2020 Golf Oklahoma August|September by Golf Oklahoma Magazine

Official publication of the Oklahoma Golf Association

Thank you for voting Cherokee Hills Best Golf Course in the 2019 “Tulsa World’s Best in the World”! We are proud to continue to be Tulsa’s top spot for a good time. I-44 Exit 240 | 800.760.6700 | HARDROCKCASINOTULSA.COM

Know your limits. Gambling problem? Call 800.522.4700.

TABLE OF CONTENTS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

The Goods 10

The 5 degree lofted driver used by Bryson DeChambeau is the talk of the Tour. Tom Bedell looks at classic books detailing the struggless of minority golfers.

26 33

Chip Shots 14

Cedar Creek Golf Course to close in August for greens renovation, new clubhouse proceeding at Lincoln Park . . .

Competition 31

Features 18

The odd couple: Austin Eckroat and Quade Cummins at top of college game.

Whenever it happens, Oklahoma colleges are loaded for the season

24 26 28

Hybl enjoying talent crush

Jamie Voegeli wins State Amateur, TU coach takes WOGA State Amateur, Hudelson repeats in Mid-Am and more. . .

Departments

Minority golfers slip away in junior high Arnie was a hit at the Texas-Oklahoma Junior. Logan Allen overcomes heart ailment

Volume 10 Issue 4

6 8 8 9 37

Letter from the Publisher OGA ED Mark Felder WOGA ED Susan Ferguson Rules, Bob Phelps Schedules and results

On the cover THE RETURN OF QUADE CUMMINS TO OU AND AUSTIN ECKROAT TO OSU HIGHLIGHTS OUR COLLEGE PREVIEW

Support junior golf by contributing to the OGA Foundation Call 405-848-0042 for more information 4

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

GOLF OKL AHOMA â&#x20AC;¢ AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Your Single Source For

Corporate

BENEFITS

405.359.0594 www.nfp.com/csok

THE RIGHT CORPORATE AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS STRATEGY IS THE ONE THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU AND YOUR COMPANY. At NFP, we empower you to take control of your company’s future. Contact us today to discuss how we can support your employee benefit needs.

August/September 2020 FROM THE PUBLISHER KEN M AC LEOD

Boom times for golf The tournament play was slowly coming After years of declining revenues, courses closing and general contraction, public golf back and many have been rescheduled in the fall. Equipment and merchandise sales is booming in the COVID-19 pandemic. The numbers in the short term, even made a strong comeback in June that got with the economy in a tailspin, are as- even more pronounced in July. With August starting with plenty of rain tounding. There are reasons to believe that even when the economy improves and and temperatures in the low 80s, the good more folks are back at work, behaviors news became even better. For the courses have changed significantly and golf will that were closed in March and April, the great news is they are not facing significant continue to flourish. After being shut down in April, rounds losses. For those that remained open and at the two Tulsa County courses LaFor- busy, there are prospects for a monster year. Many Oklahoma golfers typically shut tune Park (championship and par-3 course) it down when and South Lakes college football were at levels starts, missing not seen since much of by far 2002. Combined the best weather in May and season in this June the county state. When courses had Oklahoma and 31,369 paying Oklahoma State rounds on the 54 are playing on holes, compared a Saturday, golf to 23,880 in 2019 courses are a – a 31 percent inghost town. crease. Golfers new and old pack the ranges. This year we At Lincoln Park in Oklahoma City, the months of May, may have football but that is uncertain and June and July all recorded more play in the in-person crowds will likely be limited. those three months than in any year since Do you sit home all day watching televi2009. And this is with the course mov- sion on a 70-degree day when the leaves ing from 7.5 minute intervals between tee are turning or play and use the DVR? Pat times to 10 minutes, a reduction in capacity McCrate, who operates the Tulsa County of 25 percent. And with only five tourna- courses, said he is expecting big fall numments being held by the first of August at a bers, a thought echoed by Lincoln Park course than normally hosts more than 100 head pro Aaron Kristopeit. “This year we’re planning on a ramp up tournaments annually. The increase at the 72 holes of play run in September,” McCrate said. “People are by the City of Tulsa (36 at Page Belcher, 36 working at home. They may only be goat Mohawk Park) rose from 19,072 in 2019 ing to school part of the week. It’s the most to 23,655 for the May-June time frame this beautiful time of the year in the state for year. At Bailey Ranch in Owasso, play was golf.” Kristopeit said he has noticed many up 35 percent in the May-June time frame despite loss of tournament revenue and golfers conducting conference calls or doing other work on the course. Others now more roomy tee times. The golf boom is national. The National working from home have the flexibility to Golf Foundation reports that play national- adjust their schedules to accommodate golf, ly was up 14 percent for June in 2020 versus something they could not have done if tied 2019, an increase of 7 million to 8 million to an office from 8 to 5. rounds. Play in the Southwest was up more See PUBLISHER on page 36 than 20 percent.

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

Volume 10, Number 4 Golf Oklahoma Offices Southern Hills Plaza 6218 S. Lewis Ave., Ste. 200 Tulsa, OK 74136 918-280-0787

LIKE US!

FACEBOOK.COM/ GOLFOKLAHOMAMAGAZINE

Oklahoma City Office 405-640-9996 Publisher Ken MacLeod ken@golfoklahoma.org

COO/Marketing Director A.G. Meyers agm@golfoklahoma.org Art & Technology Director Chris Swafford chris@golfoklahoma.org Subscriptions to Golf Oklahoma are $15 for one year (five issues) or $25 for two years (10 issues). Call 918-280-0787 or go to www.golfoklahoma.org. Contributing photographers Rip Stell, Bill Powell Golf Oklahoma PGA Instructional Staff Jim Woodward Teaching Professional, Oak Tree National jwoodwardgolf@sbcglobal.net, 405-3482004 Jim Young Teaching Professional, River Oaks CC 405-630-8183 Tracy Phillips Director of Instruction, FlyingTee vt4u@yahoo.com, 918-352-1089 Maggie Roller Director of Instruction, Cedar Ridge CC maggie.roller@sbcglobal.net, 918-261-1441 Jerry Cozby PGA Professional jerrycozby@aol.com, 918-914-1784 Kyley Tetley, PGA Professional The Golf Studio 918-232-6564 Oklahoma Golf Association 2800 Coltrane Place, Suite 2 Edmond, OK 73034 405-848-0042 Executive Director Mark Felder mfelder@okgolf.org Director of Handicapping and Course Rating Jay Doudican jdoudican@okgolf.org Director of Junior Golf Morri Rose morose@okgolf.org Copyright 2020 by Golf Oklahoma Magazine. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission from Golf Oklahoma. Golf Oklahoma is published by South Central Golf, Inc.

