Whisper Creek Open produces Low Scores with a Hole in One

Whisper Creek GC (Huntley, IL)  provided players with an excellent opportunity to score producing a few outstanding scores.  It has been awhile since anyone fired a hole in one and in over 10 tournament rounds played at Whisper creek, no one as aced any of the par threes; until Sunday.  Bob Sherry scored a “Hole in One” on the 160 yard Par 3 seventh hole.  The pin position was in a good position (up front to the right) which is tough enough to hold the green and get close.  While manage a three way playoff on hole fourteen just on the other side of the 17^th tee box, a roar bellowed across the course which we all knew something spectacular occurred.  The best part about Bob Sherry’s hole in one is it was witnessed by his wife and Son who followed the group throughout the day; it had to make the moment even sweeter to score the ace in front of his family member’s.

Bob Sherry - Hole in One

Par 3 -  17th, 160 yards

Tour Director John Downey set the course up longer than usual for the Jones/Snead’s and they handled the layout which was a little over 6,300 yards quite easily with only three scores in the 100’s.  The low round was turned in by multiple winner in the Palmer Flight; Kirk Blakney who shot 74 followed by Mike Caithamer (Hogan Flight) with a 76.  Congratulations to all the winners.

Palmer Flight:  Kirk Blakney wins by four strokes shooting a round of 74 and has been the hot Palmer Player of the year.  Chuck Malik shot a 38 on the front to match Kirk but turned on the after burners posting a 36 to go along with his front nine 38.  Ward Tatge was within one stroke after nine was not able to improve on his front nine shooting a 40 for a total score 79.

Hogan Flight:  Mike Caithamer joined the tour in 2010 as a Jones Player and has since then graduated to the Hogan Flight.  Excluding the easy layout at the Heartland Open at Swan Lake where he posted a pair of 83’s, his best round was an 85.  Mike fired his best round on tour ever shooting a 76 to win by three strokes.  Dan Kwilas and Frank Kaldis finished three back but Dan had the nine hole lead by two shooting a 37 on the inward nine.  Bob Sherry finished seven strokes back but his Ace on the Par 3 seventeenth hole was heard over several holes.

Sarazen Flight: Terry Witte joined the tour June 28^th, 2012.  He finished 2^nd in his first event at Prairie Landing, 11^th at Bridges of Poplar Creek and fired his best round (83) so far to win by three strokes.  Terry took an early lead by 3 strokes over Jorge Arteta who had a rough go on the back to fall 5 strokes back.  Joe Coffey made the turn five strokes back and made a run but managed only to close the gap by two strokes.

Sr. Sarazen Flight:  Mark Geibelhausen has worked hard to put himself in position to qualify for National’s and found himself in a three way playoff with Eddie Stephens and Steve Downey all who posted a round of 85.  Eddie Stephens has been in more playoffs than most members of either Chicago Tours and was hoping this would be his first Tie breaker win.  Both Eddie and Steve put themselves in a tough spot missing the green and having to pitch to an elevated green.  Mark Giebelhausne was u against the collar of the rough with no easy putt.  Both Eddie and Steve bodied the hole and waited as Mark rolled in his three foot tester to win the playoff.

Jones Flight:  George Torres won for the second time this season shooting a round of 85 to beat Mike Argyrakis by one stroke.  Mike had the early lead by two but faltered shooting a 44 on the back.  George posted a 5 over 41 on the back to win the Jones Flight.

Snead Flight:  Leo Schnoor made the turn 6 strokes back shooting a 49 to John Pacheco’s 43.  Brian Kirschner wasn’t too far off the mark posting a front nine 46 but it was Leo who got hot shooting a 43 to win by two strokes.  John Pacheco was still 3 strokes ahead going into the closing three holes.  Leo held on shooting 5 over on the closing holes while John Pacheco had a tough go posting nine over par on the closing holes.

TOP FINISHERS & PAYOUTS:

PALMER

74 – Kirk Blakney ($100 Gift Card and Trophy)

78 – Chuck Malik ($20 Gift Card)

HOGAN

76 – Mike Caithamer ($125 Gift Card & Trophy)

79 – Frank Kaldis ($65 Gift Card)

79 – Dan Kwilas ($30 Gift Card)

SARAZEN

83 – Terry Witte ($100 Gift Card & Trophy)

86 – Joe Coffey ($40 Gift Card)

Sr.  SARAZEN

85* – Mark Giebelhausen ($120 Gift Card & Trophy)

85  -  Steve Downey ($60 Gift Card)

85  -  Eddie Stephens ($20 Gift Card)

*Mark Giebelhausen won in playoff against Eddie Stephens and Steve Downey

JONES

85 – George Torres ($110 & Trophy)

86 – Mike Argyrakis ($50 Gift Card)

88 – Dan Butrum ($20 Gift Card)

SNEAD

92 – Leo Schnoor ($110 & Trophy)

94 – John Pacheco ($50 Gift Card)

95 – Thomas Martinez ($20 Gift Card)

50/50 Raffle Drawing 

$97 – Larry Schack

SKINS:

Palmer Flight/Hogan Flights:

$30 – Mike Caithamer, Chuck Malik

$15 – Bob Sherry, Kendall Raczek, Marco Pena, Mark Titone,

            Ward Tatge, Raj Jayaraman, Mike Anderson

Sarazen/Sr. Sarazen Flights:

$46 – Joe Coffey, Scott Peterson, John Carrato

$23 – Bruce Gallo

Jones/Snead Flights:

$42 – Mike Argyrakis, Eric Powell

$21 – Leo Schnoor, John Pacheco, Mike Hildreth, Brian Kirschner

Closest to the Pin:

$102/ea - #3 Steve Downey; #7 Uzair Syed; #14 Mike Hildreth; #17 Bob Sherry (Hole in One)