(Knoxville, TN) – Three Ridges Golf Course and beautiful weather made for perfect conditions for the Kids’ Play Free Pro-Am held May 16-17. Teams from all over Tennessee made up of one PGA Professional and three scratch amateurs, competed in the best-ball format, for not only the team prize, but the individual prizes of low amateur and low professional in both the regular and senior divisions.
With a field consisting of 84 players, groups began play at 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning off of hole 1 with the last group teeing off by early afternoon. Conditions could not have been better both Monday and Tuesday to make for successful play at the tournament.
After Monday’s round was finished, one group held the solo lead; the group of Tre Mullins, PGA consisting of Brad Kuester (a), Stuart Smith (a), and Craig Moyer (a). Mullin’s team took advantage of the birdie opportunities on the course, carding 10 birdies and 1 eagle after round one. Mullin’s team finished at (-12), 60, giving them a one stroke lead after Monday’s round.
Tuesday’s round began at 8 a.m. with a nice breeze and pleasant temperatures for Tennessee in mid-May. Multiple teams took advantage of the good conditions on Tuesday with 10 teams who had a team total of -10 or better. Mullin’s team held onto the lead and fired another (-12), 60, to claim the team championship victory.
In the individual contests, Walt Chapman and Lee Whitehead were tied for the Regular Professional title, finishing (-7) with a two day total of 137 for the tournament and finishing as co-champions.
With four birdies from the second round, Glenn Hudson, PGA, fired a final round of (-4) 68, claiming victory in the Senior Professional division with a total of (-5). Hot on Melson’s heels was Bill Breen, PGA, who was two shots back with a tournament total of (-3), claiming solo second place.
Michael Bradshaw (a), claimed the Regular Amateur title with a final round of (-8) for a tournament total of (-6) 138, one stroke ahead of Lucas Tabor’s (a) (-5) tournament total at 139.
Brad Kuester (a), triumphed in the Senior Amateur division firing a 65 in round one, followed by a 70 in day two for a tournament total of 135. Ray Morton finished 7 strokes back in solo second with a tournament total of (-2), 142.
We would like to thank Three Ridges Golf Course for hosting this year’s Kids’ Play Free Pro-Am. Superintendent Chris Hurley had the course in pristine condition, and we would like to thank him for all of his efforts. We would also like to thank Visit Knoxville for being the sponsor of this year’s event.