The final regular season tournament took place at Prairie Isle and was in excellent condition. The season began with bad weather and so too did the last tournament end with a thunderstorm that halted play for nearly an hour. The weather didn’t dampen the player’s spirits who all were ready to get back on the course. The low round of the day was turned in by Jim O’Connor who shot a 74. Mark Titone hit two shots from the trees on holes 12 & 13 that would have made the highlight real had camera’s been running.
The top story of the day was Alexander Dobreff of Lemont, IL. An auto accident rendered Alexander’s left arm useless and he had to relearn the golf swing playing only with his right arm. Alexander contacted Tour Director, John Downey asking to participate as a guest in the tournament. It was decided that Alexander would be treated as an Honorary Guest; John Downey (Tour Director – Chicago North/Milwaukee Tours), Golf Channel AM Tour (National Director Colin Turner) and John Babcock (PGA Pro of Prairie Isle) gave a full exemption to Alexander so he would be able to participate and showcase his ability.
Alexander is a 23 year old young man, a true gentlemen and very appreciative of the opportunity to participate in a Golf Channel AM Tour event. He made no excuses for his physical inability and reacted just as most golfers do when they hit a poor shot. Alexander felt the same emotions as anyone when he heard his name announced on the first tee, he was visibly nervous. He managed to hit a perfect drive about 230-240 yds on the par five 1st hole down the middle and in the fairway. Alexander’s goal is to inspire others to play golf and hopefully have a tour for the physically challenged golfer’s.
PALMER FLIGHT:
Mike Anderson turned in another solid score (77) but fell three short of Jim O’Connor. Both Jim and Mike were tied going into the 9th hole, but a triple bogey by Mike Anderson on the 9th hole was the difference in the end. Both player’s shot even par on the back and Jim O’Connor didn’t give any ground to allow Mike Anderson to get back in the running.
HOGAN FLIGHT:
The Hogan Flight was interesting because players threw up big numbers on a few holes but pulled it together to turn in decent scores. On the first hole Mike Caithamer shot a 9 on the par five 1st hole and ended up 10 over par for the front nine. Bruce Pate looked like he was going to run away with the win when he reached the par 3 fifth hole at one under, but Bruce posted an 8 on the par three and opened the door for the field. When the front nine had ended Bruce Pate and Brad Easterling were tied at 41, 5 strokes ahead of Mike Caithamer. It was Mike Caithamer who made a strong run on the back when he pared the first 6 holes which put him out in front after being 5 strokes back. However, he closed with a bogey on each of the last three holes and finished one stroke back to Bruce Pate who went on to win shooting an 84.
SARAZEN FLIGHT:
Mark Titone once again hoisted the trophy and is the leading player in the Sr. Sarazen Flight. Mark Giebelhausen had a one stroke lead going into the back nine, but fell two strokes shy of the win. The difference was two fantastic recovery shots from the trees on holes 12 & 13. Mark had hit his drive right into the trees and did not have a straight shot to the green. Not knowing there was OB across from him, he attempted a slice through the trees with a 6 iron on hole twelve and used a hybrid to duplicate the same type of shot on 13. When Mark’s ball landed 15 feet from the pin on the twelfth hole the group including myself thought that was pretty amazing. Then he did the same type of shot but deeper in the trees with a hybrid on hole 13. Not only did Mark pull off a similar shot on hole 13, but his ball ended up 10 feet from the cup. It was those two holes that enabled mark Titone to win by two strokes over Mark Giebelhausen who shot 85.
Sr. JONES FLIGHT:
John Carrato looked as though he was going to run away with the trophy in the three man flight when he posted a 39 on the front nine. Then he started the back nine by birdying the par five 10th hole. John Carrato was 2 over par after 10 holes but soon ran into trouble and finished the last 8 holes 9 over par. John Goldenne was four stroke back after nine and 6 strokes back after ten holes. As John Carrato was beginning to falter, John Goldenne was slowly gaining ground but John Carrato held on to win by two strokes.
SNEAD FLIGHT:
The Snead Flight was the closest contested flight with only 5 strokes separating first from last which is not a big lead in the Snead Flight. Mike Teegen was one stroke back at the turn and then took a one stroke lead when he birdied the par five 10th hole. Mike followed his birdie on ten with an 8 on the par four 11th. Double bogies on 12 & 13 totaled 8 over on three holes but others had similar issues not taking advantage of the opportunity. John Pacheco was also tied after nine but an 8 on the par 5 tenth and a 9 on the par 4 tenth pretty much knocked John out of contention. Brian Kirschner reclaimed the lead when Mike Teegen put up too many double bogies as Brian went on to win by one stroke over Mike Teegen.
Palmer Flight
74 | Jim O’Connor | $100 Gift Card & Trophy |
77 | Mike Anderson | $40 Gift Card |
Hogan Flight
84 | Bruce Pate | $100 Gift Card & Trophy |
Sarazen Flight
83 | Mark Titone | $120 Gift Card & Trophy |
85 | Mark Giebelhausen | $60 Gift Card |
Sr. Jone Flight
83 | John Carrato | $60 Gift Card & Trophy |
Snead Flight
99 | Brian Kirschner | $100 Gift Card & Trophy |
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