by Malcolm Butler
Cart path only.
The three most dreaded words for any Sunday afternoon golfer.
Perhaps the only thing that is more alarming is combining that with “water on 16 holes”.
Those were just some of the obstacles that faced our motley crew during the 24th annual Robert Trent Jones Shootout held at Hampton Cove in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our group — most hailing from north Louisiana — has been traveling to Alabama every summer since 1999 in an attempt to tame the game of golf. So far we have failed miserably at that, but won in so many other ways.
We have created an annual pilgrimage that we all look forward to and that has become more than just 72 holes of average golf. It’s become a bonding experience for a group of friends that have a lot more grey on their heads (those who still have hair) and in their beards than we did when this tradition first began.
Although this was the 27th straight year of our trip, it took us until year No. 4 to began the RTJ Shootout, a competition where we play for a little bit of money and a whole lot of bragging rights … oh, and our traveling trophy nicknamed Clinchy).
One streak continued this year: our defending champion failed to repeat.
Brandon “The Falcon” Norris had to hand over Clinchy following the end of Sunday’s fourth and final round. Almost a quarter of a century without a repeat champion thanks to the brilliance of the Charter Membership Committee (CMC) punishing the defending champion by slicing their handicap significantly the following year. It’s worked.
Yours truly played bad golf for four days. Two years removed from winning my second title in 2023, the pas two RTJ Shootouts have seen me hit more balls in the water and miss more three-foot putts than one person should have to endure.
Fore!
However, there was some pretty good golf from some others this year.
Sunday’s final day saw a showdown in the championship flight as Ben Haddox, Scott Walker and Chris Weego dueled it out down the stretch. And as any good tournament should, it came down to the final hole on The River Course: a 365-yard par 4 that boasts water running down the entire left side of the fairway.
While the other three groups were already done and sitting in the clubhouse cooling off from what was the hottest day of the trip, the trio of Scott, Ben, and Chris were separated by just mere strokes as they stood on the tee box on No. 18.
Ben’s chance to claim his second title — the other came in 2018 at the same location — was dampened when his tee shot found the water. Now it was down to two.
Scott was up a stroke with his ball on the green. Weego’s approach shot had found the fringe, but he promptly rolled in about a 30-foot putt for birdie — his fourth of the day and eighth of the week — to put all the pressure squarely on Scott’s shoulders.
Keep in mind we have never had a tie. And our tiebreaker isn’t the best format (in fact, after this year we may need to see about changing it). Sunday’s best round would win a tiebreaker, if it came down to that.
So that meant Scott needed to ultimately sink his final putt. Scott would joke later that if he had known the putt was to win or lose him his fourth title, he may not have sank it quite as calmly. But he did.
The final standings saw Scott earn the 2025 RTJ Shootouot by one stroke over Chris with a total of just three strokes separating the top three golfers in the 2025 RTJ Shootout.
It may not be PGA quality golf and we may never be mistaken for professional golfers, but each year we head towards Bama with one thing on our minds: win Clinchy.
And for everyone besides Scott, there is always next year.
