Taylor Lewis was wired for sound again in the Chattanooga Men’s Metro, and for the second consecutive year, that meant trouble for the rest of the field.

Roughing up Brown Acres for a second consecutive 5-under-par 66 on Sunday, Lewis, former member of the Lipscomb University golf team and now a full-time working man, pulled off a feat that few players in Chattanooga history have equaled, winning his second straight Metro championship.

The last time someone repeated was 1999 and 2000, when Andrew Black won at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club and Battlefield, respectively. Neil Spitalny won in 1993 and 1994, and before that, the list of back-to-back winners is pretty much a roll call of the best players in the city’s history—Harold Lane, Mike Nelms, Ed Brantly (who won a record four straight from 1961-64 and two in a row in 1967-68), Lew Oehmig, Willard Miller and Polly Boyd.

Just as he did at Signal Mountain a year ago, Lewis had an advantage none of those players could have even dreamed about, save possibly Black, even though Apple didn’t get around to introducing the iPod until 2001.

With the tiny MP3 player clipped inside his shirt and headphones in, Lewis once again tuned out the world around him, got mellow to his music and dialed in his game.

Ahead by a stroke over Steve Johnson and by three over Tom Baird as the day began, Lewis went quickly to work, making a birdie at the long par-4 3^rd hole. When Johnson made his only bad swing of the day at the par-3 4^th, hit his tee shot right into the hazard and walked away with a double bogey, Lewis gained another measure of comfort, though Johnson was far from beaten.

From that point, both men made three front-nine birdies, but Lewis was able to add to his lead, making the turn at 2-under-par 33 to Johnson’s 34. That gave Lewis a two-stroke working margin.

His advantage grew to three at the par-4 10^th when he rolled in a short birdie putt, and from that point his game plan changed considerably.

“I’m always firing at pins—I’m aggressive by nature,” Lewis said. “That’s why I can win one week and no show the next. But even though I wasn’t quite sure where I stood in relation to [Johnson], I started hitting to the center of greens.”

That served Lewis well for the most part, and he survived an unforced error on the par-5 12^th after hitting his second shot, from only 165 yards, into the right front bunker. Johnson, who had birdied No. 11 to get to 8-under for the tournament, reached the green in two. Lewis blasted to about four feet but missed his birdie putt, setting the stage for Johnson, who faced a three-footer after knocking his lengthy eagle putt past the hole.

Johnson missed, and when he also three-putted the par-3 14^th and Lewis made birdie from about three feet, the lead was four shots. Johnson cut the margin to three with a birdie at the par-4 16^th, but that was as close as he would get. Lewis didn’t need it, but he sealed the deal with a birdie at No. 18 when he pushed his approach aimed for the center of the green ever so slightly and the ball wound up eight feet behind the hole.

When it’s your day, it’s your day.

“He played great,” Johnson said. “I played fairly well, too, but I would have had to have shot 65 to beat him. You shoot two straight 66s, that’s usually going to do the job.”

Lewis, who graduated in May, ended his college golf career with what he called a “so-so” senior season. And like last year, he hadn’t played any competitive golf before the Metro.

His senior year wasn’t a total loss though, after the coach he’d had for three years, Dr. Ralph Samples, retired and Buddy Harston, an occasional Champions Tour player, took over.

“I learned a lot from him,” Lewis said. “As far as the mental side of the game, and also that the wedges are the most important clubs in your bag. He stressed how important it is to know exactly how far I hit all my wedges. That’s been a huge help.”

Lewis, whose final total of 201 was four shots clear of Johnson and seven over Josh Coley, also gave much of the credit to his tiny iPod. He loads his favorite music onto the device—“everything but hard rock,” he said—and sets it to shuffle mode so he’s never sure what song he’ll hear next. That doesn’t really matter to him.

“I like music a lot,” he said. “I just try to block the [outside] noise out and just go out there and play. The music helps me relax.”

Lewis graduated in May with a degree in marketing and management, but for now he’s still hanging on to the job he kept through college at Zeb Patten’s Chattanooga Golf Center. The company is expanding into other cities around the South, and Lewis might give the Charlotte, N.C. store a whirl.

But even though he’s avoided competition in favor of making a few bucks, Lewis might yet give tournament golf his full attention.

“I think at some point, if I can keep improving, I might try it [pro golf],” Lewis said. “I’d hate to be 35 years old and regret that I never gave it a shot.”

A day earlier, Mike Jenkins wrapped up the Senior Division after his second-round 73 left him at 144. Jenkins wasn’t expecting to have a chance after Chuck Jabaley fired an opening 67, but when Jabaley came back to the field with a 78, he had a chance. Larry McGill actually beat Jenkins to the clubhouse, also finishing at 144.  Unfortunately McGill had to leave before Jenkins and Jabaley posted their results due to an emergency situation - as a result when McGill wasn’t around for the playoff  Jenkins was declared the winner.

Jenkins happily collected the trophy named in honor of Wes Brown, long one of Chattanooga golf’s biggest advocates.

“If it wasn’t for Wes Brown, there would be no CDGA [Chattanooga District Golf Association],” said Jenkins, who like Brown has served as CDGA president. “For years, he kept it going. It’s neat to have my name on the trophy that honors him.”