Draegen Majors looked around the teeing ground at The Honors Course and noticed familiar faces. His partner in the Trans-Mississippi Four Ball championship, Lawrence Field, was waiting in the shade. So were opponents Ben Blundell and Jordan Cook, who like Majors and Field are from Oklahoma.
“Oklahoma has invaded Ooltewah,” Majors declared.
Indeed, the top two teams of the championship division hailed from the Sooner State.
Majors and his partner needed two playoff holes for Field to hit a near-perfect pitching wedge from 142 yards out and roll in a two-foot putt, which sent them home to Tulsa with the big crystal bowls. The runner-up trophies went to Oklahoma City.
Draegen Majors watches his ball fly toward the 16th green Thursday during the 35th Trans-Mississippi Four-Ball tournament at The Honors Course in Ooltewah. Majors made birdie at the 18th to win on the second playoff hole with teammate Lawrence Field. “We even had a chipping contest with Draegen yesterday out here,” Cook said. “He won that, too.”
The two duos finished the three-day tournament at 10-under-par 206. Both teams shot 4-under 68 on Thursday at the pristine Honors. Majors birdied No. 18 in regulation, giving them the clubhouse lead.
At about the same moment, Blundell eagled the 495-yard, par-5 17th by hitting a driver and then an 8-iron to within five feet of the hole. A par on the last hole set up the playoff.
“Being in a playoff is always fun because it’s sudden-death,” Blundell said. “Being with guys that we compete against all the time makes it more fun.”
Field and Majors were playing together as a team for just the second time. They did so in the same event last year in Santa Fe, N.M. This one could have been their last because Field turned 55 earlier this year and has a desire to play in senior championship fields.
“He told me that he’d do it one more time if we won,” said Majors, who moved to Tulsa less than two years ago to continue his work with the Christian Golf Foundation. “So that putt in the playoff was big because that was to get my partner back.”
Randy Lance and Brad Kropp tied for third with Scott Tridle and Will Anderson. The Chattanooga-area duo of Richard Spangler and Andy White tied for seventh at 6 under.
Sam Boyd and Ken Redfern won the super-senior division with a wire-to-wire lead and a 16-under 200.
The senior division also featured a playoff. It began with three teams that each shot 10-under 206: Mike Ameen and Randy King, John Pigg and Eddie Lyons, and Kip Estep and Bob Baker.
The playoff ended with co-champions – Ameen and King, as well as Pigg and Lyons – after they both survived two playoff holes then realized that they’d miss their flights if they kept playing.
“Whatever they needed to do, we were OK with it,” said Lyons, who first suggested a co-championship idea. “It was a wonderful experience. The course is pretty remarkable, and we’re thrilled to be sharing the championship.”
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP