Chandler, Jones, Watkins and Gale win Inaugural Bill Bagwell Golf Tournament

Pictured: The winning team in the Bill Bagwell Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit Shore History was (l-r) Jim Gale, Sinjin Jones, Bill Chandler and Tom Watkins.

Bill Chandler may be a bit past his prime at 76, but he’s still got game when it comes to golf, winning the longest drive contest in a field that included mostly younger golfers in the Bill Bagwell Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society held Friday at the Eastern Shore Yacht & Country Club.

“At my age, I was as proud of winning the longest drive contest as I was the fact my team won the tournament,” said Chandler afterwards, noting his team also won the inaugural Bagwell Memorial tournament last year.

There could be no more appropriate golfer than Chandler to capture both honors as he was a lifelong friend of Bagwell’s. In their youth Chandler tried to get Bagwell to play golf, but Bagwell preferred boating and had a deep love of history, given that he could trace his ancestors back to Henry Bagwell, who was on the Sa Venture when it wrecked in Bermuda in 1609 and then made his way to the Eastern Shore on the Deliverance. Henry Bagwell was the first clerk of court in Northampton County.

Chandler’s team, certainly aided by Sinjin Jones, winner of the past eight club championships, plus the current senior winner club champion, Tom Watkins, and Jim Gale, posted a 59 in the advanced best ball format to edge the team of Jeff Kelly, Dustin Aigner, Clay Wardius and John Graham by a shot.

Finishing third with a 61 was the foursome of Devin Smith, Dustin Skees, Richard Busher and Terry Higbee.

Lee Stevenson won closest to the pin with a shot 14’4” from the pin on hole number 9. He was exactly one foot closer than a shot by Tammy Mason of the Weichert Realty team, the major sponsor of the tournament.

Hillary Wilson, executive director of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society for the past 10 years, said  Bagwell, who passed away two years ago at the age of 75, was a major force for the Eastern Shore Historical Society. “ He was a longtime board member and a past vice president. He loved history and and was instrumental in our mission of preserving Eastern Shore history.”

Bill Bagwell’s wife, Claudia, thanked the golfers for their support of Shore History prior to the start of the tournament. The golfers also needed to be up on their history as a series of questions on a separate scorecard required answers that were embedded in a series of posters at various tees on the course.