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| Steady rounds of 67 earns Russ Club Championship |
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As it often happens, when you have good strikers of the golf ball, the results are about who makes a few less mistakes, makes more putts... or misses less of them. According to new club champion RUSS SMTH, a few putts made the difference: he made them, Joby Gray and Andrew Albert didn't.Russ and Andrew had opened with a 67 and were followed closely by Joby (defending champion) who opened with a 69 and Jordan Williamson who had a 70.
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Day two, however, was not as close as the first day's scores suggested. Russ made the turn at 32, Joby at 37 and Andrew at 36, thus giving the new club champion a lead of 7 over Joby, and four over Andrew.We know by tournaments on TV that no lead is safe, and nothing is written until the last putt drops. Russ knew that, so he just kept making putt after putt, staying in the present, making par after par, forcing his pursuers to try to take chances to make birdies to catch him. His strategy and execution worked perfect and ended up with a five shot win. Jordan Williamson, had two solid rounds of 70 and was alone in fourth place. Justin Robinson was alone at 143 after ending with the second best score of the day (68), however, his opening 75 had put him too far back.
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RONNIE SMITH -Russ' father- had two identical rounds of 73 to win the Seniors division with a 146 and is our new Seniors champion. After round one, Ronnie trailed Jack Christian by one, and led former club champion and former course record holder, Craig Martin by one. The second day, Ronnie made no mistakes while Jack and Craig did, both ending with an 80 and handing Ronnie with a six shot win over Jack. Eddie Davis won the net in the 51-60 age division with actual rounds of 78-72 and a net of 138. Rocky Andresen took second net with a 142..jpg)
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In the women's division, HALEY GUNKEL won by five over Ann Cowan after two rounds of 74 for a 148. Ann had rounds of 78 and 75, and as in the men's championship, the player who made more putts and less mistakes ended up winning. Long hitting Jackie Oldham was next with rounds of 78-81.The Club Championship is not only for the very best players. It is a members' championship, where you can compete for a weekend, with peers of your same skill. Because of that, in the men's division we had "A" and "B" flights, the women had an "A" flight and the seniors had a flight for members age 66 and over. All these flights were very competitive, and the winners and high finishers should be very proud
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The "A" fight was won by senior golfer GREG DODSON who had rounds of 77-78 for a 155. He won by only one shot over another senior golfer, Danny DeLeon who had rounds of 77-79 (some seniors elected to play the blue tees and were playing both, in the senior flight of their age division and the regular men's tournament in the flight where their handicap placed them. The top two net winners were Keith Hulen, first with a 136 and Blake Brewer was second net with a 139.The "B" flight was won by DANNY TEEL with rounds of 91-85/176. Terry Anderson won the net with a score of 143. Despite a disappointing 13 (no typo) on #17 the second day, Brad Gilbert ended up in second place gross with scores of 91-104. Richard Harvey won second net with 150.
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In the Women's "A" flight, BETTY MAINE won with scores of 87-89/176. Jeannette Scott won second place with scores of 92-94; Mona Alvarez was next with 93-100.The older seniors flight, 66-83 was as competitive as any golf tournament you'll ever see. After the first round, Don Andrews matched his age of 80 and was tied with Leon Stuart (72). Dave Bank was next with an 82. During the second round, Don Andrews had taken a good lead after 14 holes... until he reached our signature hole #15. Don hit two good shots to 90 yards, but then he pulled his third shot just enough to see his ball hit on the left bank of the green and go down in the hazard.
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That is when the tournament took a bad turn for him. Had he missed his shot badly and in the middle of the water, he would have been forced to take a drop and most likely hit the green from 20 yards and score a 6 or a 7, instead, his ball was barely in the hazard, half exposed and he decided to play it. It took him three shots to get out and ended up with a 9 on the hole... and one shot off the playoff between Dave Bank and eventual winner, GRADY LANTZ who after an opening 85 closed strong with an 81. Grady won on the first playoff hole. Don Andrews finished with 147 and Leon Stuart with a 171.NOTHING IS WRITTEN IN INK UNTIL THE LAST PUTT FALLS!
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