MARK FELDER

OGA Executive Director

FROM THE OGA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Watching the kids grow up When Max McGreevy won for the first time on the Korn Ferry Tour in late July, it was just the latest example of the fantastic success our young Oklahoma players are having and brought back poignant memories of his two Oklahoma Open victories in 2017 and 2019. You watch these kids grow up from an early age, get to know them and their parents, and then to see them have the success they are having is really gratifying. The first time Max won the Open title I had to hand off the trophy presentation to someone who wasn’t about to start crying. With that victory, if Max can move up to the PGA Tour next year, that would mean four of our local Oklahoma Open champions since 2010 would have their PGA Tour cards, including Rhein Gibson, Robert Streb and Josh Creel. We’ll see who else might join those ranks when this year’s Open takes place Aug. 20-22 on the East Course at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond. We wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the top competitors at this year’s OGA

SUSAN FERGUSON

State Amateur Championship also be in Patriot, it was 31-year-old Jamie Voegeli of the mix at the Open. Players like Jaxon Tulsa, a member at Meadowbrook Country Club. Jamie played brilliantly for six matches over three days and had quite an incredible trio of firsts. It was his first state amateur championship to enter, he made his first hole-in-one to help spur him to victory in the quarterfinals, and his wife was set to deliver their first child just a few weeks after the championship. Congratulations Jamie and we hope to see you at many more OGA events in the future. The Patriot in Owasso was a wonderful host for the OGA and the competitors and we look forward to our next event there, hopefully at a more normal time when social distancing is a thing of the past. That said, golf continues to boom during the pandemic, and not just at your local course. Our number of entries for the SeJamie Voegeli and Max McGreevy. nior and Mid-Amateur stroke play events Dowell of Edmond, bound for the Uni- rose over 42 percent from 2019 and there versity of Oklahoma this fall, can already is no slowdown of participation in sight. compete at the highest level and he will be We’re glad that so many are rediscovering what makes golf the greatest of games for in the field for the Open. But it wasn’t Jaxon who prevailed at The all ages. See you at the course.

President WOGA

WOMEN’S OKLAHOMA GOLF ASSOCIATION

Young, Nelke new WOGA champs First of all, thank you to all of earn the coveted WOGA Junior Amateur those who supported WOGA’s eighth an- title. WOGA concluded its 102nd State Amanual Fundraiser, held July 13 at beautiful Cedar Ridge Country Club. We had a record number of teams who played in the tournament, and, along with bidding on great silent auction items, we were able to raise a record amount of money that will continue to fund WOGA’s Scholarships and Grants Programs. A big thank you to Cedar Ridge for its hospitality and firstclass service. During the next two Raychel Nelke Annie Young days, WOGA held its 70th annual Junior Girls Championship at teur Tournament the week of July 20 at Cedar Ridge. Congratulations to Raychel the beautiful Golf Club of Oklahoma. Nelke of Pocola for an outstanding perfor- Congratulations to Annie Young, the Unimance. She withstood charges from Maddi versity of Tulsa women’s golf coach, who Kamas and Jenni Roller, among others, to defeated Sydney Hermann of Ponca City in 8

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

the finals. It was a great field of some of Oklahoma’s finest women and junior golfers. Thank you to Golf Club for all of its work and support during Photo by Bill Powell this week. WOGA is now preparing for its last two tournaments of the year. Our annual Four Ball Partnership tournament is again at Shangri-La Resort on August 17-18. Once again, a full field is expected. WOGA will conclude the 2020 season with its annual WOGA Cup Team Tournament, to be held Sept. 21-22 at River Oaks Country Club in Oklahoma City. Entries open Aug. 10. The field is limited to the first 20 teams, with no more than two teams representing a club. Please visit our website at woga.golfgenius.com for more information and registration for these two tournaments. GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

BOB PHELPS

OGA Rules Director

FROM THE OGA RULES DIRECTOR

The Rules of Golf versus Local Rules In conversations at tournaments and at the course, I am frequently questioned regarding the applicable rule covering a variety of situations. Rule 1.3a defines the meaning of “Rules” as: 1) Rules 1-24 and the Definitions in these “Rules of Golf”, and 2) Any “Local Rules” the committee adopts for the competition or the course. It is Part 2 of this definition that seems to create confusion among golfers at all levels. In all competitions, the Committee may choose to adopt a variety of Local Rules for the competition. Ideally your course professional will have published Local Rules governing casual play at your course as well. Rule 1.3b(1) follows by clearly stating that players are responsible for applying the Rules to themselves. It is the player’s responsibility to know the Rules, including knowing what Local Rules have been adopted for the competition or course. Below are a few Local Rules that have led to some of the confusion. By far, the biggest misconception with the “modernized” rules is that a player can now estimate where that player’s ball went

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

out of bounds or is lost, drop a ball in the fairway nearest to the estimated spot, and play on getting a two-shot penalty. This is not a Rule but a much-publicized Local Rule introduced in 2019. While I personally support its implementation for casual play, this Local Rule is not recommended for competition and is not used in any OGA competition. Another commonly used Local Rule that is not in The Rules of Golf and must be adopted by the committee is granting line of play relief for immovable obstructions (irrigation heads) located within two club lengths of the putting green. Other Local Rules in use that many mistakenly believe are in the Rules of Golf are: 1) The One-Ball Rule which restricts players to using the same brand and type of ball, 2) The TIO Rule which grants line of play relief for temporary immovable obstructions, and 3) Prohibiting practice between holes in Stroke Play. Yes, you can practice putting or chipping on near the green of the hole just completed unless this Local Rule is adopted. The Modernized Rules have created

further confusion by moving some previous Local Rules to the Rules of Golf. A few examples include: 1) Distance Measuring Devices are now allowed unless prohibited by Local Rule, 2) players are now entitled to relief for an embedded ball in the General Area instead of just areas cut to fairway height, and 3) players can now remove stones from bunkers without the use of a Local Rule. There are obviously more examples. What I sincerely hope to convey is the importance of knowing the difference between the Rules of Golf and Local Rules. A comprehensive list of Local Rules that can be adopted by committees can be found in Committee Procedures of the Official Guide, at www.usga.org or in the free USGA Rules of Golf app. I recommend becoming familiar with the various Local Rules that are not in play unless specifically adopted by the committee. The next time you play in a tournament, please read the Local Rules sheet provided to all competitors, it may just save you from getting a penalty.

