Halfway through the final round of the Jimmy Evatt Memorial Texas-Two Man at The Fort Club it looked like the team of Nick Biershenk and Brad Sill would cruise to a win.

“We were five under at the turn and feeling pretty good,” said Brad Sill. “We both were putting well and if I didn’t make a birdie Nick did,” he said.

The leaders knew they were playing well enough to keep the lead among the teams they could see, but that left more than a few other duos they didn’t know about.

“It is always tough to figure out what is going on in these tournaments,” said Biershenk, “If you are leading, or think you are, you are never satisfied with your score you always think you need one more birdie,” he said.

Sill and Biershenk held the first round lead after shooting a 61. The team of Blake Blizzard and William Nottingham shot an opening round 62.

After the hot start Sill and Biershenk cooled off on the back nine, but still felt they were in good shape.

“We made a bogey and you can’t make bogey’s in this format and expect to win” said Sill.

The two got a birdie to make up for the bogey and finished their round with a 64 for a two day total of 125. It was better than any of the teams in the championship flight.

They thought they had won.

The team of John Ivestor and Dennis Beauford opened the 36 hole tournament with a 65 and just missed being in the championship flight.

When they matched the leaders 61 in the final round the two were the leaders in the clubhouse.

In most flighted events it is rare for a team from a lower flight to make up enough ground to win the tournament so when Biershenk and Sill brought in their scorecards they were surprised.

“We looked on the board and we saw a team in the first flight shot a 61 and we got a little nervous,” said Biershenk.

Ivester and Beauford carded their 11-under par round in difficult conditions as rain and wind became an issue late in the round,

“They must have played great because it wasn’t as easy as it was yesterday. I”m glad we got one more birdie,” said Sill.

Biershenk and his brother Robbie had won the Evatt tournament before. This was Sill’s first win in the event and kept his name at the top of a leaderboard as it seems to have been since the summer.

Sill won the Spartanburg County Amateur and the Upstate Amateur. He also helped the Spartanburg team win the Cyder Cup.

“I have been playing well, but having a really good partner is important, Nick’s game and my game compliment each other,” he said.

Earlier this year Sill teamed up with Reed Bentley to win a local qualifying tournament to advance to the USGA Four-Ball championship next May at the Plainfield Country Club in Edison, NJ.

The winning team will not be together in the next two-man event later this year in the Upstate at Boscobel,.

Biershenk is teaming up with Brandon Masters while Sill and Bentley will get kind of a warm up event for the national tournament.

Blizzard and Nottingham finished second in the championship flight 2-shots behind the winners. The team of Chris Tedards and Peyton Shore finished in third place.

Flight Winners included : First Flight – Dennis Beauford, John Ivester, Second Flight – Jeremy and Calahan Keever, Third Flight – John and Brandon Masters, Fourth Flight – Tee Timmerman, Ryan Franklin. Fifth Flight – Bo Haggstrom, Tyler Plumley. Sixth Flight – Logan Pendergrass, Edward Wallace.

This was the 18th annual event organized by The Fort’s Director of Golf Jeff Evatt held in memory of his father.

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“We knew how we stood, but