Wednesday, December 29, 2021

The First Golf Champion


Sunday, Aug. 2, 1970 was the biggest day ever at Seventy Six Falls Country Club in Albany, KY, wrote the Clinton County News on Aug. 6th that year. It was on that day that a champion was crowned in the country club's first ever club golf tournament.

So who was the first champion? It was Larry Conner, who posted a score of 161 in the 36-hole event. Ozro Pitman placed second with a score of 163, only two under the winner. Third place went to Gayron Wallen, who had tied with N. L. Morgan, Jr., with 165 each. The winner was decided by flipping a coin. Others in the first flight were Jackie Latham 172, Sidney Scott 171 and Gene Latham 176.

A large crowd and 36 golfers braved the 100 plus degree tempera­ture that Sunday. A.B. Gibson, Clinton County News editor, and one of the participants in the tournament, wrote in his "B.A. Nosbig" column that he heard one man say it was so hot that if the course hadn't been so pretty and the water, furnished by Richard Fryman and Eagle Pass Cheese Co., hadn't been so cold he would have thought he was playing in hell. The newspaper reported that the extremely high temperature was the only complaint heard.

At the conclusion of the tournament, directed by club manager, Harvey Aaron, another Clinton County golfer, Conner was presented a set of golf woods and a championship trophy. Pittman received a golf cart and Wallen and Morgan divided the third place prize of a dozen balls.

In the second flight, players qualifying 86 through 93, Louie Smith was the winner with 167, followed by Frankie Sewell with 173 and Carl McWhorter with 176. Others were Larry Jones 177, Mark Shearer 177, Eddie Owens 177, George Hancock 178, Bobby Hughes 178, Jimmy Logan 182 and Charlie Long 185.

In the third flight, J. O. Dicken surged forward in the final round with a 39 and won the flight with a total score of 179. Second place went to Bill Perdue, who posted a score of 184, followed by D. B. Robinson with a 187. Others were Ralph Groce 190, Ed Veazey 192, Ben Dyer 193, Joe Talbott 193, John B. Smith 195, A. B. Gibson 196, R. H. Burke 196, Hugh Groce 198, T. T. Rich 199, L. C. Conner, Jr. 203 and Ralph Keisling 207.

Fourth flight was a squeaker with Kelly Keisling becoming the winner after a two hole sudden death, which still ended in a tie with Horace Brown at 196 each. When it became too dark to play, the winner was de­cided by a flip of a coin. Ezra Neal was third with 197. Each received golf balls as prizes. Others were Tony Conner 210 and Hank Chilton 216.

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