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

AUG/SEPT

THE

GOODS

Cobra Golf KING SpeedZone driver

What's up with Bryson's Driver? proaches a mind boggling 200 mph. The SpeedZone can boast many qualn professional golf, the most dis- ity features but the two most significant in cussed topic this year has been the my view are the Infinity face and low spin effect of the devastating worldwide weight placement. Without getting into a pandemic causing the cancellation of many lot of technical details, the Infinity face is a events and those that are being held done CNC-milled titanium cup that wraps around to the sole and crown as well as the toe plus so without fans. It also seems those in charge who are partly up the hosel. The milling allows for responsible for the wellbeing of fans and precise variable thicknesses across the entire competitors, such as PGA Tour Commis- face area but also means a minimum loss of ball speed when impact is not exsioner Jay Monahan, have come to actly in the center, so any distance the conclusion we will have to face loss is reduced. Low ball spin and a further disruptions such as the renice high launch come from having cently announced postponement of much of the head’s weight located the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. low in the head towards the sole, The next most persistent focus exactly what is required for the best of fans, commentators and social carry and total distance. media has been 26-year-old Bryson Adding to the package is a DeChambeau and the mindTom Olsavsky unique interior configuration numbing distance numbers he Cobra Golf VP that has a T-bar across the inteproduces with his new physique rior of the crown adding to head strength and a Cobra Golf KING SpeedZone driver. Through the Rocket Mortgage Classic, while at the same time keeping overall the 26th event of the shortened season and weight down. The weight balance is furwhich DeChambeau won for his sixth ca- ther helped by half of the clubhead being reer victory, the young pro, who since last covered with carbon fiber. Golf Oklahoma thought a closer look at year added 20 pounds of weight and something like 20-mph ball speed, has eight top- DeChambeau’s KING SpeedZone driver 10 finishes in 11 starts, ranks first in driving would be worthwhile and contacted Tom distance with an average of 323 yards, sixth Olsavsky, Cobra Golf vice president of Rein greens in regulation and perhaps most search and Development. Olsavsky offered surprisingly, 12th in strokes gained putting. interesting insights plus comments about In other words, he can bomb it off the tee the future of the golf equipment industry in and still get the ball in the hole. No won- general and Cobra in particular. Can you tell our readers about the deder he is called a phenomenon. As with most things in golf, who knows how long velopment of the KING SpeedZone driver DeChambeau may be able to stay atop this used by Bryson DeChambeau and what is special about the particular one (head, lofty pinnacle but for now he’s the man. The KING SpeedZone driver that De- shaft and grip) he uses to hit his 300-yard Chambeau is using to wow fans and fellow plus drives? The KING SpeedZone driver that Bryson players has only 5.5 degrees of loft with LA Golf BAD prototype 60X shaft 45.5 inches uses is a stronger loft than our 9-degree prolong contrasting with the same model in my duction version. We tested with him quite bag which is a more “normal” specification. a bit last fall and with his swing and body After a session at the local Club Champion changes he had picked up even more speed, we found that the SpeedZone with 10.5 so we knew we needed less loft to reduce degrees loft and a Tensei AV Blue 65 regu- spin and launch angle. And during the break lar flex shaft produced for me comparable on Tour he got even stronger and faster.The distance to other premium drivers but was driver is labeled 7 degrees but with the Mymuch straighter. Ball speed is in the 145- Fly sleeve we can get the loft down to 5.5 mph range while DeChambeau’s launch ap- deg. Other than that, it’s the same design,

materials and construction as our standard models. He also uses an LA Golf Shaft that is very stiff. Stiffer than anything that has been in use by normal tour players. It’s essentially a long drive shaft and would probably be classified as XXX. It is a special prototype design from LA Golf Shafts and is not yet available. His Grip is from Jumbo Max and he has played this for many years. This version is more of a standard weight, as opposed to the 120-gram versions that he started with. Do you see this as a trend for Tour players or average golfers? Tour players are all trying to hit it farther and straighter. We know that getting stronger and training more for their swings will continue. Similar to Tiger [Woods], Brooks [Koepka], DJ [Dustin Johnson] and others but Bryson is taking it to another level. Can you share with us anything about the next model driver succeeding the KING Speedzone? Not just yet, but as you know we are always working on better, easier to play and cooler. Will the introduction be made in the fall as happened in previous years or will the current state of the industry require a change? No one can really be sure right now, but I think everyone is watching what is going on very closely. With that being said, Cobra Golf does have plans to launch on our normal yearly cadences and I’m sure everyone else does as well. We know the sales success goes to the best product every year in the spring, so that is our goal. What is your forecast about the future of driver technology? At Cobra Golf we know that we have to work hard every year to improve and innovate. You can’t just sit still. We have a very talented and creative team of engineers and designers who work years in advance to keep improving our driver technology every year, in every possible way.

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

by ed travis

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

2020 Golf Pass is BIGGER AND BETTER! Visit scspgagolfpass.com to order yours today!

Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaraguan Nicaraguan. This cigar is an instant classic in its own right. The Real Nicaraguan is hand crafted in Estelí, Nicaragua at the Tabacalera 2020 has brought us a swell of surprises AJ Fernandez Factory, and is termed a “puro” and changes not only to our daily lives but cigar, meaning the wrapper, binder, filler to our normal routines, so why should the is 100% Nicaraguan tobacco. The blend comes in four sizes, cigar industry be any robusto, toro, magnum different. As some of and churchill. you may know but for The Reserva Real those who are a firstNicaraguan is medium time readers, Romeo y in body and strength. Julieta Reserva Real is The cigar is beautifully a staple cigar in humiconstructed, with a dors around the world. deep rich blue band that It is incredibly popular stands out in a crowd. with its light & creamy The robusto vitola is flavors and strength, the format used for this making it highly recomreview. The tobacco mended for the novice Rafael Nodal and AJ Fernandez. smells like a sweet hay to the connoisseur. Earlier in the year Altadis commissioned meadow. The dry draw is clean with some master blender AJ Fernandez and Rafael mild salty notes on the wrapper. There are Nodal to put their spin on America’s most notes on the light up of sweet molasses and beloved cigar. Their efforts were brought to leather with black pepper pushing through light with the creation of the Reserva Real on the retro hale. The smoke is thick with a by mike crabtree and laramie navrath

pleasant aroma. As we delve into the middle third of the cigar the black pepper spices tone down and the sweetness is subdued with some salty brine filling into the smoke. As the cigar rounds out, we are left with mild spices and a sweet mellow finish. From the first draw to the last, the cigar remains constant in flavor, and medium in strength. Try it out on your next 9 holes of golf.

Proudly serving Oklahoma with a fine selection of cigars and related products. Stop on by our current locations and share a smoke with us!

