By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Tony Byerly has long been associated with area amateur golf success, and particularly with the Southwick Amateur.
He has won the decades-old event more than one-third of the times it has been contested.
“I still play,” Byerly said. “I’ve played competitive golf my whole life.”
The latest victory came July 11-12 when he prevailed by one stroke at Southwick Golf Course.
In the 38 editions of the tournament, Byerly has won 13 times.
“I grew up playing the Southwick Amateur,” he said.
In recent years, he holds another connection to the tournament because he’s the general manager of the course.
Byerly shot rounds of 64 and 66 for a 130 total and a one-stroke winning margin. The runner-up was Barron Walker with rounds of 68 and 63.
Walker’s final round began with three consecutive birdies and then a hole-in-one on the par-3 fourth hole. Walker, who plays out of Stoney Creek Golf Club, hit the ace from about 140 yards away.
But Walker never caught up to Byerly, who had a birdie on No. 3 and then, after witnessing Walker’s hole-in-one, drained a putt from about 25 feet away for a birdie on the fourth hole.
Byerly’s lead grew with another long birdie putt on No. 17 before Walker closed with a birdie on the last hole.
Robert Trent (69, 67—136) placed third followed by past multi-time champion Tanner Gross (67, 70—137), while Adam Hamlett (68, 71—139), Nathan Willis (69, 71—140), and Bruce Newsome (69, 71—140) rounded out the championship flight.
Flight winners were Kenny Wilson (first flight, 140), Shane Hamlett (second flight, 146), and Reid Faucette (third flight, 161). There were 49 entrants.
The Southwick Amateur wasn’t contested in 2025 because of a greens renovation.
Byerly, 51, is a Western Alamance alum. He also has been general manager at Brookwood Golf Course in Whitsett near the Alamance County/Guilford County line. He started the Brookwood Amateur in 1998.
He said he doesn’t play in as many local tournaments as he used to, but he’s often involved in events in the Pinehurst area, the North Carolina mountains, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
“I play a bunch of two-man tournaments,” he said.
