Rain Leads To Reshuffling Of Leaders At Delayed Tennessee Senior Amateur

A late afternoon rain shower that camped over Belle Meade Country Club resulted in a suspension of play during Wednesday’s second round of the 55^th Tennessee Senior Amateur Championship. But the 75-minute interruption did more than just dampen the historic layout.

Once play resumed, the delay led to a reshuffling of the leaderboard before darkness postponed the conclusion of play until Thursday morning. The nine golfers who did not finish will resume their second round at 7:30 CDT, setting the stage for an exciting finish with the final round slated to commence at 9:10 CDT.

Kenny Wilson was continuing his stellar play that resulted in the first-round lead with a 68, holding a two-shot lead after covering his first seven holes in even par. But once the Murfreesboro resident returned to action, trouble ensued.

Wilson encountered a bogey-double bogey restart, then fell back to even par for the tournament after another bogey on 12 to fall into a tie for 5^th with four holes remaining.

Steven Mann also ran into trouble of his own after the restart. The 2023 champion out of Franklin was two shots behind Wilson at 2-under, and birdie on No. 8 brought him to within one of the lead before a quadruple-bogey on the par 4 9^th took him back to 1-over. Mann was able to string together five pars before ending his day after 14.

Meanwhile, several golfers took advantage of the carnage around them to make a move. Alan Jones of Tullahoma, Bradford Kuester of Knoxville and 2018 champion Steve Golliher of Powell each improved by one stroke over the intervening eight holes before darkness arrived, moving to 2-under and into a share of the lead with holes still to play.

Franklin’s Pat Chisholm was the clubhouse leader at 1-under, completing his round in 69 on Wednesday thanks to four birdies against a single bogey to rank 4^th on the scoreboard.

Wilson was joined by A.R. Rhea of Johnson City and Ray Morton of Lenoir City at even par in a tie for 5^th with their round incomplete.

Mann was among those tied for 8^th at 1-over, with Brentwood’s Hubie Smith and defending champion Clay Uselton of Tullahoma having completed 14 holes. Mike Albonetti of Williston finished his round at 1-under 71 to also sit at 1-over 145.

With the cutline established at 9-over, 32 golfers will advance into Thursday’s final round.

Fly Maintains 3-Shot Margin in Super Senior

It wasn’t the typically clean scorecard that Buzz Fly placed his signature on after Wednesday’s second round of the 18^th Tennessee Super Senior Amateur Championship, but it was good enough to keep his march toward history intact.

Fly is attempting to become only the third golfer in Tennessee Golf Association history to win the same event five straight times, joining legends Lew Oehmig and Judy Eller Street. The 2-over 74 he turned in still left him three shots clear of his closest challenger with a total of 2-under 142.

But the gap between him and Tony Green of Kingsport could have been larger had Fly not stumbled down the stretch. Fly was at 5-under for the tournament after a birdie on No. 11 with a five-stroke cushion. However, four bogeys along with another birdie over his final six holes surely left the competitive Fly with a sour taste in his mouth despite owning the lead.

Fly has a total of nine TGA titles to his credit to go with a pair of Tennessee Super Senior State Open wins, but the TPC at Southwind member could join some elite company with another strong round on Thursday where 17 golfers survived the cut of 12-over.

Green compiled a clutter-free round, earning 16 pars to go with two bogeys to shoot 74, sitting alone in 2^nd at 1-over 145.

Barry Stafford of Memphis is in 3^rd following his second consecutive 74, good for 4-over 148. Once shot back in 4^th is Johnson City’s Jerry Matthew, who has solo 4^th at 5-over 149

Collierville’s Fred McCord and Gary Simpson of Memphis are tied for 5^th at 6-over 150.

The final round of the Super Senior competition is slated to begin at 8 a.m. CDT.

Webb Crowned As Legends Champion

With a state championship on the line, Jim Webb made an early statement Wednesday morning at Belle Meade Country Club. The Brentwood resident then did what was necessary to make sure it held up.

After entering the final round of the Legends Division competition tied for the lead with Ed Link of Memphis, Webb tallied birdies on two of his first three holes to grab the early momentum that was aided by Link’s double bogey on the opening hole.

Webb stretched his advantage to five shots with five holes played, then held off a late challenge by Link to win by three shots in claiming the title. Webb posted his second straight day with a 77, resulting in a two-day total of 10-over 154.

Link managed to cut the deficit to two strokes with six holes remaining, but he then bogeyed the next three holes to allow Webb plenty of margin for error down the stretch. Link carded a score of 80 on Wednesday, closing at 13-over 157.

Loudon’s Larry Denny finished 3^rd with a final score of 19-over 163, followed by Jack Ramsey of Germantown in 4^th at 22-over 166 and Doug Ryerson of Mt. Juliet in 5^th with a total of 23-over 167.

For complete results, go to Tennessee Senior/Super Senior Amateur.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com