2726 W Britton Rd Oklahoma City, OK 405-942-0070

1801 Cornwell Dr. Suite 301 Yukon, OK 2nd Location NOW Open 405-494-7188

www.ztcigars.com (800) 340-3007 GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

AUG/SEPT

The

BOOKSHELF

We shall overcome sports had integrated. Still, some local tournaments merely co-sponsored by the PGA, n July 2, mainly on the west coast, had begun the PGA admitting Black players in spite of the of America rule. But it was still a struggle. In the 1952 Phoenix Open, Charlie managed its equivalent of toppling a Sifford, along with boxing champ Joe Confederate general Louis, players Ted Rhodes, Bill Spiller statue by renaming and two amateur players were told to the Horton Smith Award the PGA Profes- head out early, before all the white players teed off (or had even arrived). sional Development Award. When they reached the As PGA President Suzy first green, Sifford wrote Whaley put it, “In renaming in his 1992 memoir, “Just the Horton Smith Award, the Let Me Play,” “...somebody PGA of America is taking ownhad been there before us. ership of a failed chapter in our The cup was full of human history that resulted in excludshit, and from the looks and ing many from achieving their smell of it, it hadn’t been too dreams of earning the coveted long before we got there that PGA Member badge and adthe cup had been filled.” vancing the game of golf. We It’s too soon to know what need to do all we can to ensure Lane Demas our current chapter of history the PGA of America is defined is going to look like further by inclusion. Part of our mission to grow the game is about welcoming all down the road. But it seemed like a good and bringing diversity to the sport.” That clearly wasn’t Horton Smith’s time to recall a few of goal. The two-time Masters winner (in- the books that chroncluding the first) was the PGA President icle the hurdles that from 1952-54, when the association ad- golfers of color have ministered all the sanctioned tour events had to overcome in the and still had its Caucasian-only clause in game’s long history. Sifford’s book, coeffect. And which it unaccountably maintained until 1961, long after other major written with Jim Gullo (British American Publishing, 1992), is subtitled “The Story of Charlie Sifford, the First Black PGA Golfer,” and so he was, earning a Tour card in 1960 when he was 39. Sifford was a little like Satchel Paige, moving from the Negro Leagues to Major League Baseball when he was a little past his prime. But Sifford won twice on Tour (the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and the 1969 Los Angeles Open), after years of consistent success on the United Golf Association tour, including five straight wins (1952-1956) in the Bill Spiller with boxing champ Joe Louis. National Negro Open (he won a

sixth time in 1960). Sifford’s recognition came late, but he did receive his due — induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, a Presidential Medal of Freedom bestowed by President Barack Obama, an Honorary Degree from the University of St. Andrews and a host of other awards. Tiger Woods named his son, Charlie, after Sifford. If Sifford was the pathbreaker onto the Tour, the broader history of golf and people of color is told in “Forbidden Fairways” by Calvin Sinnette (Sleeping Bear Press, 1998), “Uneven Lies” by Pete McDaniel (The American Golfer, 2000) and “Game of Privilege” by Lane Demas (University of North Carolina Press, 2017), which was reviewed here in the Oct.-Nov. 2017 issue. All of these cover much of the same ground, from the earliest days of golf in America right up to the Tiger Woods era, but all differ in approach. Sinnette’s is the most anecdotal and readable; McDaniel’s is the best coffee table book, loaded with photographs; Demas, an historian, takes the most comprehensive historical look. If his prose sometimes veers toward the aca-

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

by tom bedell

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

demic, the volume’s breadth and overall historical context helped Demas snag the USGA’s Herbert Warren Wind Book Award in 2017. In each we read about John Shippen, likely the first homegrown U.S. golf pro who along with his friend Oscar Bunn, a Native American of the Shinnecock Tribe, played in the second U.S. Open, at Shinnecock Hills in 1896. Their participation was not without a threatened boycott from the 35 or so other golfers until USGA president Theodore Havemeyer said the two would play in the tournament even if they were the only two who did play. The rest relented, and Shippen went on to tie for fifth and pocketed $25 for the effort. If Shippen’s career was an early bright

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Alfred “Tup” Holmes brought a golf spot, more exclusionary times were to come. With the estab- desegregation suit against the city of Atlishment of the PGA in 1916 lanta in 1955 that, Demas argues, was just an unspoken segregation went as critical to societal history as Brown v. into effect; the Caucasian-on- Board of Education. Holmes was as determined to play as ly clause was put into writing Sifford was to compete. While civil rights in 1934. One is tempted to call sit-ins were spreading throughout the the stories of early pioneers south — begun at a Woolworth’s lunch — Spiller, Rhodes, Walter counter in Greensboro, N.C. in 1960 — Speedy, Alfred “Tup” Holmes, Sifford became the first Black to play in a Joe Bartholomew, William PGA Tour event in the south in 1961: at the Greater Greensboro Powell — Open. horror stoHe shot a 68 in the ries, but opening round and they’re led the tournament. also tales But playing with state of remarkable persevertroopers following him ance in the face of intolaround, dealing with erance. hecklers on the course Outside the profesand deflecting threats sional ranks, Blacks had off it, led to a shaky 75 trouble even getting on the last day, and a onto golf courses. Defourth-place finish. But mas in particular shows he’d made history, and how the desire to play six months later the fed into the civil rights Caucasian-only clause movement of the ‘50’s Alfred ‘Tup’ Holmes was gone. and ‘60’s.

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

CHIP SHOTS

AUG/SEPT

Bermuda greens for Cedar Creek GC by ken macleod

edar Creek Golf Course at Beavers Bend State Park near Broken Bow shut down Aug. 9 to regrass all of its greens with Champion ultradwarf Bermuda. The entire process of removal of old greens, sprigging in the Champion and growing in will take close to three months and the course should be ready to reopen in early November. Kurt Adams, the course manager and superintendent, said it was tough to shut down with play booming this summer, but the old Tifdwarf Bermuda greens were in bad shape. “The last few winters have just killed them,” Adams said. “They’ve had a lot of disease and a lot of problems. Golfers will love the new greens once they’ve grown in.” Adams said some select tree removal will also be done on the course to allow greater sunlight to the new greens. Cedar Creek en-

joys one of the most spectacular natural settings of any course in the state. “Everybody thinks we’re lined with pines because the ping logging industry is so big down here, but we’re about 70 percent hardwoods,” The third hole at tree-lined Cedar Creek Golf Course. Adams said. “We’ve got somewhere near a half million trees on the summer. There is a new restaurant on site, trout fishing, floating and kayaking in the property.” The area around the state park has been lower Mountain Fork River, train rides, booming. In and around Hochatown there horseback stables, hiking and more. Adams said play was up close to 30 perare over 30 new restaurants, four wineries, two breweries and a distillery. There are cent over 2019 by the first of August. When complete, Cedar Creek will be the more than 3,000 private cabins in the woods surrounding the state park. Many are owned fifth state park course to switch to Bermuda or rented by Texans and that business has greens, joining Arrowhead, Lake Murray, been booming as folks look for a short drive Sequoyah and Grand Cherokee. The wild and a safe vacation during the COVID-19 canyon course at Roman Nose State Park and the more arid setting at Fort Cobb State pandemic. Beavers Bend State Park has a lodge and Park allow those two to be more successful cabins that have also been enjoying a busy with traditional bent grass greens.

