Albert Huddleston, a McCallie School alum, is thankful his partner in the Trans-Mississippi Four-Ball Championship steered him into a fine decision off the golf course.
That partner – Paul Simson, who has won five Lupton Memorial trophies at The Honors Course – is thankful to have Huddleston with him for the week on The Honors’ hallowed grounds in Ooltewah.
With 36 holes of the 54-hole tournament gone, Huddleston and Simson are two strokes off the senior division lead. Mike Ameen and Randy King share the top spot with Lee Sandlin and Warren Huddleston (Albert’s brother).
The 1:40 p.m. group begins on the No. 1 tee during play in the 35th Trans-Mississippi Four-Ball tournament Wednesday at The Honors Course in Ooltewah.
“Yesterday we gave ourselves a good talking-to, and today we went stealth and slid by a bunch of folks,” Simson said Wednesday. “We’re quite blessed to be in touch with the leaders. We came from the bowels of the earth to shoot 65, and we’re at least a factor.”
Four groups are tied for the lead at 7-under 137 in the championship division: Tom Kelley and Nick Vondrak, Will Anderson and Scott Tridle, Riley Pumphrey and Josh Sanson, and Trey Hallmark and Terrence Miskell. The Chattanooga-based team of Richard Spangler and Andy White is two strokes back.
In the super-senior division, Sam Boyd and Ken Redfern are at 14 under and lead by seven.
Simson and Huddleston – who graduated from McCallie in 1970 – are at 6-under-par 138 heading into this morning’s final round.
Simson, who first played The Honors Course in the 1991 U.S. Amateur, was a factor in Huddleston’s decision to rename a golf course he purchased in the Dallas area about two years ago. The property was most recently known as The Honors Club.
It will now be known as the Maridoe Club – Huddleston told the Times Free Press before alerting any Texas or national news organizations – in honor of his wife Mary, whose nickname is Mary-Doe.
“Paul is the one who suggested that we go with a name that represents family, people we love and things we love,” said Huddleston, who founded Aethon Energy in 1990. “We’re getting ready to re-brand it next month and will have a soft opening next fall, when the redesigned course, 30-acre bass pond and streams are all ready.”
Huddleston envisions the final product – the course, clubhouse and practice facilities – representing the best of what he’s experienced at courses all across the country. That includes the locker room from Seminole, a bar from Merion, a patio from Winged Foot, and the total package that The Honors Course presents.
“I’m inspired to have the same excellence in a very collegial environment,” Huddleston said. “But rather than building walls around something that’s elite, make it elite and share the privileges of it at the right times for the right reasons.”
One reason, inspired by Mary, includes having students using the course’s pond, trees and grasses as a natural laboratory. Another goal is having the four high schools in the district use the course – which is being rebuilt by Steve Smyers, whose résumé includes Isleworth, Lochenheath and Wolf Run – as their daily practice facility. Also planned is having the University of North Texas use the facility as its home base, complete with a tournament stocked with nationally-ranked teams.
Many of Huddleston’s inspirations are coming from his membership experiences at The Honors Course.
“Once you pass that portal, your blood pressure drops 10 points,” he said. “And any of your problems don’t exist.”
Today’s problems, though, could be making birdies at The Honors Course in the final round of a national tournament.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP