Ashley Gilliam with her School Days plaque. (Photo provided by Marshall Gilliam)
Entering the final hole of match play, Coffee County rising sophomore Ashley Gilliam got an eagle on the 18th hole to win the Tennessean/Metro Parks School Days Golf Tournament on Thursday. The win by Gilliam, a Mississippi State commitment, came after Gilliam erased a 2 hole deficit on the front nine in the 92nd annual tournament. The School Days is the state’s longest continuous golf tournament and the most prestigious junior amateur tournament in Tennessee.
Gilliam shot a 6 under par 66 in Tuesday’s qualifying round to advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinals and guarantee herself a medal. In Thursday’s match play quarterfinal, Ashley won 7 and 6 in the morning match before an 8 and 6 win in the semifinal match. Both matches were ended after 12 holes.
Gilliam used a pair of birdies on holes 8 and 9 to draw even against Angelina Chan in the finals. Chan regained a 1 stroke lead through 15 holes before Gilliam tied the match again with a par putt on 16. The pair remained tied heading to 18 where Gilliam drove the par 5 in 2 to give her an eagle putt for the championship.
