Playing the Boss – EA Sports Today

Lipscomb advances to the Calhoun County Match Play semifinals and plays his boss, McGatha. Rollins and Calvert meet in the other semifinal.

Calhoun County Match Play Results

The Calhoun County Match Play will determine the top 16 available players based on Calhoun County Tour season points. Listed with seeds. Periods end in parentheses.

FIRST ROUND

No. 1 Gary Wigington defeated. #16 (26) Zach Contris, 7&6
No. 9 (10) Randy Lipscomb def. No. 8 (9) Billy Thompson, 6&4
No. 5 (6) Ty Cole def. No. 12 (15) Chip Howell, 4&3
No. 4 (5) Jeremy McGatha def. #13 (16) Hunter Carr, 7&6
#3 (4) Chad Calvert def. No. 14 (20) Ott Chandler, 3&2
No. 11 (13) Nick Ledbetter defeated. No. 6 (7) Andrew Brooks, 4&2
No. 7 (8) Tanner Wells def. #10 Chase Hollingsworth, 3&1
No. 2 (3) John Rollins def. No. 15 (23) Jeff Noah, 1 lead (two additional holes)

QUARTERFINALS
Lipscomb def. Wigington 1 above (additional hole)
McGatha defeated. Cole, 4 up
Calvert def. Ledbetter, 1 above (additional hole)
Rollins defeated. Wells, 1 above

SEMIFINAL

Sunday
Lipscomb vs. McGatha, 10 a.m
Calvert vs. Rollins, 10:10 a.m

FINAL

Sunday, 1 p.m

By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today

ANNISTON – One thing in Sunday’s Calhoun County Match Play Championship semifinal game between Jeremy McGatha and Randy Lipscomb, one change … who’s boss.

Lipscomb, the No. 9 seed and 10th in the 2024 Calhoun County Tour points standings, will face his boss, the No. 4 seed (fifth in points), at 10 a.m

No. 3 (4) Chad Calvert will play No. 2 (3) John Rollins in the other semifinal, which begins at 10:10 a.m. at Anniston Municipal Golf Course.

The championship game begins at 1 p.m

The Calhoun County Match Play Championship selects the top 16 available players from the county tour points standings. Among those missing from this year’s tournament was runner-up Brennan Clay, who is recovering from a work-related injury that affected his swing.

Clay attended the play on Saturday. The avid Auburn fan watched the Tigers’ game at Missouri on his iPad while following McGatha.

Lipscomb made it to Match Play for the first time on Sunday. The one-time County Tour winner (2019, Silver Lakes) emerged from a group that included 2024 points champion and reigning Match Play champion Gary Wigington and perennial contender Ty Cole, who won this year’s Alabama Match Play championship Golf Association came second.

“Twig (Wigington) has probably won this thing about 15 times,” Lipscomb said. “I knew I probably had to beat him.

“He kicked me out about four years ago. I think he was 6 under through 15 holes. I played well, but you know.”

Lipscomb defeated No. 8 seed (9) Billy Thompson 6&4 in the first round, setting up a quarterfinal showdown with Wigington, and hit a 10-foot birdie putt on the final regulation hole to force additional holes.

Lipscomb and Wigington smoked shots from hole No. 1 but ran into trouble afterward. Lipscomb parried the extra hole and Wigington made a mistake.

“It was kind of ugly,” Lipscomb said. “We both hit great shots. We both pushed ourselves to the left. He chopped up two chips. I split one and chipped the second down to about 5cm.”

That set up the semifinal showdown with McGatha, who defeated No. 13 (16) Hunter Carr 7&6 and Cole by 4.

“I have to play boss,” Lipscomb said. “I don’t know if beating him is a good career move.”

Lipscomb is an industrial engineer at General Dynamics and McGatha is a manager of industrial engineering. They are both former college golfers, Lipscomb at Gadsden State and McGatha at Jacksonville State.

They played as teammates in one-on-one competitions.

“It’s going to be a fight,” McGatha said. “Me and Randy talk more about golf at work than work. He is a great employee. I don’t have to worry about him. He takes care of his things.

“Sometimes I call him and say, ‘Hey, what about this?’ Then we’ll talk about golf, but it’ll be fun. We are both competitors. He will want to spank my butt and I will want to spank his butt. That’s golf.”

McGatha said he played “consistently” on Saturday, posting nine birdies and one bogey in a total of 24 holes in two games.