Refuge Recap

Oak Grove – A slightly damp start to the morning but by tee time the sun was shining and warming nicely. 59 Am Tour members in 8 flights took on the trees and wetlands of The Refuge GC in our spring opener. 10 new members and 4 visitors from other Tours added to the excitement. Speaking of excitement, don't forget to checkout the Player Analytics and Course Statistics on the Results page along with the Race to Nationals points list. 

 The Snead flight went off first with 6 players. Todd Klocke and Paul Alexander put up 47s on the front side and both managed 3 pars. Pete Rojas was 2 back and Annette Crossan, visiting from the TX Hill Country tour was 3 back. Pete’s par on 10 pulled him even with Todd and 1 back of Paul. Paul took control of the competition with a birdie on 11 and 3 more pars coming home in 42 for an 89.

Sr. Jones was a small flight of 3 but the competition was stiff. George Hardgrove  took the lead on 1 and held on through the front side to lead by 3 over Paul Smallwood. Keith Mavity, a frequent visitor from the Chicago tour shot 44 on the back nine which was the best of the flight. Paul threw in a couple more pars to hold on to the lead over George suffered a couple of others to end the round. This is Paul’s 2^nd win of the 2019 season.

Sr. Sarazen featured 3 long time members who are very familiar with each others game. Steven Holland jumped out to the early lead with a birdie on 2. Ed Favorite was 3 back after 3 before he went on a streak of 5 pars to turn in 41, 2 clear of Steven.

Joe Christy and David Slininger both put up 41s in Sarazen flight to lead Greg Gopal by one. Then Joe carded a birdie and 6 pars coming in to run away from the pursuers. David’s 44 was good enough for 2^nd while Fredy Alvear’s 43 pushed him up to 3^rd.

There were 14 competitors in Hogan flight. 5 of them finished with 3 shots of the lead. Jonathan Nyquist made a birdie and 4 pars on the front for a 40 followed by Aubrey Johnson at 43 and 4 others at 44 including Larry Caldwell. Matt Harter’s back to back birdies on 12 & 13 led to a 43 but he stumbled on 16 & 18 to finish in 6^th. Larry shot another 44 on the back to post at 88. Jonathan’s 48 forced a playoff which Larry won on the first playoff hole.

Dan Barrett and Cliff Anderson carded 39s on the front side in Sr. Palmer. Dan on 2 birdies and 3 pars, while Cliff had one birdie and 6 pars. Greg Gebert, in his first event since the early days of the Am Tour, was 2 back. Cliff had another birdie, 5 pars and only one real hiccup on the back nine on his way to a 41 to post an 80 and win his first event back on the Tour.

Bob Murphy led the other 12 Palmer players with a 38 on the front. Jon Huinker was 3 back at the turn. Steve Schubert and Eric Williamson, in his first event, were 4 back and Scott Schirmers, Peter Heller and Dean Sengstock, back after a one year hiatus, were 5 back. Steve’s 39 moved him up to 2^nd place but Scott Schirmers even par and clean 36 earned him a 2 shot victory.

The Championship flight was really a 2 horse race. Paul Schubring, in his first event, had the early 2 shot advantage after 5 holes.  Jason Rhoades played the last 4 holes in 1 under with a birdie on 9 for a 4 shot swing and giving him the lead by 2 at the turn. Both Paul and Jason played the back side 1 under. Paul with a birdie on 16 while Jason’s came on 17 and secured the 2 shot victory and the low round of the day at even par 72. This was Jason’s 2^nd win of the season.

Closest to the pin for Champ/Palmer/Hogan was Bryan Poetsch. Sarazen/Jones/Snead went to Joe Christy.

Low Net for the day went to Joe Christy with a net 60.

50/50 Raffle winner was Cliff Anderson for $205. Our season total, for Feherty’s Troops First Foundation, stands at $455. Thanks for your support.

Thanks to the visiting Tour members; Annette and Mackie Crossan from Abilene, TX, Luke Schwantes of Marshfield, WI and Keith Mavity of Byron, IL for joining us.

And I don’t want to forget to mention our very own Sean (and Nicole) Hazen from Winnipeg, Tyler VanHecke from Mitchell, SD, Steven Holland from Hendricks, MN and all the others who travel long distances to compete. We appreciate you.

Tournament scores have been posted to GHIN for those of you that have your GHIN # in your profile.

Our next tournament is on Sunday the 19^th at Troy Burne. Registration deadline is this Saturday night. We expect to see another good field there.

As always, special thanks to my Angels, Mary, Deb and Val.