Former TTU golfer Scott Stallings. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Tech Sports Information)

Former Tennessee Tech golfer Scott Stallings recently recorded another top 25 finish and has moved into the top 74 in earnings and FedEx Cup points on the PGA tour.

Stallings, a 2007 graduate of TTU, fired a final-round 67, the lowest round of the day, in the Valero Texas Open to finish tied for 11th. Earlier in the season, he finished third in the Transitions Championship, playing on a sponsor’s exemption.

The 11th-place paycheck raised Stallings’ 2011 money total to $521,661, and gave him 266 FedEx points, ranking 75th and 74th, respectively on the tour.

Stallings has played in nine events on tour this season, and has made three cuts. In addition to his third and 11th-place finishes, he finished 42nd in the Puerto Rico Open.

Stallings played parts of the past four seasons on the Nationwide Tour. He played in 28 Nationwide events in 2010, making 19 cuts and winning $127,606.

This season on the PGA tour, Stallings ranks better than the tour average in several key stats, including scoring average and driving distance.

Heading into first round of The Heritage tournament on April 21, Stallings stood 11th on tour in driving distance, averaging 298.4 yards on 42 measured drives. The tour average is 285.6 yards.

FAIRFIELD GLADE-The Tennessee Golf Association and The City of Crossville welcome exciting changes to events connected with the 2010 Golf Capital of Tennessee Women’s Open, tournament officials say.

With so many spectators lining the 18th green at last year’s Open, tourney officials are challenging spectators to again attend the final round of play and line the 18th green in support of the Championship contestants.

“Our target is to gather 1,000 spectators around the 18th green at Stonehenge Golf Club on Saturday, July 24, and create a day in Tennessee golf history,” said a tournament spokesperson.

The Women’s Open Championship is scheduled for July 22-24 at Stonehenge. To help spur on the final round attendance record, spectators will be outfitted with official event t-shirts, distributed at the Women’s Open Reception on July 21.

The City of Crossville will host the reception for Championship contestants, the Fairfield Community and The City of Crossville, in place of previous years’ pro-am event. The reception will include live entertainment by the One Leg Up Jazz Band, a southern style dinner, and door prize drawings for contestants. The event is set for 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, July 21st and will be held at the Fairfield Glade Community Center.

Tickets for the reception can be purchased in advance for $15 by contacting Tammy French with the City of Crossville at 931-456-6632. Tickets will also be available at the door for $20.

“We hope you will join us as we kick off one great week of golf and competition as the City of Crossville welcomes the top women professional and amateur competitors from all around the world,” said Crossville Mayor J.H. Graham III.

About the Women’s Open Championship

Professionals and amateurs will compete in 54 holes of stroke play, with the field being cut to the low 60 scorers and ties after 36 holes.

This year’s field is expected to be more competitive than ever, with a new handicap reduction from 10 to 7, and the dropping of the “Tennessee only” amateur restriction of previous years. The champion will have her named engraved on the Tennessee Women’s Open Trophy and receive a replica trophy.  The low amateur will receive a crystal award and the top 10 low amateurs will receive medals and gift certificates to the Stonehenge golf shop.

Professionals will be competing for a $25,000 purse, with the low professional taking home $5,000.  Registration is open and will close at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 7th.

Admission to the Women’s Open Championship is free.  For more information,  visit www.tnwomensopen.com or call The Tennessee Golf Association @ 615-790-7600.

SENIOR OPEN WINNER-Old Hickory pro Harry Taylor (center) won the inaugural Tennessee Men's Senior Open championship at Stonehenge Golf Club in Fairfield Glade May 25-26. City of Crossville Mayor J.H. Graham III (left) and Marketing and Public Relations Director Billy Loggins presented Taylor with his $3,000 winner's share of the prize. Taylor's rounds of 70 and 69 (five under) were good enough to top pro Rob Long of Clarksville by a single stroke. Long made a second-round surge, with a tournament-low 67, to challenge Taylor down the stretch. Crossville amateur Eddie Wyatt was the low local player, tying for 16th at six-over.

FAIRFIELD GLADE-Old Hickory pro Harry Taylor fired two under-par rounds to win the inaugural Tennessee Men’s Senior Open championship at Stonehenge Golf Club here.

Taylor’s rounds of 70 and 69 (five under) were good enough to top pro Rob Long of Clarksville by a single stroke. Long made a second-round surge, with a tournament-low 67, to challenge Taylor down the stretch.

