State hopes end for Eagle golfer Bledsoe

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
By Gary Johnson

Shelbyville Central's Chase Bledsoe fires off the first shot of a sudden death playoff Tuesday afternoon.
(T-G Photo by Gary Johnson)
[Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

TULLAHOMA -- Shelbyville Central golfer Chase Bledsoe's bid for the TSSAA state tournament came to an end as he dropped the first hole of a sudden death playoff in the Region 4-AAA tournament Tuesday afternoon at Lakewood Country Club.

Bledsoe and Tullahoma's Steven Coffelt were tied with a round of 77 for the fourth and final spot to advance to the state.

The two matched up in a sudden death playoff with the first to win a hole going to the state.

Bledsoe had the honors on the 344-yard first hole and his tee shot landed 150 yards from the flag.

Coffelt's tee shot was approximately 30 yards in front of Bledsoe but just missed the right side of the fairway in the rough just a few feet left of a huge tree.

Bledsoe hit his second shot fat and approximately 40 feet short of the green.

Coffelt hit a near-perfect second shot that avoided tree limbs while sailing over a bunker to the middle of the green, approximately 15 feet from the flag.

Bledsoe's third shot was left of the flag approximately 20 feet from the hole.

He made a good run at the hole with that putt then tapped in for a bogie five, allowing Coffelt a two-putt to win.

Coffelt's birdie putt stopped inches short of the hole and was then tapped in for a par.

"I'm just so proud of Chase. He's really had a great year and took three or four strokes off his score compared to last year," Shelbyville coach Lynn Burkey said. "I hate it was too dark for the playoff on Monday because Chase had just shot the best score he ever had on the Lakewood course. Who knows what might have happened if they played it then."

Comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on t-g.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

Tough luck. I'm sure it's hard coming in to a sudden death situation like that. I'd agree with the Coach that he'd probably been successful if they could of gotten the playoff in on the same day as the last round. Congratulations just the same on a great run.

-- Posted by Mike Molder on Wed, Sep 23, 2009, at 12:31 PM