Thirteen Year End Award Presented
Scott R Chilcutt, Edmond, OK (September 1, 2010) When we took over the tour, Tom Casady, Loyd Welch and myself set out to make the Tour Championship a special event. When the lights were turned down and the trailer was loaded we had already started working on making next year’s event even more special.
But in the end……. It’s only special with the stars of the stage and that’s all the players that took their time to spend days with us!
Ninety Nine different players from 9 states and Canada representing 7 Tours would take that stage on the Oklahoma Tour. Fourteen of those players competed in over 10 Oklahoma events while an astounding thirty nine spent 5 or more weekend days with us.
In the end, 107 trophies and 2 staff golf bags worth over $4,100 along with over $8,400 in Golf Galaxy Gift Cards were shelled out to those performers on the 2010 Oklahoma Golf Tour stage. And we must not forget Labor Finders and David McDaniel, they provided those beautiful Tournament Champion Trophies and customized Callaway Staff bags.
In recognition of the efforts and sacrifices EVERYONE made to play with us this year we will have a continuing account of the struggles and accomplishments of our membership in 2010 during the off season. Here is the first installment to that end with the final recognition of our Championship Saturday Part TWO:
Championship Flight: Al Swanson from Edmond and a graduate of Edmond Memorial a few years after me first joined the Am Tour in late July 2009: ever since has had his guns a blazing. During the 2010 point season Al has played 28 rounds with the tour, including majors at Barton Creek, the Western Invitational and Western Masters, the Hall Of Fame Major in Florida as well as the Western Open and Western Classic back on the west coast. During that time he picked up 6 wins, 16 top 5’s and 19 top 10’s. Swanson amassed 1,640 points for the year and heads to TPC Sawgrass and the National Championship with his sights on the big prize!
Palmer Flight: 37 year old Chickasha native Brook Lister now residing in Tulsa first contacted me before our kickoff event at the KickingBird Challenge. He had been playing with the men’s club and his uncle, Michael Hicks was going to join the tour. He first asked, “Can I play as a guest”? Of course our answer was yes, but if he really wanted to play and compete he should simply join the tour. After further conversation it was apparent that his hesitation resolved around his wife Leslie’s approval. Some short days later and much due diligence on her part, “she read the entire website”, added Lister he joined the tour. Brook went on to play 9 Oklahoma events and one Major in TPC San Antonio, with 2 wins and 8 top 5’s and built up 590 points to take the Palmer Flight Championship. Watch results as Lister also has his sights set on TPC Sawgrass.
Senior Palmer Flight: 10,000+ miles later ( I couldn’t give him credit for the TPC San Antonio event since he flew) , Texhoma, TX Mel Yates a retired school administrator and teacher has reached arguably ½ way to what he set out to accomplish this year, Oklahoma Callaway Point Leader in the Senior Palmer Flight. Yates now moves 1,500 more miles to the east to Ponte Vedra and the Senior National Championship. Mel, a first year player on the tour racked up 6 wins in his 14 events of the year including a National Qualification at only his second tournament by winning the Texas Open at Barton Creek in March. While some player would sit out the rest of the year with that qualification buffer, Yates kept the momentum by traveling and staying sharp with the tour. As many have told me and I've witnessed, “he’s got a great short game”, look out for MR. 10,000+ miler at the Nationals.
Hogan Flight: First year player Chris Blankenship came to the final tournament in 2nd place but finished the Tour Championship ahead of the field. Chris, an attorney from Stigler contacted us at the beginning of the season. “I’ve been playing the O-Tour and want to know what the deal is”, he stated. Eleven Oklahoma Events, five wins and eleven top 5’s and we are sure Blankenship made the most of the move.
Senior Hogan Flight: What can you say about Providence, RI native Bill Copeland’s year but “WOW”? Copeland a Tulsa resident has won more than 50% of his tournaments taking the top spot in 7 of 12 events with his worst finish, a 5th spot, at the DFW tournament at Cowboys in Arlington. Bill takes his Callaway Points Championship to the Nationals with vieing to follow up on Kelly Smith’s 2008 in the Senior Hogan Flight and come back win the “package”. Ranging in scores over the year from 78 to 88 Bill, a member since February of 2008, has been arguably the most consistent player on the tour.
Sarazen Flight: Scott Word from Bethany and I first got close during the Tour Championship at The Territory in Duncan finalizing the 2008 season. Word would try his hand at the 2009 season playing through off season injuries to win the March event at Rose Creek but would opt to sit out the rest of the season. Scott, a postal carrier and Sky Caddie course engineer (you’ve seen the commercials with the guy and the backpack? He’s one of those ….) would emerge into the 2010 season with a renewed vigor for the tour. Playing 7 Oklahoma events he won at WinterCreek and finished the year with 405 points taking the Championship honors.
