Hammond alum, Elon University golfer wins 2021 Columbia City tournament
Bronson Myers matched the tournament record in the opening round and seemingly left the field playing for second place in this year’s Midlands Chevy Dealers Columbia City Golf Championship at the Spur at Northwoods.
But on the back nine of Saturday’s final round, “things started to go the wrong way,” he said. “It looked like I was trying to give it away.”
He then righted the ship and added to the collection of championships he has earned in a stellar high school and junior golf career. Despite a closing 4-over-par 76, he finished his three rounds at 8-under-par 208, three strokes better than Eddie Hargett.
Myers, who sparkled at Hammond School and now plays for Elon University, blistered the Northwoods layout with a 10-under-par 62 Thursday and added a 2-under 70 in the rain-delayed second round.
Headed into the back nine of Saturday’s final round after yet another rain delay, he owned a nine-shot advantage and said, “I felt pretty good after I birdied 12 and 13.”
But he hit two tee balls in the water on the drivable par-4 14th and made a quadruple bogey 8. “A bad decision that I’ll learn from,” he said.
Then, after a perfect drive on the par-4 15th, Myers shanked his second shot en route to a triple-bogey 7.
“The ball went horizontal, never forward,” he said. “I knew Mr. Hargett played steady golf and I needed to settle down.”
The champion made two pars and a birdie over the final three holes to collect the tournament hardware.
“I played the back nine in (6-under-par) 30 on Thursday and the same nine holes in (four-over-par) 40 today,” he said. “That’s golf.”
Hargett, South Carolina’s senior player of the year the past two years, shot 68-73-70—211 in three trips over Northwoods’ 6,800-yard, par-72 layout. At age 60, he is almost 40 years older than Myers.
“That’s the great thing about golf,” Myers said. “You can continue to play well, and Mr. Hargett plays very well.”
Myers is tutored by Columbia teaching professional Fred Wadsworth and is coming off a tendon injury that kept him from playing on the Elon team this past season.
“I severed two tendons in a finger and didn’t touch a club for five months,” he said. “It’s good to be back playing again.”
Myers will compete in the South Carolina Amateur in early August at DeBordieu Club near Georgetown before returning to school for his junior year. He hopes to one day test his skills in professional golf.
For now, he savors the victory “that was closer than I wanted it to be, but I learned from it and those lessons will help me going forward.”
Matthew Hutto and Chase Sturkie shared third place at 215 with Jon Mathias fifth at 217.
In the senior division, David Collins edged Brad Krapfel in a playoff after the pair tied at 1-under-par 215. Jimmy Martin captured the super-senior competition for the third straight year, posting an even-par 216 to better Robin Alley by four shots.
Burke Cromer, assistant pro at Northwoods, won the professional division title, which weather restricted to 18 holes. He fired a 7-under-par 65 on his home course.
Tournament officials presented the David Bennett Service to Golf Award to tournament director Allen Knight, who took over the event’s operation several years ago. The honor cited his relationship-building skills, his work ethic and expertise in running golf tournaments.
Matthew Hutto received the Scott Hannon Memorial Sportsmanship Award. Hutto, who finished third for third in this year’s tournament, began his journey in golf in the Fairway Outreach program at age 7 and will play for Winthrop University this fall.
Men’s City Golf 2021 top scores
Amateur Division
Bronson Myers 62-70-76—208
Eddie Hargett 68-73-70—211
Matthew Hutto 75-71-69—215
Chase Sturkie 77-68-70—215
Jon Mathias 70-74-73—217
Brian Lee 74-71-73—218
Dakota Hunter 71-75-72—218
Scott Sullivan 74-68-76—219
John Obrien 69-77-74—220
Will Sullivan 73-69-78—220
Robert Dargan 73-75-73—221
Lee Gronkiewicz 76-74-71—221
Zach McLain 77-74-70—221
Donald Taylor 75-73-77—225
Stan Rawl 74-75-76—225
David Dargan 82-74-71—227
Herman Belton 79-77-72—228
Kendall Wallace 72-79-79—230
Cheney Connell 75-80-75—230
Fulton Jones 83-72-75—230
Blake Weinbach 76-77-78—231
Cole Krantz 72-79-80—231
Ryan Cambell 76-79-77—232
John Tucker 77-79-76—232
Thomas Fox 81-78-74—233
Darryl Phillips 81-77-76—234
Charlie Beiers 75-77-84—236
Eric Nord 77-78-82—237
Tyler McBride 80-78-80—238
William Buzhardt 78-81-84—243
Jeremiah Holmes 79-85-84—248
Scott Lucas 80-86-83—249
Senior Division
x-David Collins 71-70-74—215
Brad Krapfel 69-74-72—215
Dan Sullivan 74-70-72—216
Bob Edens 67-76-76—219
Walter Odiorne 78-77-74—219
David Lovit 70-78-74—222
Rich Houghton 76-74-74—224
Alan Gibson 73-76-80—229
Ken Taylor 71-78-81—230
Danny Stubbs 77-76-79—232
Hueng Kim 78-76-78—232
x-denotes won playoff
Super Senior Division
Jimmy Martin 71-70-75—216
Robin Alley 70-79-71—220
Balbir Minhas 78-73-77—228
Donald Chadwick 73-77-82—232
John Cottrell 74-79-81—234
Mike Calkins 81-76-78—235
Andrew Hackney 80-76-81—237
Professional Division
Burke Cromer 65
Rohan Allwood 72
Pat Quigley 80
