Future UTM golfer ‘survives’ tourney

Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 12:01 pm

Ben Reeves, a UT Martin golf signee, did not go to tribal council or use an immunity idol. Instead, he two-putted on the 18th hole and passed what he called a survival test at Black Creek Club in Chattanooga this past Thursday to win the 49th annual Tennessee Junior Amateur Championship.
After playing the second round of the tournament in the rain on Wednesday, Reeves and the tournament field battled on-and-off rain throughout the final round. Play was halted twice before the round was completed.
“It was a survival test,” Reeves said shortly after winning his third consecutive tournament of the summer. “I decided to lay up and see what happened.”
UT Martin golf coach Jerry Carpenter, who was in Chattanooga watching Reeves and Tyler Guy, a fellow signee, said Reeves was on the green of the par five 18th hole in three and then won the tournament when he two-putted. “His first putt stopped about two-and-a-half feet from the hole and then he made the easy putt,” Carpenter said. “He was at the top of the green 70 feet from the hole when he hit that first putt.”
Reeves said he was going to be conservative when he returned to the course the second time. He double-bogeyed the 16th hole, but quickly recovered to play his game on the final two holes.
“I was just trying to stay patient,” Reeves said. “I knew when I came back out that it was too wet for anyone to make a run.”
Reeves shot a 2-over-par 74 to finish with a three round 209. He shot a 69 in the first round and a 66 in the second round.
Peyton Sliger, a Lee University signee, finished the tournament with a three-round 210 and was second, while UT-Chattanooga commitment, Stuart Thomas, tied Jack Smith with a three-round 212. Guy was tied for 16th with a three-round 217.
By winning the Tennessee Junior Amateur, Reeves qualified to play in the Tennessee Amateur in August at Cherokee Country Club, a par 70 Donald Ross course, in Knoxville. Published in The WCP 7.17.12