Ashley Gilliam wins longest final in Schooldays' 94-year history for third straight title

Ashley Gilliam and Kynadie Adams played neck and neck for 23 holes Thursday in the girls championship of the 2018 Tennessean/Metro Parks Schooldays Golf Tournament.

Their golf balls actually made contact on the second-to-last hole of the marathon match.

“She hit her shot to within three feet and I was in the rough,” said Gilliam. “I had to hit a really good shot because I knew she wasn’t going to miss hers. I hit it, it hit right by the hole, and then it hit her ball. She actually had to move hers so I could putt."

The longest match-play final in the tournament’s 94-year history (boys or girls) finally went to Gilliam after the 16-year-old Mississippi State commitment sank a seven-foot putt on the fifth playoff hole.  Adams proceeded to miss a comparable putt.

Gilliam became just the third female to win three times. Her mother, Jennifer Haley, won in 1989, 1990 and 1991, and Alexandra Farnsworth won in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Five boys have won the title three times, including Richard Eller, who won four straight from 1961-64.

No female has ever won four straight, though Gillam, a rising senor at Tullahoma, will have the opportunity as she’ll be eligible to play in next year’s tournament.   

“It was really intense, and I was down a lot in the match,” added Gilliam, who was down-2 after 12 holes. “I got it back to even at the turn and then got down by two again on the back nine. I made a few clutch birdie putts to get back to even, and I was one-up going into 18.”

Adams, making her Schooldays debut this week at McCabe, had a chance to win on the first playoff hole, but missed an 8-foot eagle putt on No. 2.

“I mean it’s never over until it’s in the hole, so I was just trying to do the best I could and maybe hope she missed,” added Gilliam, who birdied eight of the last 11 holes. “And she did.”

Clarksville's Patton Samuels won the boys championship

Samuels, a 14-year-old rising freshman at Clarksville Academy who competed in last year’s TSSAA Division II-A state tournament, defeated 17-year-old Lane Hooper of Greenbrier 1-up to claim his first Schooldays title.

“I thought we were going to have to play some more holes,” Samuels said. “We were all square through I think 13, but I made two clutch birdies coming down the stretch.

“It was a grind.”

Maddox Crowder of Lafeyette defeated Jack Taylor 1-up to capture the 12-13 boys championship.

Thursday's results

BOYS

Semifinals – Patton Samuels d. Jack Morris 1-up; Lane Hooper d. Morgan Robinson d.  1-up
Finals – Samuels d. Hooper 1-up

12-13 division – Maddox Crowder d. Jack Taylor 1-up on 20 holes

GIRLS

Finals – Ashley Gilliam d. Kynadie Adams 1-up on 23 holes

Reach Michael Murphy at mfmurphy@tennessean.com, 615-259-8026, and on Twitter @Murph_TNsports.