Chattanooga Junior Classic
Thursday finals at The Honors CourseBoys 12-13: Tucker Windham def. Harrison Williams 8 and 7.Boys 14-15: Tyson Venable def. Sam Marshall 3 and 1.Boys 16-18: Ben Rebne def. Zac Bombassi 2 and 1.Girls 12-14: Taylor Gardner def. McCall Miller 6 and 5.Girls 15-18: Kaitlyn Sneed def. Ryann McCuistion 2 and 1.
Ben Rebne
Kaitlyn SneedBen Rebne isn't old enough to buy cocktails.
Coca-Cola and PowerAde products are more within his age range.
He may need an increase in allowance to fund all of the beverages he had to buy after making a hole-in-one on No. 8 at The Honors Course on Thursday, which helped him win the oldest boys' division of the Chattanooga Junior Classic.
"My caddie told me it's between 140 and 150 yards, so I hit my 9 iron and it took a hop and trickled in," Rebne recounted before heading to the parking lot before he could carry out the tradition of buying a round at the course.
"It's my first hole-in-one," said the Heritage High senior, who has given a verbal commitment to play at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga "My heart dropped. I threw up my hands and just screamed."
The shot helped Rebne win four consecutive holes to build a 5-up lead over Zac Bombassi, who is headed to play for Tusculum in two weeks.
But Bombassi battled back. He won four of the next five holes with steady play while Rebne floated above the clouds that spit some rain on the 10 competitors in five divisions.
"It was intense," Bombassi said. "I was 5 down through 11, so he was kicking my tail for a while. Then I hit some shots I needed to."
Rebne ended the match with a birdie on the par-5 17th following a terrific approach shot to within five feet of the hole.
"I knew his streak had to slow down," said Bombassi, who lost 2 and 1 despite the great comeback and incredible 50-foot par putt on No. 17. "It came back around, and it got pretty close."
The other featured match of the Chattanooga Junior Classic - the season-ending match-play tournament to cap the CDGA Junior Tour - also reached the 17th hole.
Meigs County senior Kaitlyn Sneed parred the hole featuring the "Big Bertha" bunker and defeated Emmanuel College freshman Ryann McCuistion 2 and 1.
"It went back and forth forever," said Sneed, who celebrated her 18th birthday Thursday. "We tied a lot of holes and I won in the end."
Tyson Venable and Tucker Windham also won boys' divisions while Taylor Gardner won the other girls' division.
But none of the others won with Rebne's flair, midround excitement or near collapse. None of them had to buy Cokes, either.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP