4th of JULY TOURNAMENT RESULTS & WHAT GOLF IS ALL ABOUT...

"MR. 61"

I have been involved with golf for over 50 years, and it never ceases to amaze me that it is easy to find examples of why I love the game so much. We all know that the game is all about honesty, sportsmanship, respect, responsibility, courtesy and of course, integrity. Like most of you, I love to see good golf. I've seen my share of good shots and rounds in my lifetime, Sunday was one of those days.

Billy Jennings: ALWAYS HAVE FUN!

The weekend was full of good stuff, all about golf: excellence on the course, and what the game is all about on and off the course.

There are no records of how many "4th of July" Tournaments Elk City has hosted, all I know is that it is the longest running individual tournament in Western Oklahoma, or so I've been told. I believe it, particularly if what we witnessed this weekend is part of the tradition of golf... and of Elk City. Lets talk about scores first....

"I thought that one was in!"

The weekend started with two very good subpar rounds under very windy conditions: Billy Jennings, the former golf professional in Clinton, opened with a 65. Shortly after his score had been posted, Alfred Gaylean posted a 67. These were the only two subpar rounds on Saturday. The best next score was posted by Russ Smith who scored a solid 72, but must have felt he was being ran over by a Greyhound bus. Russ was about to find out more of the same, and much more, on Sunday. Russ closed with a 70 to finish solo 3rd.

Billy closed with a 66 for a total of 131, good enough to win in most weekends, not this one. In fact, his closing 66 was five strokes back from Alfred's closing 61and Billy's 131 lost by three! They both turned with 33 on the front, while Russ had a 35. Alfred birdied #10 while Bill parred. Then Alfred made a solid 3 on #11 from about 15 feet, but didn't make up any ground on Billy who dropped his 3 from about 8 feet. Alfred was still one behind... then he went hole hunting: starting on #12, he went 3,3,4,4,3,2,4, which added to his 2,3 start gave him a 28 and a closing 61! (shall we now call him "Mr. 61"). To my knowledge, there has not been a better 18 or 36 hole score in a tournament in Elk City. And certainly not while playing under strict USGA Rules without touching your ball until you mark it on the green. CONGRATULATIONS!  In 4th place, with a 143 (74-69) was defending champion Zach Poole. 

Jeremy Gray: Always stylish!

The "A" Flight was won by Keith Orr who scored a 76-70 for a 146. In second place was Mark Fairchild, who scored a 76-71 after pulling a "John Daly" on #18 on Sunday: Mark was 5 under going into the closing hole when the wheels came off, his concentration wondered somewhere, and somehow took a 10 on the closing hole! Imagine, a 71 with a closing 10! That is pretty good golf there! I know what I would have done there after holing out for a an embarrassing double digit score... another "John Daly stunt": go home fuming, without turning my scorecard in! That is golf! Four players tied for 3rd at 150: Craig Martin, Andrew Albert, Matt Salazar and Ronnie Smith, who was "bumped" from the "B" flight.

The "B" flight was won by Tom Thomas with a 160 (81-79); he was followed by Jack Christian at 161 (81-80), Chris Stark 162 (83-79) and Rodney Cabiness 163 (82-81). In this flight, both Ronnie Smith (81-69/150) and Bobby Wechsler (82-74/156) were "bumped" (more about this in a minute).

Brandon Orr chose to follow his brother
instead of going home fuming 
over his disqualification.

The "C" flight was won by Keith Hulen, who came back from an opening 90 that sent him to hit four large buckets of balls and play an additional 13 holes after Saturday's round, and  scored a solid 78 on Sunday. He was two shots short of being "bumped" like Dennis Dugger, who shot 86-79 for a 165 and was out of the flight by a single stroke! Next came Brian Young at 169 (87-82), Richard Hammonds 170 (86-84) and Rod Little 171 (87-84).

Now, lets talk about sportsmanship and integrity. First, Brandon Orr who opened with a 79 in the "A" flight. He was late for his tee time more than 5 minutes and was disqualified. When he was offered the portion that paid for Sunday's game, he declined saying, "I screwed up, someone will win it. Not their fault that I was late", that was "Class Act #1".

Mike Proctor shortly before
finding out he'd been playing
with 15 clubs.

Class act #2, was soft spoken Ronnie Smith. Ronnie opened with an 81 that placed him only one behind the leader of the "B" flight. But, Ronnie got hot on Sunday and didn't make many mistakes. By #14, he was even par for the day. He could be "cautious", or even try to outsmart the system by playing to a "number" that would win his flight, or he could continue playing as well as he could. I doubt if the thought of outsmarting the system ever crossed his mind, so he continued playing his best, which earned him two more birdies and no bogeys for a 69. As expected, he got bumped to the "A" flight. Instead winning 1st place in his original flight, he tied for third in a higher flight, and while he earned a lesser prize, he earned a bigger reward: he had the honor of showing what the game is all about: always do your best, never quit, play with your head on high regardless of the results, realizing that the game is bigger than any prize. 

Class Act #3: Mike Proctor, fresh from a solid second place in an individual tournament away, led the "C" flight after Saturday's round with an 85. After 9 holes on Sunday, he was still in the lead. As I was patrolling and taking pictures, I received a call from him, "Alex, I need to disqualify myself. I just realized that I have 15 clubs in my bag". I told him that there was no need for that, and that the maximum penalty is 4 shots... "take one club out of play and continue your round. You never know what can happen". "No Alex, I can't. I wish I could. I played with the same set yesterday, I also had 15 clubs so I signed the wrong scorecard. I'm sorry!"

AS A GOLFER, NOTHING IS AS GOOD AS KNOWING THAT
THE GAME WILL ALWAYS HAVE GOOD REPRESENTATION!

SEE YOU AT THE GOLF COURSE!

P.S. WISH BEREK DYSON AND JOBY GRAY GOOD LUCK IN THEIR OKLAHOMA AMATEUR QUALIFIER TOMORROW!! (DAD DAVID WILL CARRY THE BAG FOR BEREK AND BROTHER JEREMY WILL CARRY FOR JOBY).