MORRISTOWN, TN – AJ Rinehart's hole-in-one helped lead Walters State to the overall team victory on Tuesday in the Senators' annual Fall Classic played at The Country Club.
Rinehart was in eighth place after the first round on Monday with a score of 74. His first career ace came on the 17th hole, one of the toughest on the course, and the Walters State sophomore said he had played well the two previous holes before sinking the hole in one. "Going up to that hole, I had gone birdie, birdie on 15 and 16 and that got me back down to somewhere around par. I hit a seven iron and it was 172 yards slightly uphill and I hit it right at it and a few seconds later, people started going crazy."
The former Farragut High School stand-out said the ace was extra special due to the first person who saw his shot drop in the hole. "My mom was up there and that was special. I saw her hands go straight up as soon as it went in."
Walters State head coach Brad Hawkins said Rineharts' hole-in-one was one of the main factors in allowing the Senators to claim the overall team title as they had struggled a bit prior to that. "There was a stretch were AJ makes two birdies in a row and then the hole-in-one and we had another player make an eagle on hole one so it seemed like we were around eight under in a pretty close stretch and that turned it back our way."
The Senators had a team score of 293-304-597 to edge out Roane State who finished with a tally of 296-308-604. Carson-Newman's B team was third with a score of 305-304-609. Tusculum's B team had a score of 312-314-626 to place fourth, Spartanburg Methodist fired a 310-319-629 and Tusculum's C team shaved 11 stokes off their score on Tuesday to place sixth at 321-310-631. Rounding out the team scoring was Cleveland State (310-327-637), Belmont Abbey's C team (317-330-647) and Mars Hill (337-327-664).
"With this being our home course, we are at an advantage," Hawkins said. "It's good to come out of here with a victory, especially after yesterday and when we didn't have our best stuff today but we were able to fight and claw and hold on and had just enough to get it done."
Carson-Newman' Steven Haremski was the individual leader as he shot 71 on both days to take the overall win at 71-71-142. Roane State's Caleb Tipton moved up 10 spots from Monday's opening round to finish in a second-place tie with a score of 76-70-146. Walters State's Ashton Pratt finished tied for second-place with Tipton by shooting 71-75-146. Rinehart placed fourth with a score of 74-74-148. Riley Brown of Tusculum was fifth by carding a 71-78-149.
One of the main reasons the Senators were able to claim the team championship was the play of JT McKenzie. After finishing with a disappointing score of 82 in Monday's opening round, the Cleveland, Tennessee native came alive late in Tuesday's round. McKenzie began his day on the par-5, 571-yard fifth hole and after a slow beginning, he birdied holes 10 and 12 and then saved his best stuff for the final four holes where he eagled the par-5, 508-yard first hole and after a bogey on two, finished his round with two birdies to shoot 74 and finish in a tie for 17th place. "JT started on number five and got off to a little bit of a rough start and then eagles one, bogeys two and then birdies three and four to finish and that helped to solidify the win," Hawkins said. "We were leaking a little oil in the middle of the round but it's how you finish that counts."
Other Walters State scores included Sawyer Spoone (71-83-154, T-9th) and Jeremy Ellis (77-81-158, T-20th). Playing as individuals were Connor Price (79-85-164, T-32nd) and Jack Leach (82-84-166, T-36th).
Up Next:
The final tournament of the Fall schedule for Walters State will be on October 31-November 1 as they travel to the Nob North Golf Course in Cohutta, Georgia to take part in the Alice Lloyd Invitational.
Rob Harvey
Walters State Community College
Sports Information Director
Cell: (423) 779-8880
Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu
Website: www.ws.edu/athletics