Not another rainy windy day! – Makray Memorial Challenge

The Chicago North Tour was visited by Mr. Readus Smith III from the Nashville, TN Tour.  Readus was greetedwith tamperatures about 40 degrees than he is use to along wind wind and light showers.  When his round was over, Readus said Chicago won’t see him again until July and that is only if the weather gets above 75.

Will Chicago North Tour see sunny warm golf conditions?  If the events were held during the week, the answer would be yes.  So far every weekend has been anything close to golfing weather; football maybe, but not much else.  The day began with cloudy skies, cold temperatures and to add a little more to the already rough conditions, wind.  As the day rolled on, the temperatures dropped and the light mist soon became light showers.

Low round of the day was turned in by Raj Jayaraman (Hogan Flight) posting an 80.  Mike Coble (Hogan Flight) was right behind posting an 82.  Makray Memorial course was slightly shortened due to the conditions but the majority of the field still struggled with the wintery conditions.

A couple rules could have played key roles in the outcome for Pat Polzin (Championship Flight) when he failed to identify his ball which was coated with mud.  Pat plays a Callaway and it wasn’t until Pat reached the green and clean his ball that he discovered he had played the wrong ball.  Pat corrected his error and headed back to the tee with a two stroke penalty and post an 8 on the Par 5.  Steve Downey suffered a one stroke penalty for teeing from the wrong markers.  Both the Gold and Silver tees shared the same box and without looking, Steve set up and teed from the Gold Tees instead of the Silver.  Steve realized his error and played a second ball under Rule 3-3 to get an official ruling.  The 2^nd ball became the ball in play with a one stroke penalty for teeing off from the wrong place.  Had Pat or Steve failed to correct their error before teeing off on the next hole; both would have been disqualified. 

Championship Flight:  Pat Polzin won the Championship Flight by two strokes over Jon Hasman who shot an 87.  When the three competitors made the turn, both Jon H. and Pat P. were tied at 44.  John Mauck turned the corner with a 48 and made a run shooting a 43 on the back.  John M. needed the other two to have some struggles but it wasn’t to be.  Pat P. posted a 41  to give him a winning score of 85.

Hogan Flight: Raj Jayaraman was one stroke back of Mike Coble who shot a 39 on the front.  Raj stayed consistent posting a 40 on both the front and back 9’

Sarazen Flight: Tim Schabb did not have the lead when he made the turn, he was one stroke back; the lead belonged to John Flowers who shot a 39.  Kevin Holland bounced back from his Glen Flora round posting a 40 on the front, one stroke back as he made the turn.  The flight was up for grabs as all three struggled on the back.  Both John F. and Kevin H. posted 7 strokes higher than what they did on the front.  Tim Schabb posted four strokes higher on the back but managed to pull out the victory.

Sr. Sarazen Flight: Steve Downey started his day on the range and said it was not going to be a good day based on how he struck the ball on the range.  I reminded him that tournaments were not won or lost on the range.  Steve still didn’t seem optimistic.  Steve was not aware that Bill Neiert posted a front nine 42 and had the lead by two strokes.  Bill N. faltered on the back nine shooting a 48 while Steve D. remained steady shooting only one stroke worse on the back with a score of 45 to give him a total of 89 to win by one stroke over Bill Neiert.  The win at Makray Memorial gives Steve Downey a back to back win in the early season.

Jones Flight: Mike Argyrakis is off to an early start with his first win in 2011.  Mike had only a two stroke lead on four players and a full nine yet to deal with.  Eddie Stephens, Randy Simonson, Solomon Ardison and Clay Koenig all turned the corner 2 strokes back posting a 47 on the front.  Mike A. shot one stroke higher but it was not enough to give his fellow competitor’s and chance of beating him.

Snead Flight: John Pacheco took control of the round early but John Kosnik was only three strokes back.  The Snead Flight was the last group out and by the time the 4 player’s reached the back nine, the weather conditions worsened making it even more difficult for anyone to make a run at John.  John Pacheco went on to win by 5 strokes over John Kosnik. 

Congratulations to the winners and all who competed.  Next stop is Randall Oaks where everyone is hoping for improved weather conditions.

