Willingers Recap

Little Chicago - A fabulous summer day on the beautiful and treacherous Willingers Golf Club. 44 players took on the challenge of negotiating the wetlands on almost every hole. Only 4 rounds under 80 but they came in 4 different flights.

The largest flight of the day was once again the Sr. Sarazen's. Steve Springer and Steven Holland both shot 40 on the front and Ed Favorite was only 1 shot back. Steven and Ed both had a birdie on the front side. Steve Springer and Ed succumbed to the back nine but Steven carded 6 pars and only 3 bogies to shoot a back nine 39 and post a 79, the lowest round of his 4 year Am Tour career and he defended his 2016 win here.

First in was the Sr. Palmer flight. Bob Murphy and Charles Paciorek were tied at 41 after 9. Bob birdied #10 and #13, both for SKINs, to card a back nine 38 for a 79, 7 shots clear of Charles. This is Bob's first win on the Am Tour.

Steve Schubert was the first to post the low round of the day (78) as he successfully defended his win here last year. He led fellow Palmer flight player Dean Sengstock by only one shot at the turn after Dean recovered from a first hole quad to go 1 over the rest of the way out. Steve had 2 birdies but also 2 doubles on the front. Willingers is always dangerous and will jump up and get the best players. Both players suffered a triple on the back but Steve only had one other bogey while he also carded 2 birdies. Dean had 1 more birdie and finished with three pars but ran out of holes. 

Gary Braun's return from an injury layoff suffered a quad and a double but offset those with 3 birdies on the front 9 to post a 40 matching Robert Gardner. Robert limited the damage on the back nine to only 3 bogies and a double to capture his second victory in Sr. Hogan this season.

Hogan flght was a tale of two starts. Matt Harter got off to a dream start with biridies on #1 and #3 but then gave more back with triples on #4 and #6. Anthony Hugelen got off to a nightmare start making double on the first 2 holes but biridied #6 and #8 giving him a 2 shot lead at the turn. Matt didn't make a bogey on the back but that doesn't mean Willingers didn't take it's toll as he suffered 2 triples and 3 doubles.  Anthony limited the damage to one double and he made up for it with a birdie on the final hole for an 8 shot victory.

The other 78 was posted by Jeff Gallagher in the Championship flight. Jeff shot 38 on the front to give him a 2 shot lead, all he needed, over Jason Rhoades. Both shot 40 on the back nine giving Jeff the victory. Jason's runner up finishe came on the heels of winning on the Milwaukee tour the day before.

The Sr. Snead flight was captured by visiting Chicago Tour member Keith Mavity. Pete Rojas had a one shot lead after 9 holes with a 47. Unfortunately Pete went through a 6 hole stretch of doubles and triples on the back side while Keith managed 2 pars and only 2 triples to keep it in double digits at 95.  

Jon Sanz led the Sarazen flight by one shot over Jeff Loeffler after nine holes. Tim Palya and Fredy Alvear were 3 shots back. Tim and Fredy had the better back side but fell one shot short as Jeff held on for his third win of the season.

Steve Schubert took home $155 from the 50/50 raffle. Our season total now stands at $990. Thanks for your continued support of Feherty's Troops First Foundation.

Steve also won the closest to the pin as did Fredy Alvear.

Thanks to our 3 guests for joining us today, Bo Olson in Championship, Eric Rice in Palmer and Greg Holthaus in Sr. Sarazen. We hope you had a great time and we look forward to seeing you on Tour in the near future.

As always, a big thanks to Mary, Deb and Val for all their help. 

Our next tournament is The Wilds on Sunday the 23rd. Registration deadline is Saturday the 15th. See you there.