2023 Tennessee East Local Finals Golf Tournament

The course at WindRiver was designed by Jack Nicklaus and is the first Audubon course in Tennessee and overlooks Tellico Lake with the Great Smoky Mountains on the horizon.  It was in pristine condition, had brutal rough and one year old Prism Zoysia greens.  Perfect weather conditions completed the scene for our year end finals. 

Division 1 Newly promoted to D1 Anthony Stout shot 82/87 to win over new member Matt Harris on the par 72 WindRiver difficult layout. 

Division 2 had Johnny Pierce (D2 Player of the year for us) and Mike Wilkins match 81’s on day 1 only to be paired together again and shoot matching 83’s day 2.  Johnny took the win beating Mike in a playoff on the first playoff hole.  Todd Holmes almost pulled off a comeback shooting the low round on Sunday (80) to finish 3rd one stroke back. 

Division 3 had Dan Mitchell leading by two shots after day 1 over Bryan Packer, but then Dan played a superb round on Sunday carding an 83 to take the win easily. 

Division 4 Frontrunner Rodney Oden was leading by 3 shots after day 1 (89), but 4 players were within 4. Rodney followed that up with a terrific 87 on day 2 to seal the win over Paul Harris who also shot 87 on day 2. 

Division 5 had Emmett Warner take home the trophy shooting 97/100 as the sole competitor in Div 5. 

SR NET was close as only 3 strokes separated the first four players after day 1.  Mike Wilkins was leading with a net 75, but day 2 had two players Paul Harris and Ronnie Bennett start strong by shooting sub-par front nine 34’s (net) temporarily exchanging leads.  Mike Wilkins however shot a net even par back nine to hold on for the eventual win at +8 two day total over Ronnie Bennett who placed 2nd one stroke back at +9, and Dan Mitchell 3rd at +11. 

Players of the year 2023 

D1 was awarded to Nathan Frazier (not present at Finals) 

D2 was won by Johnny Pierce by winning the finals and overtaking Jerry Burrell and Todd Holmes. 

D3 was won by Daniel England (promoted earlier in the year from D4).  Randy Redden 2nd. 

D4 was a runaway by Paul Harris though a strong finish by Rodney Oden made it a lot closer. 

D5 was won by Robbie Carlton (not present at Finals) followed closely by Emmett Warner. 

Senior Net was won by Mike Wilkins by winning the local finals and overtaking Paul Harris.