The opening
event of the Arkansas Golf Week Amateur Tour was held on March 12th
at the Country Club of Arkansas. The Iceberg Invitational lived up to its name
with 4-5 inches of snow getting dumped in the area the night before. In
anticipation of the snow, the shotgun start was moved to noon. As we looked out
on the first fairway at about 9:00 am, the winter coat of 4 inches of snow and
the temperatures hovering just around freezing, it appeared doubtful that the
opening tournament would be player. However, we put off making the call and let
Mother Nature do her work. She smiled on us, melted the snow and with a delayed
shotgun start of 1 pm, 77 golfers braved the wet, but clear fairways and the
chilly temperatures.
In the Champ
Flight, Chris Smith shot a higher than normal Champ flight score of 81 for a 5-shot
victory over Chris Johnson and Tyler Freed (86).
The A flight saw Landon Green get his first 2022 victory with a strong
76 and a 5-shot victory over Mike Norwood (81). Finishing out the paid places
in the A-flight were Logan Karsten (82) and Tour Director, Jerry Homishak (83)
The B Flight saw Buddy Taylor shoot a stout 78 to win by 3 strokes
over Phillip Turner (81). 3rd place was won in a card-off by Jacob
Chronister and Michael Young after both shot an 84. Rounding out the paid
places was Patrick Eaton in a card-off over John Dailey. Both shot 86.
Newcomer Rodney Painter didn’t let the chilly temperatures slow him
down as he shot 87 for a 2-shot victory over Harvey Harris (89). Cody Holmes
came in 3rd with a 90. Phil Hemba, Vic Werner and Richard McClendon
shot 92s with Phil taking 4th and Vic taking 5th in the
card-off.
D Flight saw
its own drama when, in an excellent display of sportsmanship, newcomer
Christopher Converse voluntarily withdrew after shooting an 82 in the D Flight.
With the withdrawal, a playoff between newcomer Tearris Wallace (90) and Yul
Eslinger(90) was needed to crown a D flight champion. Both shot 90 and despite
the darkening skies and dropping temperatures, the two headed to the first tee
for a playoff. Tearris won the playoff. 3rd place was won by Bobby
Williams. In a 4-way card off with scores of 95, Jay Williams took 4th
over Kemper Pyle. The other two players at 95 were Richard McMahan and Fred
Bean.
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