Construction on Earlywine clubhouse begins in 2021 by molly fleming

Residents in south Oklahoma City could have a brighter place to hit golf balls by spring 2022. GSB, Inc. Architects is continuing to work with the city on the design for the new Earlywine Golf Clubhouse, 11600 S. Portland Ave. The architecture firm submitted its first round of plans in August 2019. Comments were received in December and another set of drawings were submitted last month. The $8.5 million, 18,600-square-foot building is being funded by the 2017 general obligation bond package. There are three clubhouses in the entire package, with Earlywine being the first on the list. The other two clubhouses to be built are at Lake Hefner and James E. Stewart, which is being designed by Miles Associates. The new building will have a modern look, yet still appeal to guests of all ages. 14

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

There will be large, glass windows on the side that faces the course, allowing natural light to fill the space. The building will have high ceilings and a covered porch on the golf side so people can sit out and take The back of the clubhouse features several windows, in the scenery. allowing natural light to illuminate the inside. The updates at the golf course include more than a new clubhouse. Golf Trust Specialist Sean Simpson said the The existing driving range will be widened aim is to make Earlywine into a place that and lengthened, with a 24-bay covered hit- people want to hang out, offering a great ting tee area being constructed and lights restaurant, covered outdoor seating and an being added for evening hitting. While it inviting atmosphere for hitting range balls. The City is looking at offering a Toptracer won’t be as technology-based as Topgolf or similar operations, the goal is to create technology, available for rent, so golfers can a similar atmosphere, said Design Principal track how far their ball travels. Having this entertainment-like option is Mike Hinchey with GSB. “Covered hitting was something the city something the City has been discussing as and the community wanted to have,” he a revenue driver to make up for lost golf said. “The city wanted to create an opportu- rounds (though as of May, golf rounds are up 2.2% year-over-year at City of Oklahonity for events and other activities.” Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation ma City courses, with more than 181,000 GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

It ’s Time to Experience

“ONE OF THE BEST GOLF RESORTS IN THE SOUTHWEST” 2019 GOLF DIGEST EDITOR’S CHOICE

APPLE ROCK | RAM ROCK | SLICK ROCK |

Robert Trent Jones, Sr.

TEE IT UP GOLF PACKAGE Hit the links at our three award winning golf courses in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Unwind in luxurious accommodations, play a round on the course of your choice, then relax at our lakeside resort that was named one of America’s Best Golf Resorts by Golf Magazine.

CLASSIC GUEST ROOM ACCOMMODATIONS ROUND ON ANY ROBERT TRENT JONES SR. COURSE CALL TO BOOK YOUR GOLF PACKAGE AT 833.521.6720

4 5 - M I N U T E S W E S T O F A U S T I N | 8 3 3 . 5 21 . 6 7 2 0 | H S B R E S O R T . C O M

CHIP SHOTS

AUG/SEPT

rounds being played as of May 31). Hinchey and his team likely won’t be spending much time on the links as they work to move the project forward. They’re creating two sets of additional design documents for the project, allowing some flexibility for project additions if they fit the budget. “This will allow us to look at different options when we get the construction bids,” said A new hitting pavillion Sean Simpson, trust specialist with Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation. One option for the project is a 250-person event space. Early discussions on the new Earlywine clubhouse included creating an event space that’s larger than what’s currently offered. A study of event space needs in the southwest area showed that there was a business demand for a new venue. The City saw non-golf revenue tick up at Lincoln Park Golf Course when the new

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

clubhouse opened in 2015. The building has become a popular site for weddings and other non-golf events. The initial plans for Earlywine space will fit as many as 175 people at 8-seat tables, though if the budget allows, the space could be made slightly bigger to accommodate 250 people. E v e n with the COVID-19 pandemic causing large events to be cancelled, planned for the range. Hinchey said there hasn’t been any discussion to remove the event space. The other flexible part of the design is the At The Turn grill. The building could be expanded to include a full kitchen. For now, golfers will be able to get hot dogs and other ready-made snacks, which will be prepared with concession-like equipment. If progress continues as expected, construction documents will go out to bid in 2020’s fourth quarter, with work starting in

early 2021. The building and new driving range area could be completed by early 2022.

Big Cedar to host consecutive Champions Tour events Some of the biggest and most legendary names in golf are returning to Big Cedar Lodge and the Ozarks next month. PGA TOUR Champions and Big Cedar Lodge announced today two new events that will be contested as part of the Tour’s combined 2020-21 schedule. The Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops’ Big Cedar Lodge will feature back-to-back 54-hole tournaments played over a nine-day period in August, with each event carrying a $3 million purse and televised worldwide on The GOLF Channel. The Charles Schwab Series at Buffalo Ridge will take place Aug. 19-21 at the Buffalo Ridge Course, with the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National to follow on Aug. 24-26. Practice rounds for each event will be held the two days prior to competition. Spectators will not be allowed at either event. Buffalo Ridge was ranked the #1 course you can play Missouri in Golfweek’s “2019 Best” issue while Ozarks National was ranked the nation’s best new course in 2019 by Golf Digest.

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

induction videos and acceptance speeches, plus much more information on Oklahoma’s golf heritage, can be viewed at www. oklahomgolfhof.org.

Tickets on sale for Senior PGA Championshp at Southern Hills

Oak Tree National in Edmond.

Play OTN, support Golf Hall of Fame by ken macleod

he 2020 Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame Classic, a fundraiser for the Hall’s scholarship and Everett Dobson Award programs, will be Oct. 20 at 9 a.m. at Oak Tree National in Edmond. Come enjoy a round on Pete Dye’s masterpiece, mingle with Hall of Fame members and compete in a shamble format for great prizes. This year’s event will have a silent auction featuring rounds at amazing state and region-

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

al destinations as well as other items. Teams of four are just $1,500 including breakfast, lunch and tee gifts. You can also be a presenting sponsor and have your name in all pre-tournament publicity or sponsor one of the scholarships. Download the entry form and much more information here. The Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame was formed in 2014 and merged the same year with the previous Oklahoma Women’s Golf Hall of Fame. The Hall is also raising funds to secure a permanent location. For now, all

In the expectation that there will be fans at the 2021 Senior PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, the PGA of America has begun selling various ticket packages at www.tickets.srpga.com. A pass that allows one access to all rounds of competition and practice is $199. Single day passes for the competition are $40 and for practice rounds $25. Single day passes for the Bourne Club, an open air hospitality tent near the 17th green which includes views of the green, water, light snacks and a beer and wine bar from noon to 6 p.m., are $175. Practice rounds are May 25-26 and the competition is May 27-30. Those who want to volunteer to work at the championship should go to www.srpga.com and click the volunteer tab. There is a form there to fill out that will put you in the registration pool for volunteers. Volunteers could be walking scorers, marshals, hospitality, merchandise or many other positions.

