Las Vegas, NV-July 16, 2012 – Oh, can we say hallelujah for 3 somes! Our first 10 groups finished in 3:47, can you give a shout!!! Thank you Tour Players. The last 4 groups finished in 4 hours and that only because the one group finished 25 minutes behind the group in front of them.

It was basically no contest in the Championship flight with Greg Hudson making the turn at nice even par 36. Closest to him was Robert Lively & Paul Bartlett at 41. Greg continued to play well and finished with a 39 for a three over 75. Nice round Greg, welcome back and congratulations.

It was a contest between two in the Palmer flight, Michael Goffinet making the turn at 35 with one birdie, and Clifford Conover turning at 39. Michael & Clifford battled back and forth on the back, but Clifford was unable to make any head way. Michael finished with a 75 and a nice victory. Congratulations Michael on your 3rd victory on the AmTour! You now have a spot reserved for you in Sawgrass!

Chris Skowronek set the pace in the Hogan flight with a 39 followed by the recently promoted Dan Johnston at 40 with Mel Jeffers, Chris Barden & Jeff Wetz at 42. Right behind was Keir de Anda, Charlene Delacruz and Darren Tolleson at 43. There was a large fallout on the back which included: Keir, Charlene, Chris & Jeff. Dan started right out the back on the bogie train finishing with a 42 for an 82. Darren making a charge at #11 with a birdie, made a couple of bogies sealing his fate putting him in a tie with Dan at 82. Chris fired up out the backside going birdie, birdie on 10 & 11 only to fall off the road to victory into the great abyss ending up tied with Dan & Chris at 82. Mel hit his stride on the back taking only 2 bogies yielding him a nice 38 for an 80 and the victory, his 3rd. Congratulations Mel and good luck at Sawgrass!

In the Senior Hogan flight John Oliphant (visiting from Temecula, CA) set the pace with 39 followed by Michael Bridges & Scott Walker both at 41. Michael found the bogie train on the back sending him packing. John was attacked by the double bogie monster giving him a painful 45 for an 84. Mean while Scott was playing steady coming into #18 three over. The next 8 shots were a blurr. When he woke up, he found himself back on the first tee in a playoff with John. The playoff went to the 2nd hole were Scott took the victory. Congrats Scott, one more and you are in at Sawgrass. Psst, Scott says he hates #18.

In the Sarazen flight L C Cobbs set the pace with 42 followed by Rod Brewster, Jr at a distant 47. Then came the great flipflop with L C scrambling to make 48 and barefoot Rod delighted with 42 giving him the victory by 1 shot. Congrats Rod on your first victory of the season.

Leader in the clubhouse Peter Quinn, in the Jones flight, was sitting pretty with a nice 84, anxiously awaiting Matthew Gomez who held his fate in his hands. Matthew came in with an 83 leaving Peter to be a brides maid once again. However, Peter take solace in that Matthew is soon being promoted to the Sarazen flight. Congratulations to both Matthew & Peter on your fine play, it was a great shootout!

Bill Drayer leading wire to wire continued his dominating play in the Snead flight claiming his 6th victory. Congratulations Bill, we expect you to represent in Sawgrass.

Top Finishers and Payouts

For full field results please visit http://thegolfchannel.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/thegolfchannel12/event/thegolfchannel12378/contest/10/leaderboard.htm

 

 

 

Championship at Canyon Gate 7/16/2012

  It was a great day for golf in Las Vegas.  The temperature was beautiful (although the humidity was high), and there was no wind. It is a nice golf course, and I really enjoyed driving around, taking pictures, and watching the golf. A major thunder storm came through the area the night before dropping quarter (that’s the coin) size hail stones and a bunch of rain.  This left the course a little soggy.  Quite a few players told me they were hitting some “fat” shots because of it.  Don Risner said he was throwing up handfuls of mud on every shot for the first couple holes.  The greens were soft though, letting the players “shoot darts” into the greens.  I saw Chris Skowronek throw one in at # 9.  It hit the green and backed up about 3 feet.  Chris was definitely taking advantage of the conditions.  He ended his skins drought of the last few months by picking up 3 flight skins and 3 giant skins, although Mel Jeffers won the flight.   Only 2 players broke 80:  Greg Hudson (Championship Flight) and Michael Goffinet (Palmer Flight), both shooting nice rounds of 75 and winning their prospective flights. The pace of play was fantastic!  The first group of Scott Walker, Gary Bilonta, and Michael Bridges made the turn about 30 minutes ahead of schedule with all the following groups keeping pace with them.  When a golf course allows us to put the players out in threesomes, good things happen.  We saw the same results at Paiute last month.  Unfortunately, most of the courses insist on foursomes, which slow up play.  They don’t get the concept that when our groups play faster, the course actually gets more tee times after us.  All in all, it was a great event.  Everything ran very smooth.  I love it when a plan comes together.

Mike

John Zurkulen headed to TPC Sawgrass

We had 4 Tour Players from Las Vegas compete in the Western Masters in Scottsdale, Arizona. They played the tough Troon North courses, Pinnacle and Monument.

John Zurkulen took home the trophy and 1st place in the Sarazen flight. Nice rounds John 84 - 84 -168. You are now qualified for the 2012 Nationals at TPC Sawgrass, congratulations!

George Yocum finished tied for 4th and Michael Labrum finished tied for 8th in the Senior Sarazen.

Shaine Hersey finished 6th in the Championship flight.

