Nottingham Maintains Slim 54 Hole Lead at the Tennessee Am

NASHVILLE, TN (August 10th, 2017) - Belle Meade Country Club’s first hole is a par five. For the second round in a row, William Nottingham, the 102nd Tennessee Amateur 36-hole leader, birdied No. 1. Nottingham made a double-eagle on No. 1 meaning the Clemson golfer is five-under-par on No. 1 this week. Related: Nottingham Loses Shots But Still Leads Tennessee State Am However, Nottingham soon fell to third place after bogeys on Nos. 2 & 4 left him three-under-par. While the three-time TGA champion was backtracking, Kevin Burns and Brayden Garrison each used an early birdie to share the lead at four-under par. Nottingham’s stint in third place was brief. A combination of back-to-back birdies on Nos. 6-7 from Nottingham and bogeys from Burns and Garrison, left Nottingham in front by two. Nottingham extended his lead to three after a starting the back-nine with a birdie on No. 10 to get to six-under-par. From there, the Kingsport native completed an impressive, but frustrating, stretch of eight holes. Nottingham had multiple good looks at birdie in his final eight holes but none of them found the bottom of the cup. Nottingham also had four testy par putts. He made them all finishing the third round with a two-under-par 70. With his mother as his caddie, Nottingham enters the final round with a one-stroke lead at six-under-par. While each member of the final group went through trials and tribulations, David Watts shot up the leaderboard with a four-under-par 68 to get to five-under-par for the championship. Watts’s impressive round leaves him in second place. Rounding out the final pairing is Swoboda who also carded a 68 to get into a tie for third. Rob Garland turned in the round of the day with a five-under-par 67 to climb into a tie for 10th place.