Water, Ice Towels and Spotters

River Oaks Continues to Counter Punch the Oklahoma Weather Opponent

Scott R Chilcutt, Edmond, OK (August 14, 2010) When I first met with Andy McCormick, PGA Professional and Director of Operations at River Oaks Golf Club in Edmond over the winter I was excited that “he would give it a try”.

After all, the Oklahoma Tour had not been into a private golf club for the last couple of years with previous events held at Dornick Hills and BelMar Golf Club. In both of those instances, they didn’t really give us a try, but simply opened the course on a Monday and expected us to bring a large group of participants and were then disappointed by the turnout.

In this case, it was simple, how can we play your golf club and minimize the disruption on your membership? That’s where the 2:00 pm tee times came in, “most of our members will play in the morning, go to the grill for lunch and will be out of here by 2:00”, explained McCormick.

On Friday, Tom, Loyd and I set up a time to play and review the course at 3:30pm. Since that would be approximately our last tee time on Saturday it would give us an idea of the heat and darkness issues we might face.

Heat - no surprises here, it was going to be hot, we arranged for more water and ice towels.

Darkness - It wouldn’t be a problem if we kept to our normal pace of play policies, but we better make sure we have plenty of spotters available. We added Andy Dixon to the committee and would relieve Tom of his interactive scoring duties when we got going for further on course help. The slowest round was 4:42 on a very difficult course with lots of blind shots.

Golf Course - With all of the weather challenges since the record duration of cold temperatures during the winter to the recent scorching high heat it’s apparent that River Oaks Course Superintendent, Tom Dougherty and staff haven’t thrown in the towel but continued to battle the elements. All of the staff from top to bottom made us feel welcome, assisted where necessary and made it an enjoyable venue to work with.

Results:

Shug Shuggart picked up his first Tournament Champion trophy, presented by Labor Finders, over Darren Montgomery in a scorecard playoff.

Championship Flight – Having never stepped foot on the course, Curt Howard from Sapulpa shot a 1 under par 70 to get the win over Checotah’s James Fowler by 2 strokes. Fowler, also a first timer on the River Oaks course had a rough start on the 1st three holes but would go 3 under on the final 15 holes with 3 birdies and an eagle on the par 5- 13th couldn’t match the almost flawless round that Howard recorded with Tulsa’s Douglas Duke rounding out the top 3. Brad Kerr from Claremore overcame a 10 on the par 5 – 3rd to finish his last 15 in even par, recording a round of 77.

Palmer Flight – Texhoma, TX’s Mel Yates who continues to rack up the miles with the tour, fired 76 to best Darren Montgomery from Oklahoma City with Tulsa’s Roland Lewis and David McDaniel from Broken Arrow finishing in the 3rd and 4th spots. Coming off a solid round at the Edmond Summer Classic, Montgomery had his 2nd runner up finish in as many tries jumped to within 10 points of 2nd place in Palmer points edging his way to National Qualification.

Hogan Flight – Lon Norton from Moore kept grinding despite a rough start on the first and 6th holes. Norton played the last 12 holes in o over par to take his first flight championship with a 11 over par 82 over multiple tournament winners, Chris Blankenship from Stigler, Edmond’s Tim Mathis and Tulsa’s Todd Chapman.

Senior Hogan Flight – Tulsa’s Bill Copeland picked up his 7th win of the season shooting a 9 over par 80 edging out Michael Hicks from Edmond. Denver, CO’s Garry Otto took the show spot while traveling to Oklahoma City to see family. In Copeland’s ten starts this season he has seven wins, one tie for second and two third place finishes.

Sarazen Flight – Barry Gray from Lantana, TX made the trek north to take his first win of the year firing an 82 over Robert Lakey from Sayre and Stillwater’s Ryan Cummings and Scott Word from Bethany all knotted up for the 2nd place finish. Gray had some difficulties with doubles at the 5th and 8th holes but righted the ship for a good back nine, with a birdie on the par 5 - 13th heading to the 18th where trouble struck again, but this time with plenty of strokes to give up.

Jones Flight – Burneyville, OK’s 76 year old Shug Shuggart won his 2nd Flight Championship since joining the tour shooting an 82 edging out Springdale, AR’s Joshua Appledorn by one stroke and Jimmy Smethers by two. Yukon’s Jerry Hardin and Broken Bow’s Mark Helms tied for 4th with 85’s.

Snead Flight – Newcomer, Canadian, TX’s Curt McPherson made the 200 mile journey to Edmond to take his first win in only his second start over Yukon’s Rick Henthorn. Henthorn looking for his first win since the early June triumph at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Open edged closer to KC Montgomery’s point lead finishing ahead of Tulsa’s Scott Bundrick, Fairview’s KC Montgomery and Nathan Elwood from Jones. After nearly driving the green on the 10th Elwood would chip in for eagle and a skin.

SKINS:

Championship/Palmer – James Fowler – 3: Brad Kerr – 2: Curt Howard – 1: David McDaniel – 1: Al Swanson -1:

Hogan / Senior Hogan / Sarazen – Chris Blankenship – 2: Bill Copeland -2: Todd Chapman -2: Michael Hicks – 1: Tim Mathis – 1: Lon Norton – 1:

Jones /Snead – Gary Chrisman – 2: Nathan Elwood – 1: Rick Henthorn – 1: Shug Shuggart – 1:



For a complete list of results and pictures click - HERE 

For More Information:
 
Scott R. Chilcutt
405-513-1467
schilcutt@gcamtour.com