CORY SMITH WINS BY FIVE...

Cory Smith made it look easier than it should have been. Leading by three strokes after round one over defending champion Joby Gray and Matt Brown, a Floridian with game, he extended his leading margin to five after the second round. Cory shot 67-71, and was never pushed during the second round as his nearest competitor, Matt Brown, who once shot a 28 on the back nine with a three putt bogey, could only manage a total of 73 to distance himself a couple of strokes more. As well, Joby Gray, who was sick the night before the first round, only managed a 70 followed by a flat 75. Ann Cowan and Craig Martin, had identical rounds of 72 and 74 and were followed by Aaron Kauk who added a 77 to his opening 70.

As the scoreboard at the bottom shows, we ended up with 4 flights: Championship, "A", "B" and "C".

In the "A" flight, after the first round, there were no surprises of someone coming from behind: the leaders at the beginning of round two, Ryan Oman-74, Dakota Green-74 and Matt Salazar-75, ended up in first (Ryan Oman) and a tied for second (Green and Salazar). Ricky Nagle, the closest competitor with an opening 76, could only manage an 80 and fell behind.

In the "B" flight things were a little different. Adam Lewellen, a solid golfer opened with a so-so score of 80 which he followed with a 77, good enough to win the flight, except that the "bump rule" made an ugly appearance and he was "bumped" out of the flight winning only "day money" on day two. Because of the bumped player, Chris Martin ended winning first place with a 159 (Adam was at 158, just one under the bump rule). Jeff Rule came in second place with rounds of 81-80 for a 161 and James Ainsworth came in third with a total of 165.

The "C" flight featured another "bumped" player, Keith Hulen, who opened with the worst score he has recorded in an individual tournament (a 91) which he followed with an 88. His 179 was lower than the "bump" score, and Brad Gilbert took advantage of it by winning with scores of 96-92. Charlie Carr won second place with a score of 189 and Andy Peffer took third with a 191.

The wind -what's new?- blew during both rounds, drying the course during the second round and making the greens harder, crusty and faster the second day making conditions totally different from the first day when the golf course was softer due to an overnight and early morning rain.

This tournament, originally called "Fourth of July Tournament" which is usually played the weekend before the actual holiday of July 4th, a day in which we host an informal individual tournament ("one Man Mulligan"), has been renamed as the Elk City Shootout and will have a couple of permanent changes for next year,, one of them being that all three tees as they appear on the scorecard (Blue, White and Red).

Coming up this Friday is the one day, "Firecracker Open" with a format called "One Man Mulligan", always played on July 4th.

This month also: July 23rd, Junior Tournament hosted by 3-B Pumping (Mr. & Mrs. Bart Barnett), Club Championship on July 26-27 (men, women, seniors and super-seniors), and on the second weekend of August, we will host our annual "Tumbleweed Couples".