All THINGS - SOUTH CENTRAL

Recap - Forest Ridge Classic

Scott R Chilcutt, Broken Arrow, OK (July 10, 2010) During the morning shadows of The South Central Section PGA offices in Broken Arrow sits the Forest Hill Golf Club. We arrived at the course, much earlier than usual, where we hosted a live remote of the South Central Golf Magazine radio show that airs on the Sports Animal – Tulsa and 97.1FM between 8-9am.


Upon arrival the grounds crew was feverishly setting up water pumps to drain out the pond, aka the driving range. Over 4” of rain for the month and virtually no wind or sun for July had the ground saturated beyond the point of quick relief from the pumps dispersal of standing water.

Despite the disappointment of not have a driving range, the course was under the circumstances, playable and after the torrential rains we have had in the state during the month of July that was in itself a feat of dedication from the grounds crew at Forest Hills.

But the feats of the players were not to be outdone: With cart path only and soft conditions, our first group finished, in less than 4 hours and our last groups were done with play in less than 5 hours and that was commendable. And how about Kelly Smith? Less than a week ago he wasn’t able to walk and with superior medical care and Dr. Craig Phelps, they both joined us for the competition.

Mark Helms from Broken Bow, 210 miles south of Broken Arrow, shot his best round of the year, 82, to take the Tournament Champion Trophy presented by Labor Finders with a net 69 two strokes over previous winner Bill Copeland.

Results:

Championship Flight – Two pressure birdie putts and a pair of 74’s ended regulation play for Checotah’s James Fowler and Curt Howard from Sapulpa. The third hole of the playoff would finally end the deadlock that started on the 10th hole. Both players kept clean cards on the back, with Fowler finally taking the title. Curt cut a summer trip to Bemidji, MN short to return back for the tournament and to prepare for his Oklahoma State Amateur challenge beginning on Monday at Cedar Ridge Golf Club. Claremore’s Brad Kerr birdied the par 5 – 11th to grab a skin after taking 2 weeks off traveling the west coast with his girlfriend.

Palmer Flight – Brook Lister from Tulsa made Texhoma, TX’s Mel Yates retrieve his clubs from his car to set up the 2nd playoff in as many flights. Lister was 1 over after nine but had a tough stretch and finished with 3 or 4 pars for the round to tie Yates with an 80. Mel birdied the final hole draining a 20’ putt to get in the playoff and took advantage of the feat taking his 5th win of the year in the playoff. Broken Arrow’s David McDaniel, dealing with a finger injury the past few weeks, finished one stroke out of the playoff with a messy 18th green.

Hogan Flight – Hogan Flight points leader, Todd Chapman from Tulsa, won his third trophy of the year besting Edmond’s, Tim Mathis by two strokes and Lon Norton of Moore by three. Mathis grabbed two skins with birdies at the par 4 – 6th and par 5 – 11th.

Senior Hogan Flight – Bill Copeland from Tulsa took home the hardware for the 5th time out of 6 events this season with his only blemish a T-2 at WinterCreek. Bill started a little slow but never got too much out of sync shooting 2 over on the back nine. Edmond’s, Michael Hicks finished at just 3 over on the last 10 holes, while picking up two skins at the par 4 – 4th and birdie on the par 5 – 18th. Craig Phelps from Elk City had his best round of the year with two tough holes on the back nine.

Sarazen Flight – Sayre’s Robert Lakey won his first trophy of the year and now leads the 2nd half of the year Senior Sarazen points. In addition the win has narrowed Alan Barnett’s lead for yearend awards to under 100 points. Lakey finished ahead of Tahlequah’s Christian Abels and Ryan Cummings of Stillwater.

Jones Flight – In what has been up to four flights at times this year circumstances dictated that we combine the Jones and Snead flights and the Senior Jones takes the trophy. Mark Helms shot a strong 3 over par on the back nine with a birdie on the 9th to shoot a stout 82. At the point this group played the par 3 – 15th I heard radio chatter from the tournament committee, “These guys are throwing darts at the pin”! In a scorecard playoff, Stigler’s Jimmy Smethers took the 2nd place gift certificates over Gary Chrisman from Oklahoma City. Chrisman has the 2nd Half points lead in the Jones and has come to within 110 points of Jimmy’s year end points lead. Yukon’s Rick Henthorn grabbed a skin at the par 4-14th.





SKINS:

Championship/Palmer – James Fowler -2: Brad Kerr -1: Brook Lister – 1:

Hogan / Senior Hogan / Sarazen – Bill Copeland -2: Michael Hicks - 2: Tim Mathis – 2: Robert Lakey – 1:

Jones – Mark Helms – 3: Gary Chrisman – 2: Rick Henthorn- 1:

For a complete list of results and pictures click - HERE -

For more information:

Scott R Chilcutt
schilcutt@gcamtour.com
405-513-1467