From Gregg DeWalt, AlabamaGolfNews.com
Insane! Unreal! That’s how coaches and players described the 13-under-par 59 Chloe Ruble posted at a high school tournament at Canebrake Golf Club, located near Athens, Alabama, shattering the old course record of 62.
A senior at Lindsay Lane Christian Academy, headed to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the fall, Ruble was 9-under through nine holes on the way to shattering the course record from the red tees which is believed to be an Alabama High School Athletic Association record.
From the red tees, Canebrake measures 4,882 yards with a slope of 119 and a 68.7 rating. It’s the home course for PGA Tour member Lee Hodges. Fellow Tour pro Nick Dunlap frequently plays there, as well when he is home in Huntsville.
Ruble set the tone for the round, when she drove the first green and made a lengthy eagle putt. She quickly followed with birdies on Nos. 2 and 3, and then rolled in another long eagle putt after driving the green on the short par-4 fourth hole to go 6-under.
“After the first hole I thought, ‘just keep it going,’” Ruble said. “After I made my first par, I thought maybe that was when it was going to simmer down and it would be back to normal.”
Nothing was normal when she birdied the next three holes. Ruble missed a birdie putt to go 10-under through nine holes and she settled for a 9-under 27 on the front side.
“When I got to the back nine, I wondered how low I could go?”
Ruble added a couple of birdies to get to 11-under with two holes to play. A birdie at No. 17 positioned the high school senior for a run at 59.
“When we got to the last hole, I told myself that if I made birdie I could shoot in the 50’s. It didn’t seem real. If you had told me that before the round, I would not have believed you.”
The 18th hole at Canebrake is an uphill par 5 and provided yet another birdie for Ruble, who hit 17 greens in regulation.
“I honestly was nervous the whole round. I was shaking the whole time. I don’t know what my heart rate was.”
The other players in her group shot 67, 68 and 69 respectively, but lost to Ruble by eight shots.
Ruble admitted shooting such a low number was unexpected. In her previous tournament she had posted rounds of 76-80, in a weekend tournament at the RTJ Golf Trail’s Hampton Cove.
Reprinted with permission from Gregg Dewalt, Editor of Alabama Golf News.
