Hendon, Hamm Surge From 16th Seed Into Tennessee Four-Ball Semis

So much for the inexact science of seedings when it comes to the 55^th Tennessee Four-Ball Championship. The rankings after two days of stroke play meant very little when it came to the start of Wednesday’s match play segment.

The morning Round of 16 matches saw the two top-seeded teams eliminated after finishing as stroke play co-medalists. No. 1 seed PJ Smith and Andrew Price never led in their match against 16^th-seeded Alex Hamm and Cash Hendon, trailing by 3 down after eight holes. The Morristown residents, who were competing on their home course at The Country Club this week, picked up wins with pars at 10 and 11 to trim their deficit to one. The teams halved the next six holes before a par by Hendon closed out the 2 and 1 win at No. 17.

The outcome was equally disappointing for the tournament’s No. 2 seed who were also competing on their home turf. Lucas Tabor of Talbott and Newport’s Boddie Bible fell behind on their opening hole and were never able to draw even the remainder of their match with No. 15 seed Andrew Poore and Todd Ricker. After trailing 2 down at the turn, Tabor and Bible were able to pull within one on two occasions over the back side before being eliminated by a par from Ricker on 17 to end up on the short end of a 2 and 1 result.

Hendon of Nashville and Brentwood’s Hamm were able to build upon Thursday morning’s surprising results in their afternoon quarterfinal. The duo built a 4 up lead through ten holes, then withstood a late charge from Lee University teammates Jaxon Reed and Mitchell Strickland to advance to the semifinals with a 2 up win.

Hamm carded six birdies in the match, the final one coming at the par 4 18^th to secure their climb from the No. 16 seed into the semifinals. Birdies from Reed at 11, 13 and 16 sparked a comeback that trimmed his squad’s deficit to one. Another Reed birdie at 17 was matched by Hendon, with Hamm sealing the match with his birdie at the last.

Also advancing to the Final Four was the Knoxville pairing of two-time champion Jack Smith and Chas Narramore after making quick work of Casen Justice of Selmer and Jackson’s Carson Andreoni in their afternoon match. Smith birdied his first three holes as part of a six-birdie front nine, leading his team to a 5 up advantage at the turn en route to a 6 and 5 verdict.

Entering the Round of 16 at the 11^th seed, Smith and Narramore found themselves 1 down at the turn to Knoxville’s Jacob Rose and Tate Woodruff before birdieing five consecutive holes starting at No. 11 for winners to pick up a 4 and 3 victory earlier in the day.

Lawrence Largent of Kingsport and Jack Rhea of Johnson City combined for birdies on their first five holes to take a commanding 5 up lead in their quarterfinal match against Kevin Campbell of Morristown and Alex Gaetz of Clinton, eventually cruising to a 4 and 3 win to earn a spot in Thursday’s semifinals.

In their earlier Round of 16 match, the 4th-seeded Lawrence and Rhea pairing continued their stellar play that led to a 61 in the final round of stroke play on Tuesday, winning by a 3 and 2 verdict over Antioch’s J.J. Fought and Garrett Marschke of College Grove as Rhea closed with a pair of birdies to give him six in the match.

Knoxville’s Cody Johnson teamed with Andrew Hall of Maryville to break open their close quarterfinal match with Knoxville’s Poore and Ricker of Greeneville where neither side was able to lead by more than one through 15 holes. But back-to-back winners by Johnson at 16 and 17 sealed a 3 up decision.

Johnson and Hall picked up five wins in a six-hole stretch in their Round of 16 match to steamroll Charlie Ramsay of Murfreesboro and Franklin’s Philip Breeding by a 5 and 4 score.

Two Round of 16 matches required extra holes to determine a winner. Eighth-seeded Reed and Strickland overcame a 2 down hurdle with three holes to play by winning 16 with a birdie and 17 with a par against No. 9 Eric Russell of Pigeon Forge and Brent McMahan of Sevierville. After playing evenly over the first three holes in sudden death, Reed made a birdie for the win on the 22^nd hole.

The other showdown not settled through 18 holes saw Justice and Andreoni defend their No. 3 seed by ousting the Morristown combo Rafael Jackson and Ryan Kragel in 21 holes. Neither team was able to gain more than a 1 up advantage during the round that was finally decided when Andreoni birdied the 21^st hole staged on the par-3 second.

Campbell and Gaetz also picked up a 5 and 4 decision over Powell’s Bryce Kendrick and Josh Wheeler of Athens by winning four of the last six holes in a match they led from the opening hole.

The semifinal matchups on Thursday morning features Hendon and Cash taking on Largent and Rhea, while Johnson and Hall battle Narramore and Smith in the other match. The championship final will follow in the afternoon.

For complete results, go to Tennessee Four-Ball.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com