UTC's Ledford Wins Bear Trace Invitational

Thanks to some solid advice from Council Fire pro Hunt Gilliland, UTC's Bryce Ledford won his third golf championship of the summer on Sunday afternoon.

Ledford made a par on the first playoff hole and edged teammate Thomas Smith for the championship of the Bear Trace Invitational. Ledford recently won the Red Bud title and repeated as the Don Malarkey champion.

"I could have played better, but a win is a win,'' Ledford said.

After missing the cut for the Southern Amateur, Ledford headed to Council Fire on Friday for a lesson from Gilliland.

"He worked on my grip, my takeaway and my whole swing,'' Ledford said. "My whole swing was loose. He firmed up the left side. He's good.''

Ledford had a two-stroke lead after Smith hit in the water on the par 3 No. 14 and double-bogeyed. Smith, however, fought back with two straight birdiess and took a 1-shot lead when Ledford bogeyed 16.

On No. 17, however, Ledford tied Smith with a birdie. Both players earned pars on No. 18, setting up the one-hole playoff.

Smith was right and 70 yards short of Ledford's drive, which split the middle of the No. 1 fairway.

"Man, he was way ahead of me on No. 1,'' Smith said. "He's been playing so well and he's so long off the tee. He's a tough competitor.''

Smith's second shot landed behind the green. He needed two chips to get on, and bogeyed. Ledford two-putted from 10-feet for the victory.

"Really, I hit only two bad shots all day today,'' Ledford said. "One driver and one three-wood. I was really not striking the ball well earlier this week until the visit with Hunt.''

Ledford will participate in a U.S. Amateur qualifier in Atlanta in the near future.

"This feels good,'' he said. "It has been a great summer.''

Said Smith, "I thought I could win if I could birdie out after No. 14. I knew Bryce would birdie No. 17 because he's so long. But I feel good about the way I played.''

Soddy-Daisy rising junior Derek Rende shot a 1-under 71 and took third place. He was 3-under on the front Sunday and made the turn at 2-under for the tournament.

"It really hurt when I made bogey on 16, and then I missed a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 17,'' Rende said. "I'm disappointed, but I feel good about the way I played.''

First-round leader Gary Ferguson from UTC shot an 81 and finished at 150 after his 3-under round on Saturday.

"My driver simply went away,'' Ferguson said. "It was great Saturday and it was horrible today.''

(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)