The Columbus Golfweek Amateur Tour held its eleventh tournament of the 2012 season today at Riviera Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The temperatures have been hot for most of the season and today was no different. That didn’t stop 104 of Ohio’s best amateur golfers from coming out and scorching the course with great scores.
Championship flight crowned a first time winner again this week. Tour rookie, Matthew Renner outlasted the Columbus Tour’s finest putting up a solid 77 on a notoriously long and difficult golf course. Three of the top five players in Champ flight trying their best to gain some much needed points going into the end of the year all shot rounds of 78. Those players, Jeff Maier, Rich Campbell, and John Fryman awaited the verdict once the scorecards were turned in. John’s par on the toughest hole gave him second place. To determine who would take the third spot we would only have to look at one more hole. Rich’s par on the second hardest hole gave him third place and some extra breathing room at the top of Championship flight for the whole year.
In A flight there was a crowd at the top of the leader board for most of the day. James Snyder has been one of the tours most consistent players all year, and today was no different. Knowing that the players in his group were on his tail all day, James knew he had to do something special on the last hole. Eighteen at Riviera is a 427 yard slight dogleg left par four which demands a perfect tee shot and approach to challenge the hole. James striped it down the middle then knocked his second shot stiff to six feet. With the pressure on Jared Minor and Dustin Welch knew they had to match Jim’s shot to have a chance. First up, Jared punched out through the trees hitting the green leaving himself fifteen feet for birdie. Dustin hit one of his best shots of the day to settle right next to Jim’s ball. It would come down to the flat stick to determine the winner. Jim’s experience gave him the edge as he was the only player to make birdie and take the tournament by one stroke. Second goes to Jared on the scorecard playoff, third going to Jeff Whitlow.
B flight has been absolutely incredible the last two weeks. Our last tournament at Granville GC had two players firing 74 and going to a sudden death playoff. The winner of that playoff (Rex Reeder) would be in his second straight playoff at Riviera. Chris Valley and Rex both lit up the course today with a pair of 76’s. Out to the trunks the guys went to get their clubs to settle it on the course. Rex would try and use his playoff experience to earn back to back victories, but it would be Chris leaning on his driver to give him the edge he would need on the first playoff hole. His tee shot put him in the perfect spot to make par and take home the victory. Chris can now add himself to the list of multi tournament winners on the Golfweek Tour this year. It is extremely hard to win just once, but multiple times is a great accomplishment. Just two strokes behind the leaders Jeff Leonhard and Josh Diemer carding 78’s would need to look to the scorecard to settle the tie for third place. Josh’s par on the number one handicap hole (14) would beat out Jeff’s bogey and give him third place alone.
Our second playoff of the day would come in C flight. This time it would be three players heading out to the first hole to earn the bragging rights. Dave Parish (41-41), James Mercer (40-42), and Mike Adams (39-43) although using different ways all ended up with a score of 82. This playoff would take the same amount of holes as the playoff in B flight, just one. Dave Parish steps back into the winner circle for the first time this year just at the right time. Going back to the card to determine who would win second and third between James and Mike was the next step. Both sharing the same score on the hardest hole, the number two handicap hole would tell us who won. Mike’s bogey beat out Jim’s double bogey and gave him second place. Fourth place would go to C flights overall point leader Kevin Brown.
Our story of the day would belong to the D flight winner. Zavier Neeley ended his two year drought on the Golfweek Tour with a very impressive victory today. Zavier has made some recent swing changes due in part with the help of one of our sponsors, Golftec. He fired his best tournament round of the season (84). His golf game is getting hot at the perfect time taking over the lead in D flight and heading into the Tour Championship this October in Hilton Head. Just three strokes behind, Chuck Dozier’s 87 shows he can compete with anybody in D flight and is ready to make a push going into the last three tournaments. Rounding out the top three, Mike Roten would win a scorecard playoff against Dave Dixon.