The Sonoma Valley Golf Club took advantage of the fine summer weather of late and headed out on the fairways and greens of Adobe Creek Golf Club on June 23. The event was a blind-draw, meaning that each player did not know who would be their partner come the end of the day.
Leading the way was Bud Scheurman and Richard Sheridan, who combined to shoot an impressive score of 54. This was two shots clear of John Fanucchi and Mike Lipson, and Ray Kumli and S.R. VanDeursen, who all fired 56s, before the tandem of Fanucchi and Lipson were awarded second in the scorecard playoff. Fourth place went to Dick Moore and Ed Cebula with a 57, while Don Richards and Lou Pignati rounded out the top five with a 58. In closest-to-the-pin action, Bill Seim almost achieved that spectacular feeling of a hole-in-one on the fifth hole, with his tee-shot stopping just 6 inches from the hole.
The No. 8 saw Ron Preston almost duplicate Seim's shot, with his ball finishing just 2 feet, 6 inches from the hole. The impressive shotmaking continued on the back-nine with George Greene taking home the top-spot on the 12th, with a shot to 3-2, while Dick Severson's shot to 5-1 was the best of the day on the 16th.
•••
The Champions Tour reached the midway point in their season last week at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in upstate New York. What looked like a walk-in-the-park victory for
Fred Funk turned into a spectacular final round comeback for New Yorker Lonnie Nielsen. Funk,
who continues to limp throughout the round due to a bad knee, opened with rounds of 64 and 65 and looked like he would cruise to victory, but Nielsen, who has lived in New York for the last 20 years, had different ideas. He opened his final round with four birdies and an eagle through the first five holes, while Funk could only manage three birdies the entire round.
Nielsen added three more birdies on the back nine to cap a 63 that gave him a three-shot win over Funk and Ronnie Black, who carded his own fine 66 on Sunday.
The win helped Nielsen break out of a slump that had seen him all the way in 41st place on the Charles Schwab Cup points list entering last week. He now sits at 18th and looks to continue his strong play and solidify his spot in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Sonoma Golf Club.
With 13 of 25 events in the books on the 2009 Champions Tour, there are some familiar names atop the points lists, but also a few surprise names.
Leading the way since the first week is Bernhard Langer. The German showed that he can still compete anywhere by entering the final round of the European Tour's BMW International last week one shot out of the lead held by Retief Goosen, before a final-round even-par 72 dropped him into a tie for ninth place. Currently Langer enjoys a 442 point lead over second place Michael Allen.
Allen might be the biggest surprise so far in 2009. Having never won on the PGA Tour, he was invited to play at the Senior PGA by the PGA Of America and walked away the champion, out dueling the best the Champions Tour had to offer. Having only played one event on the over-50 circuit, and winning, he sits at second with 720 points. He plans to play a few more events on the Champions Tour, but now has the goal of being the first player to have won on the Champions Tour before claiming his maiden victory on the PGA Tour.
Third place on the points list might also be somewhat of a surprise, but the silky swing and putting stroke of Larry Mize has been working well so far in 2009. The rookie on the Champions Tour had a runner-up finish to Allen at the Senior PGA and several other top finishes to all but assure himself a spot at Sonoma.
One surprise might be the lackluster play so far in 2009 of two-time Charles Schwab Cup Champion Jay Haas. Despite hanging around the top of the leaderboard last week in New York, Haas has struggled somewhat in 2009 and, so far, has not racked up a win and sits at an unfamiliar 10th on the points list.
With the meat of the summer and four Champions Tour major's ahead, Haas is looking to get his game in shape and make another run at the tour's top prize.
With so many new players on the Champions Tour this year, the makeup of the field for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in October might include quite a few new faces, but with the season only halfway over, look for the veterans to pick up the slack and make a run to finish in that top 30 and make their way back to the beautiful Valley of the Moon.
•••
The 18th annual Hanna Boy's Center Golf and Tennis Classic will be held at Silverado Resort in Napa on Friday, Sept. 18. There will be two flights, the morning wave, which starts at 7:30 a.m., and the afternoon wave, which begins at 12:30 p.m.
Cost for this year's event is $275 a person - a portion of the entry fee is tax deductible - and includes 18 holes with cart, tee prizes, continental breakfast, lunch, a foursome photo and a hosted cocktail hour and dinner.
The event - Hanna Boys Center's major fundraiser for the year - traditionally fills up quickly, so participants are encouraged to register as soon as possible by visiting www.hannacenter.org.
(Source: Sonoma Index-Tribune - Sonoma,CA,USA)
0 comments:
Post a Comment