Valdosta Daily Times

Local Sports

February 24, 2013

Former Blazer Witcher earns first eGolf Tour title at Oldfield Open

OKATIE, S.C. — Former Valdosta State golfer Brent Witcher earned his first career eGolf Tour title on Saturday at the Oldfield Open.

Witcher, an Atlanta native, shot rounds of 66, 67 and 72 for a three-round score of 205. He earned $15,000 for winning the tournament.

Strong area storms and heavy rain during the morning of the final round left an already-saturated Oldfield Country Club course unplayable, forcing tournament officials to cancel the fourth round, in turn deeming the tournament to be official after 54 holes.

“Unfortunately, we entered Saturday morning with the golf course soaked from the Friday rain, and the course was unable to drain to the point where it would be deemed playable,” said eGolf Tour tournament director Ben Case. “It was still raining at the time when we canceled the final round, and the golf course likely would not be even remotely playable until Sunday afternoon at the earliest.”

For Witcher, the rain-shortened event delivered his first career eGolf Tour title, thanks to an 11-under 205 total that gave him a one-shot win over Jack Fields of Southern Pines, N.C.

“I woke up telling myself to be ready to play golf, and to be ready for bad weather,” said Witcher, 27. “I just tried to do the same things I’d done all week. The last thing you want is to assume you’re not playing, and then have to go out there not prepared mentally.”

Entering Friday’s third round, Witcher was the event’s 18- and 36-hole leader following a 66-67—133 start to his week. Steady winds and afternoon showers made scoring difficult on day three, putting Witcher at even-par 36 on the turn.

On the back nine, which would turn out to be his final nine of the week, Witcher bogeyed the par-4 10th, turned eagle putts into back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12, and got up-and-down for bogey at the watery par-3 13th to remain even par for his round.

Errant tee shots into trees on 14 and 15 forced him to pull out clutch up-and-downs for par, keeping him at 11-under par.

At the simplistic par-4 17th, Witcher’s second shot from 80 yards out carried three yards too far, leaving him with a three-putt bogey from the back fringe – at the time dropping him to 10-under on the week, tied with Fields.

“I saw a scoreboard earlier on the back nine, and knew that a lot of guys were making birdies on Nos. 10 through 12,” said Witcher. “I just figured that someone was going to get to 10-under par, so I needed to keep trying to make birdies.”

On his 54th hole – the double dogleg par-5 18th – Witcher hit his third shot to 30 feet, setting up a potential go-ahead birdie at the last. With the threat of heavy storms on the Saturday horizon, the former Valdosta State star converted the birdie at 18 to move to 11-under through three rounds, and one shot clear of Fields. As it turned out, his lengthy birdie bomb was the winning putt for the week.

“It ended up being a much bigger putt than I thought it was at the time,” said Witcher after the final round was canceled. “You always want to play and compete, but I’ll certainly take the win.”

The win was Witcher’s first on the eGolf Tour, bettering a prior-career-best finish of T10 at the 2011 Willow Creek Open. The 2009 NCAA Division II Player of the Year was a member of the Web.com Tour in 2012, making 10 starts and posting a season-best finish of T30 at the South Georgia Classic at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta.

Text Only
Local Sports
  • strickland.jpg VSU softball wins South Region, headed to nationals

    For the third time in four years, and second in a row, Valdosta State’s softball team will play in the national championship tournament.
    The Blazers won their third South Region championship Saturday, beating Alabama-Huntsville 8-3 in game three of the best-of-three series at Steel’s Diamond at Blazer Park.

    May 18, 2013 2 Photos

  • VSU baseball season comes to an end

    Delta State scored seven unanswered runs to defeat Valdosta State 7-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA South Region Tournament at the UT Baseball Field Saturday afternoon.

    May 18, 2013

  • o'connor.jpg Blazers take 1-0 series lead

    Angela O’Connor launched a pinch-hit two-run home run over the left-field fence, tying the game against Alabama-Huntsville in the bottom of the sixth inning, and sparking the Blazers and their fans along the way.

    May 18, 2013 2 Photos

  • VState_red.jpg Blazer baseball stays alive, beats Stillman

    Valdosta State scored five runs in the first inning to defeat Stillman 6-2 in an elimination game of the NCAA South Region Tournament at UT Baseball Field Friday morning.

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • wortham.jpg Lowndes’ Harwell, Wortham sign with Valdosta State

    Lowndes’ Ty Harwell and David Wortham won’t have to go far to play college baseball.

    May 18, 2013 2 Photos

  • VSUSuper.jpg Blazers host respected rival UAH in Super Regional

    One would expect a matchup featuring two of the top softball programs in Division II to come in the national championship game.
    Unfortunately for Valdosta State and Alabama-Huntsville, who have combined to appear in four straight national championship games, they won’t be meeting in title game on Memorial Day in Salem, Va.

    May 17, 2013 2 Photos

  • popwarnerlogo1.jpg Pop Warner Football coming to Valdosta

    Pop Warner Football is coming to Valdosta.
    The nationally known organization that puts an emphasis on education and developing American youth has been established in the Valdosta area and will begin playing football this August.

    May 16, 2013 1 Photo

  • VSUbaseball.jpg Blazers lose to Delta State, fall to loser’s bracket

    If the Valdosta State baseball team is going to win the South Region Tournament, the Blazers going to have to do it from the loser’s bracket.
    The Blazers (33-17) dropped their first game of the tournament Thursday, falling to Delta State 4-2 at UT Baseball Stadium.
    VSU will face Stillman College, which lost to No. 1 seed and tournament host Tampa Thursday, Friday at 11 a.m. to advance to the weekend portion of the tournament. The loser will be eliminated.

    May 16, 2013 1 Photo

  • Lowndes’ Willis, Breit named Region 1 Coaches of the Year

     The All-Region 1-AAAAAA soccer teams were announced Wednesday and Lowndes was well represented.
    Lowndes coaches Chris Willis (girls) and Jordan Breit (boys) were named the Region Coaches of the Year, after leading the Lowndes teams to region championships and going undefeated in region play.

    May 16, 2013

  • LHS.jpg Vikings commit 4 errors, fall to Roswell, 5-2

    The small things matter in baseball, especially in a winner-take-all game three.
    On Wednesday, Lowndes’ baseball team made too many mistakes on the little things. The Vikings committed four errors that led to five Roswell runs and were eliminated in the Class AAAAAA state playoffs with a 5-2 loss to the Hornets.

    May 15, 2013 2 Photos

Blazers Blog
Top Sports News
More
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com