May 24—University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer Braedon Wear concluded a dominant three-round performance with a 5-under-par 66 to finish off a wire-to-wire win at the Signal Mountain Invitational on Sunday.
Wear’s 54-hole total of 16-under 197 was seven shots better than runner-up Ryan Terry, who also closed with a 66. Third-place Rosario Falzone (66) at 6 under and Mikey Feher (68) at 1 under were the only other players in the championship flight to finish under par for the tournament.
“I drove it so well. I hit a lot of really good drives,” Wear said. “I never took a penalty shot and hit my irons really well and was able to roll in some putts. Everything was clicking.”
Wear was a shot off the tournament record set by Stephan Jaeger, who was a UTC junior when he shot 17 under in 2011. Jaeger is currently the money leader for the Korn Ferry Tour.
“I know when Stephan shot that, the course was playing much softer than it was this weekend,” Signal Mountain Golf and Country Club head professional Paul Helle said.
Wear’s dominance started Friday, when he grabbed a two-shot lead with a 66, and he was a shot better with a 65 on Saturday.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.