VIS golfer, Blake Collyer, has won the 67th Annual Cotton State Invitational at Bayou DeSiard Country Club in Monroe, Louisiana.
On Bayou DeSiard Country Club’s par 3, No. 15 hole tee box, Blake Collyer unleashed the shot of a lifetime by landing the ball one inch past the flag with a backspin that rolled it right into the hole for a hole-in-one. That the perfect shot put Collyer up 3 strokes heading into the 16th hole at the Invitational event on Sunday.
Collyer and American, Paul Gonzales tied the next hole to give Collyer the Cotton States Championship 3 and 2.
Collyer felt good about the 15th hole due to his placement of the ball on the same hole in the semi-final round against Luke Long on Saturday afternoon.
“I had the exact same distance to the pin yesterday and I hit it to about two feet,” Collyer said. “As soon as I hit it (tee shot on 15), I felt pretty good about it and it made it into the hole.”
The hole-in-one was Collyer’s second of his career, but the first time that he had accomplished the feat in a tournament.
Gonzales and Collyer battled neck-and-neck through the front nine of the course in the Championship match, with both golfers even entering the back nine of the course.
Collyer birdied holes 10, 12, 14 and 16 to add to his spectacular eagle on the 15th hole.
Overshadowed by the hole-in-one on 15 was a putt made by Collyer on hole 11 to tie that hole with Gonzales. Collyer’s third shot on hole 11 laid the ball on the fringe of the green, over 45 feet from the hole.Collyer proceeded to sink the putt from over 45 feet out to halve the hole with Gonzales and keep a one-up lead heading to hole 12.
Collyer’s proud parents were up at all hours of the night following the breathtaking performance online.
“As soon as I finished, there was already a message from mum,” Collyer said.
“It is already 1:30am tomorrow morning back home so mum and dad were watching the scores on the internet which is nice.”
Fellow VIS golfer, Kyle Michel, picked up medallist honours with rounds of 69 and 69. Michel lost in the quarters of match play but followed up to caddy for Blake Collyer in his victorious round.
