The local field
Area representatives and tee times (CDT):Katherine Holmes, 2:20 (Chattanooga G&CC); Danielle Bates, 2, Kelsey Cassada, 12:50, Rheagan Hall, 8:50, Olivia Williams, 7:50 (Cleveland CC); Jayla Sims, 8:10 (Creeks Bend); Preslee Yoder, 7:30 (The Honors); Ali Barker, 12:30 (Valleybrook); McKenzie Frizzell, 9:10, Madalyn Hembree, 2, Kylan Nash, 7:50, Miranda Rich, 9 (WindStone).
By Friday, participants in the 53rd Tennessee Junior Girls’ Amateur Championship should be quite familiar with The Course at Sewanee.
For the first time, the Tennessee Golf Association is holding a tournament on a nine-hole course. That means starting today, the 67 players entered in the 54-hole tournament will play it twice daily for three days.
Today’s first round of tee times are scheduled from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. CDT. Afternoon tee times range from 12:30 to 2:20.
Watching the tournament is open to the public at no charge. Two champions will be crowned Friday – one in the 15-18 age group and one in the 10-14 age group.
Course professional Matt Daniels said Dick Horton, president of the Tennessee Golf Foundation, and the late King Oehmig were largely responsible for bringing the event to Sewanee. Allison Brown, director of women’s golf for the TGA, ultimately gave her approval to make it this particular tournament.
The course has been in use since 1915, but renovations began taking place there about five years ago and were completed in mid-June 2013. The project was headed by Gil Hanse, who was also chosen to outline the 2016 Olympic Games’ course in Rio de Janeiro.
“After the renovation by Gil Hanse in 2013, Dick wanted to bring an event here in some form or fashion,” Daniels said. “He just decided it would be a good place. After Allison Brown and some other officials visited, it was decided it would be a good place to hold the Tennessee Junior Girls’ Amateur.”
Daniels claims The Course at Sewanee is now arguably one of the best nine-hole courses at least east of the Mississippi River.
“There’s not really a flat place on the course,” Daniels said. “It’s very fair, and not super long. The par 3s are challenging. There’s a lot of native grass. It’s kind of a rolling-hilltop mountain course. The greens are challenging as well – a lot of undulation.”
A weather delay interrupted Tuesday’s practice round, but Daniels said he expects the course to hold up well all week. The National Weather Service is forecasting rain each of the next three days with predictions ranging from 20 to 40 percent daily.
“The course is in excellent shape,” Daniels said. “It’s always great to have a little Mother Nature water the golf course. You mainly just hope it’s slowly and at night.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at Twitter.com/ KelleySmiddie.