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

ALL-AMERICANS

AUG/SEPT

Quade Cummins

Austin Eckroat champion and competed in a slew of Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour (OJGT) events, which caught the eye of OU coach Ryan Hybl. “Once I got to OU, it was hard at first and then I kind of found something with (instructor) Ryan Rody (formerly at Gaillardia, now at Southern Hills) and Coach Hybl, and here we are,” Cummins said. Meanwhile, Eckroat was among a gaggle of junior golfing greats who helped transform Edmond North into one of the country’s most elite high school programs, winning 13 Class 6A state championships over a 14-year span (2005-2018), which was preceded by three straight crowns from 1994-96. Playing for the Cowboys was a lifelong dream for Eckroat, a two-time Class 6A state champion, who in 2014 became the first freshman ever to win the 6A individual crown. He was a medalist 15 times in his high school career. “I grew up an Oklahoma State fan and now kind of being the leader there and being on the No. 1 bag, it’s kind of cool,” Eckroat said. “I’ll be able to tell my kids about it. It’s a pretty cool aspect.” Eckroat also was recruited by the Sooners. “I really like Coach Hybl,” Eckroat said. “I was looking at OU pretty heavily, but once Oklahoma State offered, it was pretty clear I was going to go there. There was a chance (of going to OU), but I wouldn’t say there was a big chance. If Oklahoma State was going to offer me (a scholarship), it was going to be very hard to go someplace else.”

Homegrown rivals Eckroat, Cummins two of nation's top collegians

by john rohde

wo in-state All-Americans will lead two in-state Division I programs this upcoming season. In the process, Oklahoma State’s Austin Eckroat and Oklahoma’s Quade Cummins also could jump-start their own professional careers by earning exempt status. Stoking this season’s excitement for Eckroat and Cummins is the debut of the PGA Tour University program, which rewards elite collegiate play with varying levels of access to tours operated under the PGA Tour umbrella. This much-anticipated collegiate path to the PGA Tour was launched June 1 and will award the top-15, four-year college players with exempt status. • Collegiate players ranked Nos. 1-5 will be exempt into all open, full-field Korn Ferry Tour events beginning the week after the NCAA Division I Championship through the conclusion of the KFT regular season. The top five finishers will also be exempt into the final stage of that year’s KFT Qualifying Tournament. • Collegiate finishers ranked Nos. 6–15 will receive membership onto one of the PGA Tour’s International Tours – PGA Tour 18

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

Latinoamérica, Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada (the Canadian Tour) or the PGA Tour Series-China – and will be exempt into all open, full-field events beginning the week after the NCAA Championship through the conclusion of the current season. Finishers Nos. 6-15 will also be exempt into second stage of that year’s Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament. “I always thought of stuff like this, but once I got to college, I didn’t really think it was going to be possible just cause I knew how hard it was going to be,” Cummins said. Eckroat and Cummins grew up just 90 miles apart in Oklahoma, but their career paths came on very different courses. Eckroat’s legend has steadily grown while playing the plush fairways of the exclusive Oak Tree courses in Edmond, while Cummins honed his skills on the far more modest municipal track of Prairie West Golf Club in windswept Weatherford. “I wouldn’t say it’s the worst of the worst,” a chuckling Cummins said of his hometown course, “but I enjoyed learning how to play golf basically on farmland. I think it blows harder in Weatherford than any place I’ve ever been. It’s taught me a lot, how to work the ball and stuff.” Cummins was a two-time Class 4A state

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

be there, but it’s scorecard, they quickly became a supporting going to be fun,” cast. “By the end of the round, we were all Cummins said. Ironically, turns cheering for him and hoping he would make out the coronavi- his putts,” Cummins said. “I mean, it was rus helped form awesome to watch.” The 21-year-old Wolff, who already has a Bedlam bond between Eckroat cracked the Top and Cummins, 60 in the Official who frequently World Golf RankNo one works harder on his game than Cummins, says coach Ryan Hybl. have played to- ings in less than gether at Oak Tree one season on the PGA Tour, shot 69 Eckroat and Cummins will return to their National while social distancing. Asked if playing alongside the enemy was that day alongside respective teams in August, although college against the rules, Eckroat said, “Nah, golf’s a Eckroat … and lost golf’s fall season remains in limbo. Eckroat was a starting freshman on the little different than the other sports. You have by eight shots. Hearing Eckroat Cowboys’ 2018 NCAA championship team to walk 4½ hours with them if you’re playing and had decided his junior season would be together. Might as well be friendly, but you speak of Cummins’ game, however, his last at OSU. Eckroat would then embark know you still want to beat ’em.” When Eckroat shot his mind-numbing, you would have on the professional circuit, hoping to rejoin former teammates and budding superstars 10-under-par 61 in early June to break the thought the course belonged Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland on the OTN course record from the back tees by record three strokes, Cummins was playing in the to a Sooner rather PGA Tour. COVID-19 spawned global touring uncer- same foursome alongside Wolff and former than a Cowboy. Austin Eckroat at 2019 “He is a really tainty that brought an abrupt halt to Eckroat’s OSU teammate Nick Heinen, who serves as OGA State Amateur. good player,” Eckplan, however. As if tour qualifying already Wolff’s caddy on tour. Eckroat birdied the first six holes, had 10 roat said of Cummins. “We’ve played a lot of wasn’t challenging enough, the pandemic completely cancelled the remaining Mack- birdies in a span of 13 holes and was side- golf. He hits it low. He has all the shots. He has a lot of shots that kids growing up on perfect enzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada (the Canadian tracked by a bogey on No. 10. When other players in the foursome real- courses don’t have, so I think it’s actually benTour), PGA Tour Latinoamérica and PGA Tour Series-China seasons in late May, while ized there was no catching Eckroat on the eficial for him.” the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour were suspended until early June. Current playing privileges were placed on hold and rolled over to the 2021 season. Eckroat downshifted and decided to return for his senior season. 124 N Peoria Ave Tulsa, OK 74120 918.832.5544 “I’m not very conflicted about it,” Eckroat said. “It’s one of those things where I was excited to turn pro, but coming back to Oklahoma State for another year isn’t the worst thing at all, so I’m pretty excited about that.” Springfield, Missouri For Cummins, who had helped catapult the Sooners to the No. 1 ranking last fall and spring before the coronavirus hit, the pandemic’s aftermath allows him to return for a sixth season with the Sooners after the NCAA Division I Council granted an extra year of eligibility to all student-athletes in spring (but not winter) sports whose seasons were canceled because of COVID-19. The experienced and ultra-deep Sooners will be led by Cummins and fifth-year senior Garett Reband, along with fifth-year senior Thomas Johnson, juniors Patrick Welch and Logan McAllister, plus a handful of others capable of cracking the starting five. Cummins and Reband were freshmen on the 2017 NCAA title team and will be seeking their second national championship rings with the Sooners. www.jonesplan.com “It’s going to feel kind of weird being on BUILDER a team when you’re really not supposed to

Hickory Hills Country Club

Think Outside.