Way to represent Vegas, whoot, whoot!!!

Recap Snow Mountain Shootout

Las Vegas, NV-June 16, 2012 – It’s so nice to play in threesomes with a sprinkling of twosomes. Thank you contestants for playing quickly, your average was 4 hrs and 15 minutes and not 1 group finished outside of its time, AWESOME and well done!!!

In the Championship flight Shaine Hersey & Ron Quick (visiting from Murrieta, California) made the turn tied at 38 with Robert Lively right behind at 39. All 3 continued to battle on the back side with each taking at least one birdie. It wasRon who rose to the top with a nice even par 36 for a 2 over 74 finish and his first victory for 2012. Nice game Ron and congratulations on your victory!

In the Palmer flight Dustin Sitar & Michael Goffinet found themselves tied at 39 on the turn. They continued to battle on the back with Dustin looking like he was going to take the victory, only to fade on the last 2 holes putting him in a tie with Michael. A playoff went forth with Dustin grabbing the win at the second playoff hole with a par. It was the second win in a row for Dustin having come off the injury list. Congratulations Dustin, nice win.

Richard Emery in the Senior Palmer flight set the pace with a nice 39 on the front with Larry Johnson & Jeff Calegory both 2 shots back at 41. Richard continued to play steady as Jeff struggled finding his game and Larry having one bad hole couldn’t capitalize giving Richard his 4^thwin for the season, congrats Richard!

It was a tight race on the front in the Hogan flight with newcomer Houman Nayeb firing a nice 38, followed by Charlene Delacruz & Mel Jeffers at 39. Houman faltered on the backside and fell off while Charlene & Mel battled back and forth. Mel settled one shot ahead of Charlene in the end giving him his 1^stvictory on the AmTour. Congratulations Mel, welcome to the winners circle.

Scott Walker starting out slow, made a nice eagle on #6 settling his game putting him in a tie for the lead at the turn with Gary Bilonta at 40, followed by Michael Bridges at 42. Scott lost his game on the back and fell off. Gary & Michael battled back and forth with Gary ending up taking the win by 2 strokes. This was Gary’s 3^rdwin for the 2012 season and earned him and a spot in Senior National Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Congratulations Gary, have fun rubbing shoulders with the pros.

For the Sarazen flight George Yocum took the lead at the turn with a nice 39. He was followed closely by Dan Johnston at 40 and Thomas Kobayashi at 41.Thomas & George both playing respectfully on the back, but were no match for Dan who caught on fire carding a double 7 on #11 and eight 4’s for a nice 39 giving him a sweet victory. Congratulations for your first win on the AmTour! Nice back side.

L C Cobbs set the pace with 40 on the front in the Senior Sarazen flight. He was followed by Robert Woods & Tim Coplen both at 42. Tim birdied #10 and didn’t look back burying his competition as their games faltered. This was Tim’s fifth victory of the 2012 season, wow great golfing and congratulations Tim! I also want to give you a shout out for your great improvement for this season!

It was a battle all the way in the Jones flight with Carl Eaton, visiting from Porter Texas, taking the lead at the turn with a nice 41. Right behind him was Harry Sims & Peter Quinn both with 42. Harry made a move at #10 with a birdie and it looked like he was going to take it until he hit a disastrous quad at 17 losing 5 shots to Peter, who birdied, and 4 shots to Carl. Peter’s birdie put him ahead of Carl & Harry and secured him the victory. Congratulations Peter on your first win on the AmTour, way to go!!!

Setting the pace in the Snead flight was new comer Kody Conover, son of Clifford Conover 3 time National Senior Palmer Champion, making the turn at 43. Kody was followed by Scott Kassel at 46 and Don Risner at 47. The 3 battled on the backside and even though Kody faltered on the back his cushion on the front was enough to give him the victory by 2 shots over both Scott & Don. Congratulations Kody on your first victory on the AmTour!!!

For full field results please visit http://thegolfchannel.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/thegolfchannel12/event/thegolfchannel12221/contest/10/leaderboard.htm

 

 

 

Congratulations to Jeff Calegory!

Congratulations to Jeff Calegory for recent promotion from Senior Hogan to Senior Palmer flight.

A new twist to "my dog ate my homework"!!!

Russ Berkman from Seattle win's 4 coveted Master's Tournament tickets in a lottery. I'm sure a life time dream. The tickets go missing and somehow he discovers his dog ate them!!!

What would you do? Make your dog vomit of course! That's exactly what he did, by some prompting of his girlfriend. How disgusting, the visual is more than I can bare. He did recover the tickets and managed to salvage about 70% of them from the slimy mess.

He actually took pictures of them and pleaded with the Augusta National Golf Club, "my dog ate my Masters tickets"! I'm pleased to say Augusta National reprinted the ticket and had them waiting for him at the course.

That warms my heart that the Tournament Committee would help fulfill this man's dream. I wish I was a fly on the wall when this decision was made, lol.

Congratulations to Todd Jensen!

Congratulations Todd Jensen for several reasons.

1. Your recent promotion from Hogan flight to Palmer flight! 
2. Winning your first event as a Palmer Tour Player at the Painted Desert Championship, way to go!
3. Taking the win in the Painted Desert Championship through a playoff, defeating your friend and fellow competitor, Kenny Petersen.

Kenny on the left - Todd claiming the victory on the right

The competition is tough on the Las Vegas Tour.