John Lambert Edges Neil Spitalny and Brandon Cissom By 1 to Win Red Bud

John Lambert has never been one to hold back his innermost thoughts on a golf course. You could say he’s downright chatty.

That’s why it was easy to tell where he stood in the Red Bud Tournament at Valleybrook on Sunday. He told everyone in sight as he walked off the 15^th green:

“I need some birdies.”

At the time, Lambert, a long-time Valleybrook member who found his way over to Black Creek a couple of years ago, was locked in a struggle with three others players, including first-round leader Mitch Hufstetler, Neil Spitalny and Brandon Cissom. The latter two led at 2-under par for the tournament, while Hufstetler, who opened with a 7-under-par 64 on Saturday only to toss back most of those strokes with an opening-nine 41, was at 1-under along with Lambert.

After a middling tee shot at the par-3 16^th, Lambert, once again speaking aloud, didn’t give himself much of a chance to grab one of those birdies he’d been coveting. But then he measured up the 30-footer putt he faced, and he realized he’d seen it before.

“And I’d made it a lot of times, too,” Lambert said. “Play about five or six feet of break and let it trickle down to the hole.”

But Lambert’s putt didn’t exactly trickle.

“That putt probably goes all the way to the fringe if it doesn’t hit the back of the cup,” Lambert said.

Lambert’s ball slid obligingly into the hole, and all of a sudden he found himself tied for the lead with Spitalny at 2-under. Cissom had given back a stroke at the par-4 15^th and fell to one under along with Hufstetler.

Lambert’s separation would come on No. 17, a par-5 that often serves as a swing hole in tournaments played at Valleybrook. When Spitalny’s tee shot struck a tree and bounced 35 yards backward, and his second shot clipped branches, too, he was bound for a bogey. Neither Hufstetler nor Cissom could birdie.

That left the hole wide open for Lambert, who had coaxed his third shot to about seven feet.

“My hands were vibrating,” Lambert said of the potential game-winning putt. “But somehow I got it to go in. It wasn’t going fast this time; it just dropped over the lip.”

All of a sudden, having been granted those birdies he’d asked for, Lambert was at 3-under and owner of a two-shot lead. And despite a three-putt at the 18^th, his second consecutive 70, giving him a two-day total of 2-under-par 140, was enough for a one-shot victory over Spitalny (71-70-141) and Cissom (66-75-141). Hufstetler (64-78-142) finished fourth.

Lambert could only shake his head as he turned in the winning scorecard.

“Very strange,” he said.

Actually, it wasn’t all that strange. He’d shot an opening-round 66 in this tournament way back in 2001. And he’d won three club championships at Valleybrook, defeating most of the usual suspects who contend in the Red Bud year after year.

Yet Lambert had never won a Chattanooga area amateur tournament, even though he plays in just about all of them and contends from time to time.

“I’d never won a CDGA event, and I really didn’t know that I could,” Lambert said. “And I probably wouldn’t have won this time if those guys hadn’t given me a little help.

“These things are so fun, to see how your game stacks up against the best players in town. It’s always been my mission to get into the top 20 [and qualify for the season-ending Chattanooga TPC match-play tournament].”

As he thought about the impact of what he’d just accomplished, Lambert was almost—almost—at a loss for words.

“It’s funny,” he said. “Watching these guys all day, I didn’t think I had a chance. First Mitch had it, then Brandon had it, then Neil was in control. I just happened to make a couple of birdies at the right time.”