Alexander Wins 5th & Player of the Year

Prior Lake - overcast but finally a break in the heat wave.  14 members gathered for our Tour Championship.  There were several year end honors up for grabs as well as the bonus prize pool. Welcome to new member Jeff Loeffler, from Savage, playing in his first event as a Sarazen.

The Palmer flight was hotly contested.  Ryan Howard took the early 3 shot lead shooting 39 on the front side.  He stumbled a bit on the back 9 but held on for the win over Corey McGuire who was playing up from the Hogan flight.

Mark Benedetto, from Siouux Falls who plays on the KC tour normally, had his hands full keeping up with Jeff Loeffler and his 3 birdies on the front 9.  Both shot 43.  Mark was unfazed by the challenge and remained steady with another 43 on the back for the win by a wide margin.

The Jones flight continues to be one of the best competitions.  Paul Alexander had won four times, Bruce Mills twice and Warren Ferber twice, one of which was the recent Major at Galena and Michael Miller once.  Mike jumped to the lead on the first hole with a par while the other 3 made bogey.  Paul rebounded with par on the 2nd hole while the other 3 had bogey or worse.  Bruce Mills made par on #3 while the others made bogey.  On #4 Paul made a birdie while the others made par.  Bruce made his par on the long 5th hole as well as 6 & 7 for five in a row but Paul also strung together pars on the last three holes for a one shot lead after 9. Bruce had another string of pars on 11 thru 14 while Paul made a couple bogies giving Bruce a one shot lead heading into the turn for home.  Paul played the last four in 2 over while Bruce dropped 5 shots.  The win makes Paul the only 5 time winner on tour this season.

The Snead flight also had it's share of drama as three time winners Todd Klocke, Jeff McVay and 
Pete Rojas faced off for bragging rights. Todd was one up on Jeff and three up on Pete after nine. Pete played the back nine in 5 over for a 41 including a birdie on the par 5 12th to capture is fourth win.

Season long awards were also presented including Order of Merit and Player of the Year.
Order of Merit
Championship - John Juntilla
Palmer - Mike Kelley
Hogan - Corey McGuire
Sarazen - Wayne Schuermann
Jones - Paul Alexander
Snead - Todd Klocke

Player of the Year
Paul Alexander - Jones
Top 3 in points, 5 wins, played every local event

Congratulations to all.  

Thanks for a great season.  Good luck to all of our members playing at Nationals.