Taylor was the only player in the field to break par in both rounds of the tourney, held May 25-26. Long shot 73 in the opening round. Amateur Danny Green of Jackson was the first-round leader, firing a 69. He shot 76 in the second round to wind up tied for fifth at one-over par.

Only Taylor, Long and amateur Steve Golliher of Knoxville (-1) were under par for the tournament. Pro Will Brewer of Franklin was even par for the tourney, finishing alone in fourth. Green tied with pro Hunt Gilliland of Chattanooga for fifth at one-over.

Crossville amateur Eddie Wyatt was the low local player, tying for 16th at six-over.

Taylor’s winning score of 139 came in large part to a strong 33 on the back nine in the second round. He eagled the par five 10th, and recorded birdies on 13 and 17. He had a bogey on number 12 after shooting even-par on the front side. He took home $3,000 for his efforts. The City of Crossville served as the title sponsor for the tournament.

Long’s sparkling second-round effort included five birdies and no bogeys. He also shot a 33 on the back nine, and birdied the number one handicap hole at Stonehenge, the par-five 8th, on the front side.

The tournament was the first of four state championships that will be crowned in Cumberland County this year. The 31st TPGA Father-Son Championship is scheduled for June 19-20 at Stonehenge. The Golf Capital of Tennessee Women’s Open, sponsored by the City of Crossville, is set for July 22-24 at Stonehenge.

The state Team Championship, formerly known as the KDS Championship, will be held at Lake Tansi on July 26 and 27. That tournament will also be sponsored by the City of Crossville, and will honor the late Cookeville PGA pro Bobby Nichols.

Alan Brown

We golfers certainly love our game, don’t we? There’s that age-old story of a man playing a links course by the sea, getting so mad at his ineptness that he throws his clubs into the ocean, and then drowns trying to retrieve them.

That says a lot about the game and our love for it, but as much as we love the game, we still (like all sports people) occasionally like to make excuses about why we hit a bad shot or had a bad round. Fill in the blank with your favorite excuse–we all have one.

There’s an area golfer, though, who puts our excuse-making to shame. He’s a  young man who life has handed a pretty tough hand, but hasn’t allowed a life-threatening disease and daunting physical handicap to stop him from not only playing, but competing in the game he loves.

Losing a limb

Cookeville’s Allen Brown picked up the game in 2003 at age 22, in a company scramble, and like so many of us, was hooked. In February of the next year, he was diagnosed and hospitalized with what was thought to be just shin splints. Doctors discovered, though, the situation was much worse than that.

Three inches of Brown’s tibia had been destroyed by a type of cancer known as Ewing Sarcoma, which most commonly affects people aged 12-25, particularly males. Brown found out about his cancer on his 25th birthday.

He underwent four months of chemotherapy, and in July of 2004 doctors replaced part of the tibia with cadaver bone. That surgery was followed by six more months of chemo.

Brown stayed cancer-free for about two years, but the disease reared its ugly head again in his left collar bone and four months later in his right hip.  The treatment for the hip problem wound up being the amputation of his right leg.

Determined not to give up the game, Alan started the process of learning to play golf on one leg earlier this spring. Golf is tough enough with four sound limbs. Most of us who have played the other sports readily available in the Upper Cumberland would likely say golf is the most difficult of them all.

Brown says he spent countless hours just figuring out how to maintain his balance and subsequently, how to aim. He plays as a righty, and his right leg, the one he would plant his weight against on the backswing, is gone. Try that for a balancing act.

Including in learning this balancing act has been falling dozens of times, he said, and regaining his stamina has also been a challenge. Playing nine holes has been pretty taxing, Brown said, but the entire process has been coming along pretty well. His best score for nine holes has been a 42 on the par 36 Bell Acres track in Cookeville.

Alan and son Bradley (center, front) with Scramble Tour players

Continuing battle

Brown now faces another challenge over the next two months, undergoing a combination of chemo and stem cell therapy in his continuing battle against cancer. He will be at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville for the next two months.

He has been a part of the uppercumberlandgolf.com Scramble Tour this season, and will miss the rest of 2009 due to the treatment that is already underway. The Tour, through the efforts of Sean Monday, has presented Brown with gift cards and meal coupons from Crawdaddy’s West Side Grill, Chili’s, Cheddars, O’Charley’s, Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse, and Applebee’s to be used by family members while Alan is in the hospital. Members also donated to the cause.

Upper Cumberland Golf and the Scramble Tour wish Allen, his wife Shannon, and their children–Kaitlin, Jarrod and Bradley–well and hope for him good health and a quick return to golf. The Browns are in our thoughts and prayers.