Senior Sarazen Flight: I first played with Allan Barnett at the Belmar Open in July of 2008. We played Belmar, now referred to as Toby Keith’s “I love this Course” with then guest and now convert Ron Walker. At the time I suspected that Barnett, from Cheyenne a HSE Coordinator with Thru Tubing Solutions was probably not properly flighted: but his Jones designation would hold while he sat out the entire 2009 season. Once he rejoined the tour and won the Texoma Stroke Play / Match Play Kickoff Classic in November of 2009 he finally recognized he should move to the Senior Sarazen Flight. Barnett has 3 wins on the season to go with 3 runner up placing. Allan has already determined he needs to move to Senior Hogan, where some guys from Tahlequah, Edmond and Tulsa’s Bill Copeland will have something to say about his self proclaimed move.
Jones Flight: 31 year old first year tour player Gary Chrisman from Oklahoma City had perfect attendance on the Oklahoma Tour this year. In addition to those 14 events, Gary traveled to the San Antonio, Kansas City and DFW’s tours, adding to those Majors at Payne Stewart and TPC San Antonio. Chrisman won his first event at Patricia Island where he missed out on the Tournament Championship by a score card playoff. Traveling to the Cowboys Golf Club he grabbed the DFW Tour Championship where he won by 6 strokes over his nearest competitor. Already in preparation for the National Championship, Gary has his hands full with twin daughters but makes time to keep his game in order.
Senior Jones Flight: Another of my roommates at the 2008 Tour Championship in Dunkin, Yukon’s Jerry Hardin was one of many Oklahoma Tour players that sat out the 2009 season. Unsure whether we could change things around with the program he renewed with the thought he might get some more of my cooking. I did fail him this year in that respect, but hopefully he’ll let me make it up to him in the off season. Hardin played in 11 events this year, picked up 3 wins, a Tournament Champion Trophy at Bailey Ranch and a couple of runner up spots at WinterCreek and the Oklahoma Tour Championship.
Snead Flight: Bundrick, Bundrick as we call him and I first played together at Patricia Island in 2008. Scott, at the time lived in Miami (Miamah) and was just getting his feet wet with the Amateur Tour. Bundrick now living in the Checotah area with his construction foreman movement sat out the beginning of the 2009 season but would recommit himself in 2010. With 23 rounds under the belt, including majors at Barton Creek, Payne Stewart and TPC San Antonio Bundrick would compile 840 points and 3 wins.
Senior Snead Flight and Senior Player of the Year: Professional Photographer, Graphic Artist and Advertising Exec, Fairview’s K.C. Montgomery is as competitive as they come. A former power lifter at the University of Oklahoma, K.C. has learned that tempering that power and introducing finesse would helped his game. After shedding a bunch of pounds over the winter and working with PGA Professional Steve Ball he started the year with a big bang, winning two of his first 4 events, including Tournament Champion Trophies to commemorate career low rounds. Adding another win at the Edmond Summer Classic, Montgomery got busy with work and family but came back to the Tour Championship with his eye on the prize. “When I stepped up to the 18th tee, I knew what I needed to do”, stated K.C.. “I was nervous and it felt great” he added. After a hectic Labor Day weekend shooting a large horse show in Amarillo, K.C. will get back to the finesse just in time to make a run at the Nationals.
Mid-Am Player of the Year: Just a little over one year after laying his hands on his first golf club, Ryan Cummings, former Moto Cross racer from Stillwater took to completive golf like making a jump on the track. “My work out routine is different than many” states Cummings. “Instead of going to the gym, I get up and head to the range, a few hundred balls later, get a shower and head to work”. He goes on to say, “Then after work I head to the course to get as many holes in as I can before darkness”. While being handicapped by a midyear move to the Sarazen Flight, Cummings had his sights on the Player of the Year Prize with 4 wins and a tournament Champion award to go with 13 top 5’s including the Payne Stewart Major in Branson. Cummings looks to make some noise, on a different type track, at TPC Sawgrass.
From the 1977 Jackson Browne song Load Out:
Now the seats are all empty
Let the roadies take the stage
Pack it up and tear it down
They're the first to come and the last to leave
Working for that minimum wage
They'll set it up in another town
On behalf of the “roadies”, Tom Casady, Loyd Welch and me, we’re ready to “set it up in another town”
For more information:
Scott R Chilcutt
schilcutt@gcamtour.com
405-513-1467
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