Reflecting on the Fanrun Dream Team’s Second Outing

Egwani Farms

By Tucker Harlin

The Fanrun Dream Team convened for its second scramble tournament this season at Egwani Farms Golf Course for the More Important Issues charity golf tournament with proceeds going to Special Olympics in the Knoxville area.

Late August to mid March is generally my offseason from golf courses, and it had been close to two months since I last hit a golf ball before Saturday. All that to say I was hopeful my short game could provide for the group, and it did in many instances.

Rain wasn’t the factor we thought it would be on Saturday. We had a drizzle going on the last three holes, but it held off for a lot of the round. The course was damp in many places, but not swamped with water.

Sam is a tick above myself, Houston, and Julia off the tee, so we relied heavily on the “mid day cohost” to deliver there. If Sam had a rough shot off the tee, Mr and Mrs Vol Rumor Mill generally provided fairway finders.

We all thought we played a nice round by the end of it, but we could tell the competition was fierce. To give you an idea, Jared Dickey and a team of former BaseVols was one of several fierce competitors we were up against.

I don’t know who ended up winning, but the clubhouse leader was sitting at -22 when we left. The tournament was a shotgun start with a bogey max to keep the pace up.

Anyway, here’s a hole-by-hole breakdown of our performance:

HOLE 18: BIRDIE

We started our day off on a Par 5 with water, not the easiest way to begin a scramble tournament.

Houston hooked his drive into the water while Julia and I hit into the tall grass on the hill to our right. Thankfully, Sam’s drive didn’t quite make it to the pond we were supposed to hit over.

Sam once again delivered by sticking us under a tree to the left of the green. Houston and I both hit tremendous chips, and I finished the job by sinking a putt to start our round with a birdie.

HOLE 1: PAR

The Julia fairway finders were critical on this hole.

Sam hit his drive to the left but in the trees so we opted for a better lie. None of us found our way onto the green on the second shot, so we took Julia’s approach again because it was a better lie than the rest of ours.

Sam cleaned up for us on with his chip and putt on the green, but it would’ve been nice to get on the green in two.

HOLE 2: PAR

My drive wound up being the best on this complicated Par 5, but the lie was above our legs and next to some trees.

Thankfully, Houston got us across the water to set up a chip. The best of the chips were mine and Sam’s, but both of us flew beyond the green.

Landon and Caleb stopped by for a brief minute to interview me about how the round was going, and when it ended I ran down the hill to save us a par on a putt from the fringe of the green.

HOLE 3: BOGEY

This was our worst hole of the day.

Both Sam and I hit our drives hard but not in the direction we would have liked, but Houston was able to set us up nicely in the middle of the bending fairway.

None of us made it on the green on our second shot, so Sam put us in good position for a chip.

I hit my chip into the best spot for a putt, but none of us made the putt. I had the perfect line to knock it in the hole, but I lipped out badly to move us up to even on the day.

HOLE 4: BIRDIE

Hole 4 was our first Par 3 of the day, and we handled it really well.

Well, Sam handled it really well.

Solo Birdie Sam got us on the green for a makeable putt in one stroke, and Sam holed the putt himself.

HOLE 5: PAR

Sam started Hole 5 for us with a drive that sat in the left side of the fairway within 100 yards of the hole.

I used my trusty 56-degree wedge to stick us on the green for a manageable putt, but what followed was severe disappointment.

All four of us missed a birdie putt that could have put us at our best score of the day, and all of said misses were on very unfortunate lip outs.

It also didn’t help that a group of yellowjackets tried to assault me and Sam in the cart and wouldn’t leave us alone on the tee boxes, forcing me to look like a “cartoon character” to Houston. At least we weren’t stung like some people.

HOLE 6: BIRDIE

From what I recall, Sam started and finished Hole 6 for us with his drive and a putt from just off the green.

I got ahold of my 7-iron and drew it just shy of the green for about 180 yards to set Sam’s putt up.

We were at our highest mark to that point.

HOLE 7: BIRDIE

Myself and Mr and Mrs Vol Rumor Mill set out with the goal of hitting fairway finders off the tee while Sam channeled his inner Bryson DeChambeau and hit his tee shot across the pond.

Sam barely cleared the water, so we set ourselves up for a chip feet from the fringe of the green.

Julia put a chip close to the hole and ultimately knocked in the putt, lowering our score to -3.

HOLE 8: PAR

Julia’s tee shot had us sitting just shy of the green on our second Par 3 of the morning.

Unfortunately, none of us actually made our way onto the green in one so we had to chip instead.

Sam finished the hole with a par.

HOLE 9: PAR

It wasn’t our best work, but everybody contributed something to the par on the end of the front nine.

Though his lie wasn’t ideal, we stuck with Sam’s tee shot because it gave us the most ideal view of the hole. Houston then hit his approach shot left but just shy of the green, still chipping distance away from the hole.

I hit a chip to give us a manageable putt, and Julia sunk it.

Teamwork makes the dream work!

HOLE 10: BIRDIE

Sam hit his drive to the right fringe of the green on this Par 4, setting us up for a rare chance at an eagle.

Unfortunately, none of us were able to cash in on the eagle putt, but we won’t complain about a birdie.

HOLE 11: EAGLE

This Par 5 was played much differently than usual.

Instead of hitting a tee shot and hitting over water to set up a third shot, we had to tee off past the water due to rough conditions on the normal tee box.

So basically, a Par 5 was playing like a short Par 4.

I struck my 3-Wood very well to set us up with a chip just to the left and in front of the green. Julia put the chip on the green, and I holed out the putt right in front of a photographer.

HOLE 12: BIRDIE

We went with Sam’s drive for our tee shot on Hole 12.

Houston put us on the green with a nice chip, and for the second consecutive hole, yours truly finished out the hole with a putt.

At this point, we were sitting at -7.

HOLE 13: BIRDIE

Solo Birdie Sam did all of the work on this one.

We moved to -8 on the day.

HOLE 14: PAR

This challenging Par 3 ended our four-hole streak of under-par scores.

Julia put us on the green off the tee, but none of us were able to sink a birdie putt.

Spain without the “S.”

HOLE 15: BIRDIE

Mr and Mrs. Vol Rumor Mill did everything on this hole for our final birdie of the day.

Julia put us in the fairway off the tee and Houston stuck us just shy of the green with an approach shot.

Julia and Sam opted to chip, but I decided to try my hand at a putt on this hole. I didn’t make it, but in doing so I gave Houston a read.

He sank the putt, and we moved to -9.

HOLE 16: PAR

I don’t recall a ton from this hole, but I do remember having to work through some difficult lies in order to salvage a par.

Sam hit a drive into some thicker grass, and that wound up being our best angle at the hole. Sam and I got ahold of our approaches, but we were unable to find our way on the green.

We were very fortunate to make that par.

HOLE 17: PAR

Ending on a Par 3 is always a bit of a challenge, and that’s exactly how we ended this round.

Sam and Julia both flew the green while I got wet, so we went with Julia’s angle for a chip.

Sam and I both hit rolling chips that neared the hole, and ultimately Sam closed out the day with a par putt.

Overall, the Fanrun Dream Team was pleased with what it accomplished in its second ever outing, improving three strokes from -6 to -9 from one outing to the next.

We won’t forget about this when the Fanrun Open comes along next spring.