KECO-SFI...

GOLF IS JUST A GAME. Period. Even if some people play it for a living. And nowhere is this more evident than in little Elk City, OK, where during every day of golf, during every tournament, you can hear music from every corner of the golf course.

And, if you happen to be hosting the popular KECO-SFI Tournament (not two companies could be so far apart in their business, yet so close when it comes to golf), well, you just have a continued day of music, everywhere! Starting at the clubhouse with the well known KECO Hummer, and ending in every green with so many carts having their own radio or stereo. Yet, while the golf is fun, it is also serious, more so in the Championship Flight, where you have local and visiting teams with really, really good players.

The tournament is designed to showcase the best teams around... and have a party. You have teams from all over Oklahoma, nearby Texas and Kansas. Seventy two teams in all,  play 18 holes, with twenty two of them, preregistered in the Championship Flight and fifty to be divided into three additional flights of "A", "B" and "C". The Championship Flight goes in the second wave, so more people can go watch and cheer for their favorites.

The party starts with a "Horse Race" on Friday afternoon, then a welcome dinner for the players and then ends with the tournament on Saturday... and if there is a tie in the Championship Flight for any of the first three places, there is a unique way of a (mandatory) sudden death playoff: tied teams start with a full team, if the tie persists after the first playoff hole, the teams drop one player for every hole tied until only one representative of the team is representing the team.

On Friday, the Horse Race featured 14 Championship Flight players, where Baer Aneshensley (Clinton, OK) outlasted the other thirteen, including Scott Taylor who started with an eagle on #1 who came in second place and Aaron Lee, who was eliminated in third place on #8. One of our strongest players, Dustin Gunkel was eliminated early on #2. Jeremy Gray was eliminated on #5 and the last locals -or local family- player to be eliminated were Bret Nichols and Thumper Gaylean whose elimination came on hole #6.

Then came Saturday and the party started promptly at 7:30 a.m. when 36 teams took off. There was a delay in the afternoon and the remaining 36 teams, including the 22 Championship Flight teams, did not start until after 2:00 p.m., making it difficult to end in daylight should a playoff was necessary, and as it turned out, it was! After all scores were posted, Samuel Braver's team, from Kansas, won the top honors with a 53 and was followed by former KECO-SFI Champion, Taylor Artman who managed a 54. In third place, there were four team tied with a 55, sixteen under par: Ryan Grimm (Texas), Heath Barnett (Altus, OK), Tyler Sprinklers (Tyler, TX) and the team of Dustin Gunkel, who recruited former Elk City Golf & CC members "Thumper" Gaylean, Bret Nichols and Joel Paden. You've never seen such a gallery for a playoff for outright third place!

Let the playoff begin!

Thankfully, for Elk City, Dustin Gunkel's team won... at 10:20 p.m., under the lights of several golf carts! (the playoff had started at about 8:30 p.m.).

The results of the other flights were as follows:

Photo courtesy of Gabe Edney - Playyoff Night!

"A": 1st (55) Southwest Overhead Doors; 2nd (57) jet Specialty, 3rd (58) Heath Martin. Other ties for 58 were, First Choice Homes and Route 66 Sweet-Spot.

"B": 1st (63) Cudd Energy; 2nd (63) Shadd Bogges; 3rd (63) B.V.G. Construction, close, with 64's were, Advanced Air (64) where Robert Shepherd made a hole in one on #13; Gary Scott, Patterson Services and Sean Price's team.

"Thumper" on their last hole (#8)

"C":  1st (67) Gunkel Plumbing; 2nd (67) Bryan Markham; 3rd (67) SFI-3. Other 67's who lost the scorecard playoff were: Chuck's, Jerry Oldman's team, Doug Gray Dodge, Stanford Ent., and N.O.O.F, one of our most popular member teams.

Note: This was the first year n the history of KECO-SFI that Hole #13 was not insured for a Hole in One major prize (usually a car), nevertheless, Robert Shepherd pocketed $500 from the additional coverage! Congratulations! You made the "Newsmakers" list!