Chattanooga: Hollister wins Junior Classic

Every day, Tyler Hollister sees two runner-up awards from previous CDGA Junior Classic.

He can take them down and put up a framed yellow flag from The Honors Course with a plaque designating him as a champion.

Hollister defeated Player Pierce 2-up on Wednesday morning to claim the Boys’ 16-18 championship.

“This is the one I’ve wanted to win for four years,” said Hollister, who committed to Lee University last Friday but will wait until after school begins to sign scholarship papers.

Zach Hester, Bill Armor, Haley Cothran and Blakely Warren also earned championship flags for winning their age-group matches on Wednesday.

Hollister and Pierce waged a tight battle that lasted all 18 holes. Pierce, a senior at Red Bank, was 2-up early before they made the turn all-square.

Hollister went 2-up after No. 13, and they were squared again heading into the challenging par-3 16th.

“Going 2-up, I thought, ‘There’s no way I could give this away,’” Hollister said. “On 16, I had a good mental chat with myself, and I hit a good 6-iron close and made par.”

He won the final hole with another par, despite pulling his drive left into the woods leaving his ball in shallow mud. Needing a birdie, and seeing the pin tucked close to the right edge, Pierce aimed dead at it but pushed it a little right.

“It was the most fun match and most challenging match I’ve ever played,” Pierce said. “You can’t hit an errant shot playing against Tyler — or on this course.”

Cothran took a different approach for her victory. Foster was 3-up after six holes, but Cothran grabbed a few holes, birdied No. 10 and won the rest of the holes.

“I just never gave up, stayed right there and started making pars,” Cothran. “I kept fighting, and I love that excitement of being down with only so many holes left.”