Former Mississippi State golfer is Choo Choo champ

Chattanooga Choo Choo Invitational golf tournament runner-up Mikey Feher, left, holds his trophy alongside tourney director Chris Schmidt on Thursday at Council Fire Golf Club.

Now that he's able to separate schoolwork and play, Benjamin Follet-Smith's golf game may be ready to take off.

The recent Mississippi State graduate earned his first tournament victory in the United States by winning the Chattanooga Choo Choo Invitational at Council Fire Golf Club. He closed with a 5-under-par 67 Thursday and finished at 20-under 268 to win the four-day, 72-hole event by eight strokes.

The runner-up was Mikey Feher - who played in high school at Baylor before moving on to play at Lipscomb University - after he shot the low round of the tournament with his closing 65.

Follet-Smith, whose hometown is Harare, Zimbabwe, said it was a "huge relief" to get his first win on American soil.

"I came into college expecting huge things," he said. "Now that I'm out of college, there's less stress. It all fell into place this week."

Follet-Smith had shot two 66s and a 69 the first three rounds for a seven-stroke lead. On Thursday, he was up by eight on the No. 12 tee when the round was halted a little more than two hours by weather.

He said he tried not to let the delay affect him mentally, and apparently it didn't - he came back out and continued to do what he'd done all week.

"I putted good and drove the ball well," Follet-Smith said. "I think that's the key to golf. If you drive it straight and putt it well, that's going to get you anywhere."

Of note is that Follet-Smith's college coach, Clay Homan, won the John T. Lupton Memorial tournament in May at The Honors Course in Ooltewah. Homan retired this spring after 14 seasons leading the Bulldogs.

Feher said he spent Thursday's weather delay hanging out with another former Baylor golfer, Blake Maum, and former Ringgold golfer Brooks Thomas.

"We kind of joked that we were playing for second place," Feher said. "That kind of gave me motivation."

Feher lit it up his final nine, starting with birdies on the first three holes coming in. After the stoppage he missed an eight-foot birdie putt on No. 14 - which he had the entire delay to think about - but responded afterward with another stretch of three birdies in succession.

"You always want to win, but sometimes you just get beat," Feher said in acknowledgement of Follet-Smith's performance. "It's not like I didn't play some great golf. I just didn't have what he had this week."

Thomas, who recently graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, totaled 278 and ended up third. He eagled No. 18 on Wednesday and came back and eagled No. 1 on Thursday.

"You just try to go for broke," Thomas said of his plan coming into the final round nine shots off the lead. "You really can't do anything different. You kind of have to count on him coming back, and you have to play good yourself."

Thomas also works at Council Fire, which was hit with heavy rain in the early portion of the delay.

"It held up pretty good," Thomas said of the course. "It drains pretty well. It made the greens a little slower. That was about it."

Maum finished sixth at 282.

With Ben Fernandez scoring 284, three of the top eight finishers in the tournament are qualifiers to play in the U.S. Amateur Championship next month in Los Angeles. Feher and Thomas are the others.

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.