The Brainerd Invitational, which begins play on Saturday, has
an exceptional field, but one golfer in particular bears watching.
That would be Notre Dame senior Chris Gilliland, son of Council
Fire director of golf Hunt Gilliland. As we’ve reported on this
site previously, the younger Gilliland has come of age as a
tournament player this summer, proving he can shoot low numbers.
He’s done it in just about every tournament he’s entered the last
two months.
The latest example of his emerging skills came at the U.S.
Junior Amateur in late July. In the second round of stroke play
qualifying, Gilliland made five birdies and a bogey en route to a
66 at the Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highlands Course. That was the
low round of the tournament, and Gilliland missed by just a stroke
from tying for the qualifying medal.
Unfortunately, Gilliland was ousted in the first round of match
play, 5 and 3, by Chris Wells of Mobile, Ala., but he had long
since made his mark on the tournament. Tennessee coach Jim Kelson,
Vanderbilt’s Press McPhaul and East Tennessee State’s Fred Warren
were among the college coaches who watched Gilliland play in
Atlanta. Considering his 66 was the low round in a field of the
nation’s finest juniors, Gilliland’s stock definitely rose in
Atlanta.
The week before the U.S. Junior, Gilliland notched a
third-place finish in the TGA Junior at Link Hills Country Club in
Greeneville. Gilliland shot rounds of 71-71-70 for a 212 total,
four strokes behind winner Pettitt Philip of Murfreesboro.
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Gilliland isn’t the only Chattanooga area junior who has
elevated their stature on the summer circuit. Baylor golfer Beth
Felts won the TGA girls junior with rounds of 73-74-70-217 at
Clarksville Country Club. Not longer after, following in the
footsteps of former teammate May Wood, Felts finished second in
the North and South Junior at Pinehurst, N.C. A year earlier, Wood
won the same tournament, and just this summer she won the North
and South Amateur.
Felts shot 73-80-73 for a 223 total, three shots behind winner
Chris Bradey of Apex, N.C. Only that middle round kept her from
the championship.
Felts’ teammate, Catherine Hicks, also competed in the TGA
junior and North and South. Hicks finished sixth at Clarksville
with rounds of 80-74-79, and wound up 28th at the North
and South.
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Steve Johnson of Chattanooga, an Honors Course member,
qualified for the U.S. Amateur last week with a two-round 145
total at the Country Club of the South in Atlanta.
Baylor senior Luke List, one of the top college prospects in
the country, earned an alternate spot with a two-round 140 at
Willow Creek in Knoxville.
