Local golf: Montgomery’s Grant, partner finish second in State Senior Four-Ball

Mike Tankersley
Special to the Advertiser
Golf.

In a highly competitive Alabama State Senior Four-Ball Championship played at Huntsville Country Club over the weekend of Oct. 11-13, Montgomery’s Walker Grant and his partner, Robert Nelson of Fairhope, finished four shots behind the winning duo of Claud Cooper of Birmingham and Richard Jeffers of Mobile.

Cooper and Jeffers fired a final round 6-under 65 on Sunday (Oct. 13) to win the 25th State Senior Four-Ball title. They finished at 19-under 194 while Grant and Nelson finished at 15-under 198.

Just how competitive was it? A total of 23 teams finished the championship under par with field average score of 69.42 in the final round.

A pair of Prattville golfers, Clark Alexander and Tony Parrish, tied for 12th at 7-under 206.

The tournament also launched the inaugural Super Senior Championship (age 65 and over). The winner was the team of John Coles (Hoover) and Tom Jungkind.

Previously, the Super Senior was a division of the Senior Four-Ball tournament. Moving forward, it is a standalone Alabama Golf Association event.

DOGFIGHTS

Denise Thompson, at plus-6, easily won the women’s city dogfight at Prattville Country Club last Thursday. Nita Caviness was next at even, followed by Sara Lund at minus-1, Kim Finn at -2 and Carolyn Dent at minus-3. The Thursday before, on Oct. 10, Dent came in first with a whopping plus-18 at The Pines in Millbrook. K.C. Borgman was second at plus-11, followed by Carol Walker, Julie Hardigree and Sharon Alexander, all at plus-10, and Finn at plus-9. Play this Thursday will be at Cottonwood and the following week at The Pines, with tee times from 8-9 a.m.

The team of Rick Keaton, Neal Manning, Ernest Pattillo and Tom Baxter combined for a plus-15 to win the Montgomery Golf Association dogfight at Aroostook last Thursday; 51 played. Second place, at plus-14, went to the foursome of Del Goebel, Pat Drew, Ray Haner and Carl Stevenson. Third, at plus-9, went to the five-man team of Lyndol Williamson, Victor Trotter, Lamar Jones, Ed Collier and Tom Dyer. Individual most over was Haner at plus-9. On Oct. 7, at Timberline, the team of Frank Guidas, Mike O’Connor, Tom Baxter and Sam Cheatum combined for a plus-11 to take first place; 52 played. The team of Johnny Davis, Morris Wilson, Randy Smith and Ed Collier posted a plus-8, one point better than the team of Del Geobel, John Pulaski, Larry Cornwell and Gerald Donaldson. Baxter, at plus-10, was most over individually. The MGA also was scheduled to play Monday at Stillwaters. The next dogfights are Oct. 28 at Capitol Hill; Nov. 4 at Troy Country Club; Nov. 11 at Cottonwood; and Nov. 25 at Emerald Mountain.

The Central Alabama Golf Association (CAGA) had 70 players at Lagoon on Oct. 10. Clarence Darrington continued his hot streak, winning First Flight with a plus-8. Rodney Polk was three points back at plus-5, one point ahead of Michael Glass. Dixie Robinson and John Robinson tied for Second Flight honors at plus-5. Joe Hansel was third at plus-4. John Pulaski, newcomer Jim Ray and Victor Trotter tied for first place in Third Flight at plus-5. Doris Collier took home Fourth Flight honors at plus-7. Ray Kunert and Vance Brown tied for second at plus-3. CAGA was scheduled to play to RTJ Cambrian Ridge in Greenville on monday. CAGA Member’s Day is scheduled for Oct 31 at Arrowhead. The remaining 2019 schedule is always posted at www.CAGAGolf.com. Interested players can also contact the CAGA administrator at caga.dogfight@gmail.com.

CALENDAR

The U.S. Kids Golf Montgomery Fall Local Tour schedule: Timberline on Oct. 26 (registration open until Oct. 23); and the Tour Championship at Prattville Country Club on Nov. 9 (registration open until Nov. 6).

To submit items for this golf notes column, email the information to tank4265@yahoo.com or to sports@montgomeryadvertiser.com.