By Jed Blackwell, Associate Editor-Publisher

Sunday was a wild day at Saluda Valley.

The final round of the Earl Wooten Invitational was tight, a bunch of names were in contention, and nobody could seem to make a move.

Nobody in the championship flight, that is.

Brandon Masters fired a final-day 65 for the win, crashing the championship flight.

There, perennial contender Josh Branyon and Scott Pitts had shared the first-round lead with a 68, one shot ahead of Steven Reid and Davidson Reynolds, with Nick Poss another shot back and the trio of Brian Davidson, Thomas Nielsen, and Perry Hartin three back of that.

A sizzling Saturday, with eight great players within five shots of the lead.

And on Sunday, not a single one of them could find a red number. Hartin shot even-par, Branyon and Davidson each shot 73. Those were the best scores from the final flight.

The guys behind them, and Masters in particular, were a different story. Aside from Masters’ 65, Ty Pendley and DJ Foust both shot 70, and Brandon Pearson shot 71 to give the first flight a crowd at the top as well.

In the end, though, Masters’ total of 139 vaulted him into the overall win, ahead of Branyon by two shots. 

Masters said chasing, and not knowing who or what number is the target, was a strange feeling.

“It’s very uneasy,” he said. “Especially when you know you’re playing good, and you don’t know what the guys behind you on the course are doing.”

One hole changed Masters’ thoughts from uncertainty to hope.

“I didn’t really think I had a chance until I eagled 14 to get to 5-under,” he said. “When I was in the fairway on 15, I talked to a guy I know who said the group in the lead were all in the over par range. I knew there was a chance, but you don’t know how anybody else is playing. And you can’t really focus on that anyway. Especially with a guy like Josh, who’s won this a bunch, you expect him to fire something, especially out here. So I didn’t really worry about what anybody was doing too much, I just went out and tried to shoot a number.”

That number on 14 was a 2, and helped springboard Masters to the win.

“It’s a driveable par-4, and I pulled it a little left of the green and it was sitting in the rough,” he said. “In my head, I was thinking just get it close, get a birdie, and get out of here. I had a spot picked out, and I hit that spot just as perfect as you could ask for, and it chased on down to the hole. I made a lot more putts today than I did yesterday, and just kept my head down and kept grinding through it.”

Masters was happy to have his name on the trophy.

“It feels pretty good,” he said. “A lot of big names have won this golf tournament. Any time you can have the opportunity to even come close to winning it, it’s a good feeling.”

Branyon got a first place, winning the championship flight, with Pitts second and Hartin third. Pendley was second in the first flight, just ahead of Pearson, who beat Foust on a scorecard playoff.

Jamie Reese won the second flight with a 148, two shots ahead of CW Crawford with Mike Hartin third. 

Ricky Brown won the third flight in a scorecard playoff over Chris Zorn, with Jeff Caldwell third. Chris Heintze won the fourth flight, two shots ahead of Ben Callaham. Ballenger Harris finished third. 

Robby Reach took a scorecard playoff over Chris Kerr for the fifth flight title, with Tripp Jordan third. 

Phil Genther stuck his approach to five feet and made a birdie on the first playoff hole to win the only on-course playoff of the day in the Senior Division championship flight. Genther took the win over Rick Freeze and Randall Bell, with all shooting 145 in regulation play.

Jim Farmer won the Senior first flight at 147, with Todd Garrett second and Ricky Capps third. The second flight went to Scott Durham in a scorecard playoff over Todd Syracuse. Tommy Ivester was third.

Steve Graham won the Legend’s Division title with a 148, one shot ahead of Turtle Hiott, with Wayne Rogers third. In the first flight, Mike Rogers shot 157 to win, with Mike Dortch second and Buster Wooten third.

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