Dr. Neil Spitalny of Chattanooga followed his 2015 Tennessee Senior Amateur championship at Lookout Mountain Golf Club with the 2016 Super Senior title Thursday at Spring Creek Ranch in Collierville. Spitalny won on the second hole of a playoff with Brentwood's Jim Webb after each shot 228 for 54 holes, and Ooltewah's Larry McGill was fifth at 234 while Chattanooga's Ronnie Law tied for 11th at 240. In what came down to a battle of the state's longtime amateur icons, Tim Jackson of Germantown, Tenn. - and a member of The Honors Course in Ooltewah - won the State Senior Amateur with Danny Green of Jackson the runner-up. Jackson shot 2-under-par 214 with bookend 69s and Green shot 216, and Mitch Hufstetler of Harrison closed with a 71 for a fourth-place 218. Pikeville's Bob Rice tied for 15th at 229, and Signal Mountain's Tom Baird was 29th at 238.
- Maggie Scott and Linda Mullins from Cleveland Country Club won the 21st Tennessee Women's Four Ball tournament held Tuesday and Wednesday at Green Meadow Country Club in Alcoa. They won by one shot with a 36-hole 145, and Council Fire's Darlene Werhnyak and Patty Donahoo won the second flight and were fourth overall at 151. Two other area players, Hazel Davis and Barbara Monaghan, won the third flight at 158. Donahoo also won the event's long-drive competition with a 230-yard blast, and Creeks Bend representative Linda Carter won the closest-to-the-pin prize with a tee shot that landed within 4 feet, 7 inches on a 165-yard hole.
- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's golf team will begin a 72-hole qualifying tournament Saturday to help determine the lineup for the Mocs' first tournament of the 2016-17 school year on Labor Day weekend. That will be the Turning Stone-Tiger Invitational at Verona, N.Y., near Syracuse. The close-to-home Carpet Capital Collegiate at Rocky Face, Ga., will follow Sept. 9-11. The top three finishers in the Mocs' 10-man qualifying event at Council Fire, The Farm (Sunday), Black Creek (Monday) and Chattanooga Golf & Country Club (Tuesday) will secure spots on the six-man travel squad. "There is a lot of competition for playing time. That's really good," coach Mark Guhne said in a school release. "Just getting into the lineup is tough, which should make us stronger come tournament time. I can't emphasize enough how much this group has me ready to get going this season." One of the two senior returners is Wes Gosselin, who won the 2016 Tennessee Amateur in a runaway.
Tennis
- The Tennessee State Adult Mixed Doubles tennis tournament is this weekend at the Champions Club, Baylor School and the Racquet Club. There is no admission price.
Running
- The Dalton State cross country teams both were in the NAIA Top 25 when the national office in Kansas City, Mo., released the rankings Wednesday, and they were the only Southern States Athletic Conference teams to make the polls. The male Roadrunners were listed 15th after being 11th in the final 2015 poll, and the female Roadrunners were 25th.
Staff Reports