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

COM PET I T ION ROUN DU P

College golf preview: What to watch for in

2020-21 by scott wright

ollege golfers don’t know when they’ll be back on the course representing their schools, but whenever it happens, it stands to be another strong year for universities in Oklahoma from the NCAA Division I level down to NAIA. Here’s a look at some of the storylines to watch when golf teams get back in action:

Cowboys welcome new faces STILLWATER — Oklahoma State’s unquesAustin Eckroat tioned leader is a name that golf fans in the state know well. Edmond native Austin Eckroat became the face of the Cowboys after Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland left school early for the PGA Tour. Eckroat has been a Aman Gupta successful college player, and set the course record at Oak Tree National in Edmond with a 61 earlier this year. Among the young returning players, Aman Gupta, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Brian Stark showed the ability Brian Stark to step into prominent roles this season. Then there are the five new faces — three freshmen and two transfers. Eugenio Chacarra, a sophomore transfer from Wake Forest, is atop the group of newcomers, Eugenio Chacarra and the other transfer, 20

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

Leo Oyo from San Diego State, beat Eckroat by a stroke at The Prestige in Palm Springs last season. “I think you’ll see us play a lot of different lineups,” coach Alan Bratton said. “We’re gonna have Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen good battles at home in Leo Oyo practice, and that’s gonna eryone to do better. prepare us for tournaments, because we have “I try to lead by example in workouts and multiple guys capable of winning events.” practice, so I make sure I’m working the hardest I can.”

OU’s Milligan healthy and ready to lead

NORMAN — The costs and the sadness of the pandemic and the shortened spring season were felt across the country, and OU junior Kaitlin Milligan experienced it all. The best season of her college career was cut off after seven events, through which she had a 71.4 stroke average and two topfive finishes. And she lost out on a shot to play Augusta National — though she’s been invited back for that event in 2021. But Milligan found a silver lining. Wrist pain that had been nagging at her, even while she was playing her best golf, wouldn’t go away. But the pandemic allowed her to take two months off and get fully healthy before returning to the course. “I’ve never had an injury related to golf, so that was an interesting obstacle to tackle,” said Milligan, who is from Norman North High School. “Overall, it was a good learning experience to have younger, rather than later in my career. And it happened at a good time, because it would have been way harder to take time off during the season. So I’m pretty thankful for how it turned out.” Now feeling healthy, Milligan is set to lead the Sooners into the coming season. “I was really shy in high school, but every time I was on a sports team, I feel like I jumped into a leadership role somehow,” she said. “A lot of it comes from where my confidence is at with my game. The higher it is, the more I want to lead and I want ev-

Cowgirls young but talented STILLWATER — Second-year Oklahoma State women’s coach Greg Robertson doesn’t have a lot of juniors or seniors to count on, but with the skill his young players bring to the table, the Cowgirls are a team worth getting excited about. “By the end of last spring, our top five were all underclassmen, so we’ve got a great group coming back, and we’ve got two freshmen coming in who can shake some things up in that lineup,” Robertson said.

Kaitlin Milligan GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Competition roundup Sponsored by Maja Stark leads the excitement. A freshman from Sweden who arrived at OSU in January, Stark rose into the top 10 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings over the summer. Isabella Fierro, a freshman from Mexico, Maja Stark arrived last fall as a top100 amateur and earned honorable mention AllAmerica honors in her first season. Robertson credited the former coaching staff of Courtney Jones and Par Nilsson for leaving him Isabella Fierro a strong foundation to build on as he tries to make his imprint on the program. “It’s about finding the right fit for the program,” Robertson said. “We’re working on changing the attitude of the team, having them work a little bit Maddy Tolchard harder, a little bit smart-

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

er. The players bought into it, and we’ve got some hard workers on the team, which is great. Robertson’s first full recruiting class of his own at OSU included Maddy Hinson-Tolchard, an Australian who has Rina Tatematsu had a standout junior career playing in amateur and professional events. And OSU finished off the spring by signing Rina Tatematsu, an experienced international player from Thailand.

Brictson was an All-America selection for 2020, while coach David Lynn was named the Division II South Central Region Coach of the Year. With plenty of depth behind Norby and Brictson, the Eagles should be back in the mix for a top-10 spot in Division II.

UCO women remain intact after top-25 finish

EDMOND — The University of Central Oklahoma women’s team was the state’s only representative in the final coaches’ top 25 for the 2020 season, and the Bronchos’ roster stays intact for the coming year. As a team, UCO won its own tournament and finished as a runner-up twice in last season’s abbreviated schedule. Susana Olivares is coming off a freshman season in which she Oklahoma ChrisTrevor Norby won twice, and four of tian men return UCO’s primary players two All-Americans had at least one top-five EDMOND — After finish. finishing No. 11 in the final poll of the truncated 2020 season, Oklahoma OCU women have Christian returns its only veteran squad, young talent on senior in Trevor Norby, a horizon two-time All-American. On top of that, Andres Susana Olivares OKLAHOMA CITY Andres Brictson

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

COM PET I T ION ROUN DU P stand to be sol— Recruiting id as usual, after is always imfinishing eighth portant, but in the final it’s been espeNAIA coaches’ cially so lately rankings of the for Oklahoma spring. City University Leading the women’s coach way of the curMarty McCauMelissa Eldredge ley. Natalie Gough rent team are Lauren Behnken He’s going to lean fully on juniors and se- senior Melissa Eldredge — a Eufaula native niors for the coming season. And the Stars who is a four-time All-American and was

INSURANCE YOU CAN DESIGN TO MEET YOUR EVER CHANGING NEEDS ■ Landlord/Vacant/Vacation home insurance ■ Renters insurance ■ Townhouse/Condo insurance

granted an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic — and two-time All-American Natalie Gough of Bixby. “We don’t have a lot of depth, but I feel like we have lots of experience,” McCauley said. “Lauren Behnken and Clair Hill are returning, and they both played in the top five in every tournament for us.” As excited as McCauley is for the coming season, he has a right to be giddy about the future of his program, with four talented players verbally committed in the 2021 recruiting class. Atop that group are Maddi Kamas of Kingfisher and Reagan Chaney of Plainview. Kamas is a top-100 player in the country, and top-20 in her recruiting class, making her one of the most elite recruits the program has ever had.

