StoneRidge Recap

Stillwater - the last MN event on the 2019 calendar. Bright sunshine and a light breeze made this the the best day all year for golf. 41 golfers from MN, AZ, IL, ND and WI competed in four flights.

Peter Heller wasted no time in letting the rest of the Palmer flight know he was back after a bit of a hiatus. He birdied the first and third holes to go 2 under through 3. Back to back bogey's on 4 & 5 brought him to even par and that's where he finished the front, 3 shots ahead of Steve Schubert and Chris Brom. Peter was still even, with 2 more birdies on his card, through 15 and 4 shots clear of Steve. Steve's bogey on 16 probably looked like it sealed the deal for Peter but while Steve finished with 2 pars Peter had trouble getting into the clubhouse, dropping 4 shots in the last 3 holes. His back side 40 to post a 76, was one shot better than Steve and 3 ahead of Bob Murphy.

Sarazen flight put up the next best winning score. David Slininger was cruising on the front. He opened with a birdie and was even through 6 holes before misfortune led to a quad on the tough par 3 seventh. Doug Bird was 4 back after the first hole and 7 shots back after the 5th. His birdie on the very difficult 8th brought him back into contention only 1 shot back of David at the turn. Jerome Olichwier and Barry Wadsworth were one more shot behind. Doug made birdie on the "Barn hole" to take the lead. 5 more pars led to a 39 on the back to post at 81, 5 shots in front of Jerome.

Robert Gardner chalked up another win for the "Seniors" as the lone Sr. Hogan player competing in the Hogan flight. Rob and Matt Harter got off to the hot start with birdies on the first 2 holes. Bryan Poetsch was 5 back of Rob after just 4 holes before he turned things around going 1 over for the last 5 holes on the front to turn at 41 and 2 shots clear of Rob, Matt, Jon Sanz and Aubrey Johnson. Rob made up those 2 shots quickly with pars on 10 & 11 while carnage happened on 11 to Matt and most of the rest of the field. Robs back nine 41 was good for an 84 and his 2nd win of the 2019-20 season, one shot in front of Bryan and 3 from Matt who rebounded from 11 with birdies on 13 and 17.

Pete Rojas was "feeling it" before the round after some recent good play but it was Amy Bauch who led after a first hole par 4 over Pete and James Olichwier with bogey's. Pete made par on 2 to Amy's double and then gave those 2 shots back on the 3rd hole. James meanwhile made bogey on 2 and par on 3 and matched Pete on 4 to lead Pete by 1. Pete settled down with 5 bogeys to finish the front in 47 followed by Amy at 51 and James at 52. Paul Alexander was 6 back at 53 but pars on 10 & 11 put him right in the mix only 2 back of Pete after a triple on 11. Pete made a bounce back birdie on 12 to Paul's seemingly round ending quad putting him 7 shots back. Paul's birdie on 14 to Pete's par briefly cut into that lead but he gave that stroke back on 15. Paul stood on 17 tee 7 shots behind which should have been insurmountable but in Snead flight you never know for sure. Paul put some pressure on Pete with a 6 - 6 finish to Pete's 7 - 9 making up four of those shots.  

Todd Klocke and Steve Schubert were closest to the pin.

Doug Bird was low net at 66.

David Slininger won $175 from the 50/50 drawing. The  season total stands at $420 giving us a great start on our 2020 donation. Thanks for your continuing support of Feherty's Troops First Foundation.  

We appreciate the Am Tour visitors that joined us at StoneRidge. Jeff and Jerome Olichwier from the Chicago Tour, Luke Schwantes from the Milwaukee Tour and Frank Mayfield from the AZ Tour. We look forward to seeing you again.

Special thanks, as always, to my Angels Deb Alexander, Val Loeffler and my bride Mary. They make things run smoothly and allow me to concentrate on the players and the course. 

I'll be working on the 2020 schedule this week. If you haven't responded to the "Courses" survey I sent out last week please do so ASAP. I appreciate your feedback.

Thanks for a GREAT 2019. We had 500 rounds played, $15,000 in gift cards and $3000 in trophies awarded. Thanks to your support and participation we've doubled the number of members and more than tripled the number of rounds played since 2013. Let's keep it going in 2020. Invite all of your golfing friends to join us for the next "BEST YEAR EVER" on the BEST Amateur Golf Tour!