Gilliland-Elliott repeat as CDGA Four Ball Match Play Champions

In the fall and spring, Tyson Elliott and Chris Gilliland are on opposite sides, competing for different Southern Conference golf teams.

That all changes in the summer, when Elliott (Chattanooga) and Gilliland (Furman), boyhood friends from Council Fire, join forces to become a formidable four-ball team.

They proved that yet again on Sunday, outlasting the team of Mike Jenkins and Tom Baird to win their second straight CDGA Four Ball Championship on their home course. The victory comes on the heels of their second-place finish earlier in the summer in the Tennessee Golf Association’s Four-Ball Tournament. The duo lost, 3 and 2, to Whit Turnbow and Shelton at Knoxville’s Holston Hills Country Club, but they couldn’t wait to pair up again in the CDGA event.

It took 18 holes to beat the veteran Jenkins-Baird team, but when Elliott pounded a 317-yard drive on the par-5 18^th, hit a 4-iron onto the green and two-putted for birdie, he and Gilliland walked off 2-up winners.

What makes the duo such a good four-ball team?

“Chris is an unbelievable ball striker,” Elliott said. “He makes my job a lot easier by hitting it down the middle every time.”

“And Tyson hits it a long way,” Gilliland said.

That sums up the partnership nicely. Gilliland, who isn’t short by any means, always hits first, and when he gets a drive in the fairway, Elliott, a senior at UTC, swings for the fences.

The strategy gave Elliott and Gilliland, who earlier in the day beat David McKenna and Tripp Harris, 5 and 4, an early lead in their afternoon match, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Jenkins, who also happens to be tournament director, wanted Council Fire to play long—except for one hole. That was the par-4 fifth, which played from the orange tees, or 333 yards. Gilliland hit a solid driver, after which Elliott stepped up and ripped a drive that landed on the green and stopped about 20 feet from the hole.

A little drama and a long wait ensued before Elliott could strike his putt. With lightning flashing around the course, Council Fire director of golf Hunt Gilliland made the decision to suspend play. Elliott ran up to his ball and marked it, then beat a hasty retreat to the clubhouse. The rain delay lasted for more than an hour.

“I didn’t even have a chance to look at the putt,” Elliott said. “So I didn’t really have an idea of what it was going to do until I came back out.”

Elliott put a confident stroke on the putt, to good effect.

“It’s a good thing it went in,” Elliott said. “Or I’d have been putting next.”

The eagle came in handy, because Baird drained a 25-footer for birdie.

Gilliland struck next, making a birdie at the par-3 7^th hole for a 2-up lead. That advantage lasted until the par-3 12^th, when Jenkins’ 18-foot birdie putt sliced the deficit in half.

Elliott and Gilliland let a couple of opportunities to pad their lead slip away when they couldn’t birdie the par 5 11^th and 13^th holes, but when Elliott hit a 7-iron to four feet at the par-3 14^th and made the putt for birdie, they had all the lead they would need.

Again, Elliott’s handiwork was timely. Elliott and Gilliland both made bogey at No. 16, allowing Jenkins and Baird, who made par, a chance to get back into the match.

When both teams parred the par-3 17^th, it sent the match to the always-pivotal 18^th. Neither Jenkins nor Baird hit a solid drive, but when Gilliland drove poorly, too, the pressure was on Elliott. He delivered with his backbreaking bomb down the middle.

“I saved my best for last,” Elliott said.

Jenkins and Baird were disappointed not to win, but after having beaten a couple of limber backs in the morning round (slipping past Ben Vaughn and Chase Deck, 2-up), they were pleased to force two college golfers to the last hole in the afternoon.

“It feels pretty good,” Jenkins said. “As hot and tired as we were, we never lost a hole with a bogey this afternoon. We had our chances.”

Now it’s back to school for Elliott, who starts class on Monday, and Gilliland, who heads to Furman on Sept. 12. They’ll face one another at least twice this season, at Furman’s invitational and the Southern Conference Tournament.

“But we’ll always be partners,” Elliott said. “When it comes to Chris, we’ll never be opponents.”