned an invitation to the 2015 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur where she advanced to the Round of 32. She was also a 19-time club champion at her home course, Richland Country Club.
Mann Secures Berth into U.S. Senior Amateur
Franklin’s Steven Mann earned a berth into his second straight U.S. Senior Amateur in late July, shooting 70 to claim co-medalist honors at a qualifier in Cleves, Ohio.
Mann, who lost in a playoff at last week’s Tennessee Senior Amateur at Belle Meade Country Club, advanced into match play in the 2024 event held at The Honors Course outside of Chattanooga. He finished tied for 39th in Stroke Play Qualifying last year at 11-over before dropping his Round of 64 match by a 3 & 2 verdict.
This year’s U.S. Senior Amateur will be held Aug. 23-28 at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas. Other Tennesseans who have qualified include Nashville’s Arnold Cunningham at the Cleveland, Miss. qualifier, while Beau Fields of Brentwood and Bill Green of Franklin secured their entrance at the Nashville qualifier at Harpeth Hills Golf Course.
Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com