W.E. Cole Cotton States: Blaine Hale vs. Garrett May in the Finals
Blaine Hale in action for the Oklahoma Sooners
(Oklahoma Athletics Photo)
MONROE, LA (July 30, 2016) -- The championship match of the 2016 W.E. Cole Cotton States will feature No. 12 Blaine Hail and No. 6 Garrett May. On Saturday at the Bayou Desiard Country Club each player survived quarterfinal and semifinal matches.
Hail, a sophomore at Oklahoma, reached the finals on the strength of a 19 hole win against 29-seed James Grierson in the quarters and then a 3&2 victory over No. 17 Draegen Majors. During his freshman year at Oklahoma Hall played in eight events with his best finish, a T6, coming in the spring at Oak Hills Invitational.
His opponent, Garrett May, hails from Big 12 rival Baylor. Also, a sophomore, May began his day with a 19 hole triumph over Trent Evans and then ended it with a 4&2 win against two-seed Blake Collyer in the semifinals.
During his freshman season at Baylor, May played in seven events and finished in the top-10 twice. His best finish was a tied for eighth at the Boarder Olympics.
The championship match will begin at 8:30 a.m. CDT.
ABOUT THE Cotton States Amateur
Originally played in 1949 as the Bayou
DeSiard Labor Day Golf Tournament, the
tournament's
name was changed to the Cotton States
Invitational in 1951 by the club's young head
professional, W. E. "Winnie" Cole. He felt that
the
name better reflected the main states that the
tournament's players originated from (and a
move
to
mid-summer made the name a necessity later
anyway). Little did Cole know that 27 years
later, in
1978, the event would be renamed again,
forever to
be known as the W. E. Cole Cotton States
Invitational Golf Tournament.
Past champions of this highly competitive, yet
festive
tournament include Don January and Hal
Sutton. Gil
Morgan, David
Toms and many other PGA Tour players have
also
competed. The tournament field field is limited
to 96
amateur
participants
having a verified USGA Handicap Index not
exceeding 0.0. Long a match play event, the
format was changed in 2021 to 72 holes of
stroke play.
View Complete Tournament Information