Even though the Red Bud Invitational lacked competitors, the tournament had plenty of competition on the final day.
John Lambert emerged from the log-jam of four golfers that were 1- or 2-under for the tournament with six holes to play on Sunday at Valleybrook Golf Club.
“I’ve never won in Chattanooga, never won anything within the CDGA, and I didn’t know that I could,” Lambert said. “I’m going to tell you, that if the other guys hadn’t given me a lot of help, I don’t know that I could have.”
Lambert shot a 1-under 70 on Saturday and repeated the score on Sunday for a 2-under 140. He clipped Neil Spitalny and Brandon Cissom by one shot and first-round leader Mitch Hufstetler by two.
“After No. 11, I thought ‘This is anybody’s race,'” said Lambert, who was a member at Valleybrook from 1992-2008. “But I still wasn’t sure I had a chance against these guys.”
Hufstetler shot 7 under in the first round, but started Sunday with a 41 on the front. Cissom shot a four-shot to lead as the final group made the turn, but he bogeyed No. 10 and double-bogeyed No. 11 to bring everybody in the final group to within a shot of each other.
“I was pretty mad,” Cissom said. “But I haven’t played much so I can’t be too mad. All in all, I’ll take it.”
Lambert moved into a tie at 2 under with Spitalny by making a 30-foot right-to-left putt on No. 16. Lambert took a two-shot lead on the other three in his group when he birdied the par-5 17th and Spitalny hit two trees on his way to a bogey.
“There wasn’t much drama until Brandon hit it out of bounds on No. 11,” said Spitalny, who shot rounds of 71 and 70. “We were all just hanging on. It was survival.”
With Cissom and Spitalny in with par on the final hole, Lambert stood over a 3-footer for bogey and the victory. With his heart racing a bit, knees and hands a little unsteady, he rolled in the winning putt.
“Boy, it felt more like 10 feet,” Lambert said, while clutching a $300 gift certificate. “This was amazing.”
Red Bud Invitational
Valleybrook Golf Club
Final two-round scores
Par 71, 6,704 yards
140–John Lambert. 141–Neil Spitalny, Brandon Cissom. 142–Mitch Hufstetler. 147–Heath Tarver. 148–Gary Baker. 150–Blake Davidson. 151–Matt Hadden. 152–Wayne Woolfall. 156–Cory Evans. 161–David McKenna. 163–Philip Spitalny. 164–Jimmy White. 165–Tom Myers. 173–Clayton Brown. Stableford Division: 58–Bruce Russell. 57–Chip Muller. 49–Chris Browne, Jimmy Jones. 48–Bob Stimson. 47–Lonnie Craft. Senior Stableford: 53–Butch Oakes. 43–Jim Miller.