Stroke-play tourney a wet one
Last week’s City of Dayton Men’s Amateur Stroke Play Golf Championship appears to have been one of the most bizarre in the long history of the event.
Scheduled to be played on four consecutive days, it began in a steady rain on Thursday at Madden Golf Course. It was a day when golf probably shouldn’t have been played.
The last group off the first tee had completed only a couple of holes when play was postponed after players called the pro shop to report that greens were flooded with water.
I’ve been told that some players were lifting, cleaning and re-placing their balls while others were merely moving them from casual water.
The first round was completed the next morning, and only a handful of players broke 80. The weather was fine for the last three rounds, but the field had difficulty with Madden’s slick greens and difficult pin positions. The winner, 26-year-old Justin Weber of Troy, finished with a 16-over-par 304 — certainly the highest winning total ever.
Weber posted scores of 79, 74, 74 and 77 while runner-up Steve Sandstrom of Miamisburg shot 305 with rounds of 77, 78, 73 and 77.
With two holes to play last Sunday, Sandstrom led by a stroke and might have been thinking he could win the event with a couple of pars.
Weber, who took a one-stroke lead into the final round, had just double-bogeyed the 16th hole to fall one stroke behind. Then he played the last two holes as well as any winner ever has — making birdie on both.
“On the 17th tee, I tried not to get upset with myself,” Weber said. “I hit a pretty good drive, about 300 yards. I was 220 out in the right rough. I hit a 6-iron over the trees and had a 20-foot eagle putt.” He two-putted for birdie to tie Sandstrom, who made par.
“At the (par 4) 18th I had some momentum,” he said. “I swung harder and just crushed it. It was my best drive all week. I had 110 yards left. I hit a 58-degree wedge to two feet.”
Sandstrom, who had driven the ball into the left rough, recovered with a nice approach to 20 feet but missed the birdie putt. He two-putted for par, andWeber tapped in his two-footer for birdie and the win.
Weber, a manager at Frisch’s restaurant in Troy, had never played in the Dayton tournament before, but he won the Miami County championship last year. He is a scratch player at Miami Shores Golf Course in Troy.
Gregory Smith won the 36-hole City Senior event with a 148 total. Keith McGillvary and Check Freeman tied for second at 149.
Pros play Monday at Miami Valley:
The 70th Southern Ohio PGA Professional Championship will be played Monday and Tuesday at Miami Valley Golf Club.
Dayton-area participants include: Roy Carmichael, Pat Delaney, Steve Jurick, Steven Klick, Tim Krapfel, Joe Moore, Jeff Steinberg, Bob Stephens, Ben Stewart, DougWade and TimWalton.
Chip Shots
Molly Skapik of Miamisburg made the cut to the top 64 players in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Portland, Ore., last week with rounds of 73 and 74 for a 3-over-par 147.
However, she lost a 6 and 4 decision toWanasa Zhou of Australia in the first round of match play.
The Dayton District Women’s Golf Association’s annual Twin Best Ball event will be held Monday at Brown’s Run Country Club, near Middletown.
Ryan Flick of Beavercreek tied for 10th place in the Big “I” Championship at Hutchinson, Kan. He had rounds of 72, 74, 77 and 72 for a 295 total. In the Big “I” girls division, Sarah Kern of Springboro missed the 36-hole cut by three strokes after shooting 82 and 80.
Zach Crawford of Vandalia missed the cut in the Junior PGA Championship at Bryan, Texas, and Austin Sipe of Centerville missed the cut in the Western Amateur at Rich Harvest Farms near Chicago.