Glen Flora CC Results

The tournament at Glen Flora Country Club was a combined event with Chicago North and the Milwaukee Tour.  The field consisted of 68 players made up of 8 Flights (2 Senior Flights).   Once again we were challenged by windy cold temperatures which did not change the mood of the competitor’s.

 On behalf of the tour member’s, we would like to thank Steve Cross (Manager) and Mark Palmer (Board Member and Chicago North Tour Member) for making it possible to hold a tournament at their club this past Saturday.  Our members received first class treatment from the staff, full use of the locker facilities which included lockers with their names on them.  The course was in great shape except for the 11^th hole that suffered damage from the extreme weather.

Kirk Leitzen (Milwaukee Tour) requested his picture taken to show off his 3^rd place finish and his $20 winnings.  He did it more for his car pooling partners John Bauer and Rob Larson who have gone home with winnings in the last 2 tournaments.  Now he feels part of the group and not just their personal driver.

Championship Flight: Curt Langille (Milw. Tour) had the event won with two holes to play and a three stroke lead.  Curt posted a 72 on the Par 7 course.  Mark Palmer fell one shot shy and was unable to card a birdie in the four remaining holes to try and force a sudden death playoff.

Palmer Flight:  There was a three way tie for first between Chuck Malik, Jeff Kinney and Terry Periman.  Terry was unable to participate in the playoff due to catching a flight.  The Palmer Flight was a closely contested flight but it was final scores of 81 which found the three player’s in a playoff.  Jeff Kinney won sudden death over Chuck Malik with a Par on hole number one.

Senior Palmer:  Mark Fugett was the leader in the clubhouse posting a 79 which was the low round for both Palmer Flights.   Mark won by 4 strokes over Rick Wilson who struggled on the back 9 with bogies on the last four holes.  2011 TPC John Deere Major Champion Steve Dlugosinski also struggled and unable to get things going to make any kind of run. 

Hogan Flight:  John Williams posted an 81 and held off Doug Williams charge at the end.  John Williams began to struggle on the finishing holes but Doug Williams was unable to capitalize and a triple bogey on #14 was the difference.  Doug took 2^nd place posting an 83.

Sarazen Flight:  John Bauer (Milwaukee Tour) has sent a strong message that he is the player to beat in the Sarazen Flight.  John won the shortened event at Geneva National, won his first Major at TPC Deere Run and closed his third straight win at Glen Flora CC winning by 4 strokes.  Frank Kaldis is in his second season and again found himself in 2^nd place which has a familiar tone resembling 2010.  Frank did win the Chicago Championship in 2010 but he is looking for his first regular season win on tour.

Senior Sarazen:   Steve Downey was not optimistic going into the tournament because he had not played well or was striking the ball well enough to win.  In addition, Chuck Gleason was in the field and won the 2011 Major at TPC Deere Run; he was picked as the early favorite among a couple players.  When the round ended, Mark Titone found himself once again tie for first place and heading to a playoff.  He is trying so hard to win one for his Dad.  Mark hit a shot pin high just of the green while Steve came up short.  Steve played first chipping to about 2 feet putting the pressure on Mark.  Mark missed his 4 foot putt leaving the door open for Steve to tap in his two footer for his first win in 2011.

Jones Flight:  Jason Powell ran away with the tournament shooting 85 on the Par 70 course.  Clay Koenig and George Checks tied for 2^nd posting a 96.  Glen Flora is a Par 70, Jason was still in an acceptable range for the Jones Flight.  Jason did following up his tournament win with an email requesting to compete in the Sarazen Flight.  Though Jason qualifies for the Jones Flight, he feels his game is getting better and demonstrated integrity by requesting to play in a flight he believes his skill level is more suited.

Snead Flight: Franklin Morris of the Chicago South Tour posted a 95 to win by only 6 strokes over 2011 TPC Deere Run Major Champion Jason Kolakowski (Chicago North) and Richard Naef (Milwaukee Tour) who both posted a 101.

Congratulations to all who participated and especially to the winners.  We are all waiting for our first tournament where the sun will shine and produce warm temperatures.