Club chatter: Team Raiborn wins Chamber event

by Mark Raiborn
The Raiborn team recently placed first in a Rusk Chamber of Commerce sponsored golf scramble held on Saturday, July 6. Pictured left to right are Josh, Lily, Mark, Angela and Jacob Raiborn. Mark and Angela have owned and managed Birmingham Golf Course for over 20 years. The Raiborn team recently placed first in a Rusk Chamber of Commerce sponsored golf scramble held on Saturday, July 6. Pictured left to right are Josh, Lily, Mark, Angela and Jacob Raiborn. Mark and Angela have owned and managed Birmingham Golf Course for over 20 years.

The team of Mark Raiborn, Jacob Raiborn, Josh Raiborn and Lily Raiborn won the Rusk Chamber of Commerce Golf Scramble held Saturday, July 6 at Birmingham Golf Club.

The family team fired a 13 under par 59 to take the victory by a single shot. Jacob rolled in a 30 foot birdie putt on the final hole, which ended up being the distance.

This is the first time I’ve ever got to play n a tournament with all three of my kids. Jacob and Lily have always played, but Josh has just recently taken up the game. We had a lot of fun.

A pair of teams tied for second place at 12 under 60 and needed a sudden death playoff to determine a winner. Only one hole was needed, as the Tyler team of Cory Lemons, Christian Ladd, Jonathon Ladd and Jeremy Brown birdied hole #1 to take the victory.

Finishing in third place, by virtue of the playoff, were the squad of Roger Redden, Jack Woody, Shelby Piece and Charles Ray Peters.

I won closest to the hole on hole #6 with my shot ending up just three feet from the hole.

“I would like to thank all the teams that played and all the sponsors who made the event a success,” said tournament organizer Brandon Downs. “I also want to thank Birmingham Golf Club for all their help hosting the event.”

Sponsors for the tournament were Whataburger, who provided breakfast; Brookshire Bros., who provided lunch; Texas Farm Bureau for the putting green and pavilion; Brandon Downs of Edward Jones; Tejas Customs; Austin Bank; Austin Young State Farm; Downs Mowing and Mulching, Rollins Landscape, First Baptist Church-Rusk; S and S Properties; Anita Woodlee-Roach, CPA; Texas National Bank; Ally Bee’s Flowers; Affiliated Surveyors; TDT Yellow Pages; Randy Gorham, CPA; Drenda Halbert-Keller Williams Realty; Cherokee County Co-op; Tim Sansom-United Country and Brent Dickson.