COWAN TEAM STAYS ON TOP

Winners: Mike Cowan, Sean Cowan,
Aaron Kauk & Bret Matlock.

Following an opening round of 55, the "COWAN" team of Mike Cowan, Sean Cowan, Aaron Kauk & Brett Matlock, shot a solid 56 to win the 41st Chamber of Commerce Oil & Gas Tournament. The event hosted 72 teams over the Friday-Saturday competition.

Rick Sullins: "stay on the green!"

For anyone unfamiliar to this event, the tournament features two "shotgun starts" a day,  7:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Each shotgun start has 36 teams of 4 players (288 players in total for the day), playing a scramble in "eightsomes". All this makes adds to the feeling of an outing to promote goodwill among local businesses, with a competition in the mix. If you ask me, someone new to the area, they do a great job of both!

Craig Martin ("Digger").. dug
deep to help team win "B" Flight

For two days, participants need nothing on the golf course but their clubs and balls, otherwise, they are provided with food and beverages galore. Those serious about the competition within, leave the celebration for the end, while those who came to have a good time and who don't care if they have a par or multiples thereof, celebrate a great outing for 36 straight holes. There is food for all tastes; this year you had barbecue provided by Stallion Oilfield Services (my favorite) and catfish provided by the outfit from Weatherford. By every one's comment, these two businesses "know their business!"

Jorey Price, pretty nice form
in his tee shot on #1

Back to the golf part. Due to the way flights (*) are decided, and the "bump rule" (**), the tournament has a little of a "mystery" involved all the way to the end, as just about any team can win or place in their flight, and in some cases, the next flight (this year two of the teams "bumped", placed in the next flight)! Particularly with hard winds blowing for two straight days; Saturday's sustained winds of 15-20 mph must have felt like a breeze compared to Friday's 35 mph winds and gusts of up to 55 mph! In the end, several teams were "bumped" to the next flight, some of these placing in the top three of the next flight as well. Here are the final results:

"A": 1st 55-56/111 "COWAN"; 2nd 59-55/114 "BARBER-DYSON"; 3rd 61-53/114 "BRAD O'HARA" ("bumped" from "B" flight, lost card playoff)

"B": 1st 60-56/116 "LELA TOWERS";  2nd 62-57/119 "GREAT PLAINS NTL. BANK"; 3rd 61-59/119 "HUTCH'S".

"C": 1st 66-59/125 "BANK OF WESTERN OKLAHOMA" ("bumped from "D" flight); 2nd 64-61/125 "BELL'S CARPET"; 3rd 65-61/126 "WILSON" (won scorecard playoff against "J&J SALES" who had identical day scores) (***).

"D": 1st 68-61/129 "MAD TOTCO"; 2nd 67-62/129 "STEVE WELCH"; 3rd 66-63/129 "SYDCO".

Vera Gilbert during her interview
with the Elk City Daily News on
June 4, 2011 - Hole #14.

Not related to tournament results, the event also hosted the "Amy Lee Scholarship Fund" fundraiser, hosted by Vera Gilbert, an Elk City H.S. graduate. The fund is in memory of Amy Lee, Vera Gilbert's daughter who passed on in 1974 before reaching age 2, and will be used to help worthy local students with college expenses. The fund was started with a raffle of "Amy's House", a life size doll house intended to look crooked, that is anything but. It is a great small, but very well built house. Two more houses like this one will be raffled during the K.E.C.O. tournament in July.


(*) Flights are set after 1st day's scores;
(**) The committee (headed by Debbie Smoots), picks the number of strokes by which the participating teams may improve their first day's score,  if this number is exceeded, it is automatically "bumped" the to the next flight (the "bump" number was set at 4 plus the number of strokes necessary to catch the leader).
(***) Ties are broken by scorecard playoff. Again, Chairman Debbie Smoots picks a hole where to start the playoff, this year it was hole #7.

For all team pictures, click here..... For all other pictures, click here