I may not sound too impartial here, but I truly think that this year's Tumbleweed was a great success. Several factors come in here, but mainly, the help that we get from various people -you know, the "professional volunteers"- that get things done behind the scenes, including hiring the band, preparing the food, planning the social stuff and, very importantly, contacting sponsors, most of whom are Elk City Golf & C.C. members. All I have to do is pairings and scoring, none of which would be necessary without the help of all of these people.
So, because of that, I want to start with a sincere "thank you" to all sponsors (named at the end here), Ann Cowan, Myra Baker, Katy Womack, Mona and all staff for their help in a great tournament! And of course, Ed Hughes in helping with the set-up and conditioning of the course.
In the end, sixty eight couples (10 more than last year) entered the tournament, which was divided into six very competitive flights (Championship, A, B, C, D, E), where except in the E flight, all scores were within 4 shots after the first day.
The weekend started and ended in a good note. It started with a horse race on Friday afternoon where 15 teams participated and it ended when we had the results of the six flights, after witnessing one more time, why I love golf: it is not that it always builds character, but it always reveals it... thank you Mike Chambless (I'll be his partner any time!).
David and Rachel Poole won the horse race, with Aaron Kauk and Ann Cowan coming in second place and Rusty and Kelsi Wilson taking third place.
The Man Out in The Bunker (TMOITB) has hinted that next year we should have two horse races, one for the teams that usually end up in Championship or A flights, and one for the teams that have never been in those flights. Entries will probably be limited to no more than 12 teams in each flight. Great idea TMOITB!!
Another possible change is that tee time might be moved up to 8:00 a.m. from 8:30 a.m. Believe it or not, those 30 minutes make a difference when temps go over 100 at 1:00 p.m.
Five of the six leading scores were not a surprise: Keegan Hall and sister Kinsley set the pace, the first day with a 59, two shots ahead of Michael & Ann Cowan (the surprise team who had their best round ever) and Joby and Haley Gunkel. At 62 was former champions Blake & Rikkie Bergman and defending champions Rusty and Kelsi Wilson. At 63, another former champion couple, David and Rachel Poole who completed the Championship flight.
The other flights were broken as follows: 65-67 (12 teams), 68-71 (12 teams), 72- 75 (15 teams) 76-77 (11 teams) and 78 and above (11 teams).
The Hall's proved to be difficult to catch. In sweltering heat, the best score of the day came from the team who had started last in the flight. Dave and Rachel Poole scored a 60, which earned them second place at 123, two behind behind the Hall' who closed with a 62, and one in front of Rusty & Kelsi Wilson and Blake & Rikkie Bergman who tied for third a stroke behind at 124. The Wilson's won the sudden death playoff.
As always, in each flight, there are some heartbreaks and some nice endings. Heartbreak #1 was in the "B" flight, where our friend Keith Hulen and yours truly's wife, Mona, managed their best ever opening score with a 68 and managed to go four under par for the day with three holes to go, only to finish bogey, bogey, triple on 13-15 to finish one stroke out of the money at 140. Had they parred #15, they would have won. For the record, in ten tries on #15 (they have played the last five Tumbleweed Twosome tournaments), they have made exactly one par on that hole in ten tries (next year you guys will start on #15 and get it out of the way right away!)
Here is a nice ending: Allen and Kathy Robinson started 3 shots out of the lead in the "D" flight with a 77. With 3 holes to go, they were still 3 shots behind another team. But closing pars for a 73, and a few bogeys by the leaders tied them for first place. In the playoff, they won first place! Talk about coming from behind!
None of the above would have been possible if not for another good-bad ending by Joe and Kim Brady. The Brady's also opened with a 77 in the "D" flight and then bettered their score by 10 shots! Well, the bad part is that they ended up in first place in the flight, but that score was below the "bump" rule target score and they were "bumped" to the "C" flight, where -the nice ending-, they took second place!
Another great comeback was Kim & Kelli Jordan who opened with an 81 then better their score by 10 and closed with a 71, which tied them for 1st. The nice story stopped there and after the playoff, they ended up in 3rd place.
Here are the complete results in each flight:
Championship:
(59-62/121) - Keegan & Kinsley Hall
(63-60/123) - David & Rachel Poole
(62-62/124) - Rusty & Kelsi Wilson
(62-62/124) - Blake & Rikkie Bergman
"A"
(65-62/127) Tyler & Tori Windsor
(65-64/129) Dustin Gunkel & Kelly Powell
(67-63/130) John Repp & Markie Hawkins
(65-66/131) Eddie & Mary Jane Repp
"B"
(70-68/138) Matt Gray & Vonnie Bergman
(70-69/139) Aaron Kauk & Joyce Schones
(69-70/139) Jerry & Jackie Oldham
(71-68/139) Kaleb & Kim Keith
(71-68/139) Chris & Jordan Stark
"C"
(72-71/143) Ricky Nagle & Andrea lackwood
(72-72/144) Rodney & Sarah Cloud
(72-72/144) Rodney Cabiness & Gena Morely
(77-67/144) Joe & Kim Brady
Note 1: second through fourth place split the winnings as playoff was a tie after two holes.
Note 2: Joe & Kim Brady came from "D" flight after being "bumped".
"D"
(77-73/150) Allen & Kathy Robinson
(76-74/150) Derick & Glenda Wolf
(76-74/150) Bill & Lisa Owens
(76-75/151) Bill & Glenda Behrens
"E"
(78-74/152) Galen & Susie Oliphant
(78-74/152) Steve Welch & April Harris
(81-71/152) Kim & Kelli Jordan
(80-73/153) Jerry & Karen Sizemore
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!
No comments:
Post a Comment