The True Story

From the Commercial Appeal:

It began to unravel on the 15th tee.

Not because of a shank into the trees or a hook into the drink, but because of a seemingly innocuous question.

"I shouldn't have asked," Bobby Hudson said. "I had been playing great all day."

Hudson's inauspicious inquiry affected his play.

He lost a 3-stroke lead after a bogey at No. 15 and double bogey at No. 16 and ended the final round of the Memphis Golf Association Amateur tournament tied at 1-under par with Brice Bailey, who shot a 3-under par 68 for the day.

Bailey finished the playoff with a par while Hudson stumbled to a double-bogey, allowing Bailey to claim the tournament title for the second consecutive year.

"(The win) feels really good because I didn't want anyone to come in and beat me," said Bailey, who was 2-over par coming into the final round at Ridgeway. "It feels really good because I played wild the first two days."

Bailey, who plays for Ole Miss, said he worked with his coach early in the morning to straighten out his game. He focused on improving his hole-to-hole strategy.

It worked, because on No. 4, a 406- yard, par-4 "something clicked," he said. With the tees advanced in the box, Bailey nailed his initial shot to within two feet of the pin. The eagle erased a bogey on No. 3. He would also birdie holes 7, 11 and 16.

"The last two days I was just trying to survive," said Bailey, who plans to turn pro after the summer. "I had never hit that badly and still been in a golf tournament. Yesterday was the toughest (round). Today was a shot easier."