Clair Hill

Lorena Tseng

Jared Strathe

Tulsa hopes for more

Scott E Streller Your Local Agent 1708 S KELLY AVE EDMOND, OK 73013 SSTRELLER@FARMERSAGENT.COM https://agents.farmers.com/sstreller

TULSA – Head coach Annie Young won the WOGA State Amateur. Now if she can just get her players to do as well. That means more support for Lorena Tseng, who has 13 top10 finishes and a 72.18 scoring average in her first two years.

ORU continues to build

Call 405.348.3777 today! For Home, Auto, Life and Business.

Restrictions apply. Discounts may vary. Not available in all states. See your agent for details. Insurance is underwritten by Farmers Insurance Exchange and other affiliated insurance companies. Visit farmers.com for a complete listing of companies. Not all insurers are authorized to provide insurance in all states. Coverage is not available in all states.

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

Dustin Hasley

Sarah Bell

The ORU men will benefit from transfer Jared Strathe and the return of Dustin Hasley, Mike Biata, Jack Howes and Wichita State transfer Palmer Hayes Jr. The Golden Eagles Isabella Caamal women’s team is led by junior Sarah Bell, with strong suport from Isabella Caamal, Rachel Dupres and Beatriz Garcia. GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Virtual Banking No mask required

Contactless Payments Mobile Banking Online Banking

MEMBER FDIC

12201 North May Avenue • OKC, OK • 405.755.1000 • quailcreek.bank GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

COM PET I T ION ROUN DU P

15 by ken macleod

golfers? No problem

yan Hybl says those who are wondering how he is going to manage the egos of 15 collegiate golfers all believing they are deserving of playing time are looking at his situation the Garrett Reband wrong way. “Everyone is looking at this as a negative, but this is the biggest positive you could have,” said the University of Oklahoma coach. “It’s exciting that all these guys wanted to come Thomas Johnson back and that they have something to prove. This is a great situation to be in as a coach.” Hybl was planning on a 10-man roster for what was to be a bit of a rebuilding year for the Sooners after they made a concerted run at a national championRiley Casey ship last spring. Instead, the season was wiped out and four seniors – including Quade Cummins, Garrett Reband, Thomas Johnson and Riley Casey – were returning as part of the NCAA’s extra year of Jaxon Dowell eligibility for those affected by last spring’s cancellation. Then another surprise when one of the nation’s top seniors, Thomas Brightwell of UNC Greensboro, was transferring to OU. He finished the 2019-20 Stephen Campbell season ranked No. 13 in the nation according to Golfstat.com, winning twice and setting the UNCG scoring 24

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

average record at 70.05. “He’s very motivated and not coming here to sit,” Hybl said. “He wants to be around a bunch of good players and figures that will make him better.” So suddenly, Hybl’s roster swelled from 10 to 15, including last year’s freshman class which played sparingly and the incoming freshman class including Jaxon Dowell of Edmond, Stephen Campbell Jr. of Fort Bend Christian Academy in Richmond, Texas, and Ben Lorenz of Peoria, Ariz., where he was the 2019 National Junior Golf scoring champion with an average of 68.25. Those three guys aren’t coming to sit either. But obviously 10 of the 15 are going to have to most events.

Quade Cummins “My job is not to keep everybody happy, it’s to make sure all of our guys are trying to get better,” Hybl said. “The way I look at this is everybody should benefit.” Led by All-Americans Cummins and Reband, the Sooners will be a preseason favorite to win their second national title under Hybl. When and in what form that season will take place was still undetermined at press time and a good reason to often check www.golfoklahoma.org for updates. But as to what kind of firepower the Sooners will have, there’s little doubt this team could win it all. With his unstinting work ethic, Cummins has molded himself into one of the top collegians in the country and ranked in the top 25 in the World Amateur Golf

Ryan Hybl Rankings. Reband, who will miss the first month of the season with a broken hand, is loaded with ability and has become much more consistent. “Quade’s will to get better is as high as anyone I’ve ever been around,” Hybl said. “He brings it every day. He’s working with Ryan Rody at Southern Hills and they’ve done a phenomenal job dialing in his golf swing. Logan McAllister “Reband’s talent is off the charts. He’s now maturing and learning at a high level and has learned that you’re only as good as your bad golf. He has learned to limit his mistakes. His bad golf is not very bad anymore.” Blake Lorenz Welch, Johnson, Brightwell and Casey are all accomplished players, but players with perhaps a higher ceiling like Logan McAllister, whom Hybl went to caddie for at the U.S. Amateur, are poised to come into their own. Tucker Allen GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Last year’s freshmen Tucker Allen, Jake Holbrook and Turner Hosch comprised a highly-ranked class that was expecting more opportunities this year. And the new freshmen class won’t be asked to redshirt automatically. “Heck no,” Hybl said. “If these guys come in here and are ready to compete, they’ll have their chance. I expect Jaxon will have a chance Johnny Brightwell to play a lot of golf for us this year.” Hybl could field three five-man teams in each tournament that could compete. He welcomes the competitive depth. “This is a great situation,” he insisted. “We’ve had guys like Turner Hosch Brad Dalke and Blaine Hale that didn’t play in certain events in the past, and they’ll tell you it was because they weren’t playing their best at the time. We’re going to go with guys who are playing the best.”

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

COM PET I T ION ROUN DU P

Staying on course n a late June article on the Morning Read website, golf writer Mike Purkey pointed out the paltry number of AfricanAmericans on both the PGA Tour (4) and LPGA Tour (2). Purkey argued that it was up to the PGA of America and the PGA Tour to provide a bridge between outreach programs such as The First Tee and competitive grooming tours such as the American Junior Golf Association. A look around Oklahoma shows just how right Purkey is, at least in his analysis of the issue. The First Tee of Tulsa and the First Tee of Oklahoma City, along with other organizations such as the Eastern Golfers from Burroughs Elementary at the First Tee of Golf Association, do a marvelous job of introducing the game to thousands suburban golf neophyte. The program is of young Black golfers, both at their loca- free and kids are provided clubs if they don’t tions and through their outreach programs have them. Many seem to become captivated with the game and soon, according to to schools and other organizations. The First Tee of Tulsa in particular has executive director Janice Gibson, are identhree vans constantly bringing in kids who tifying themselves as golfers. They seem would not be considered your typical white, genuinely passionate about golf. Yet let’s look at how many are competing in 2020 in the two venues that have provided so many Oklahoma players an avenue to future success in college and beyond – the Oklahoma Junior Golf Tour run by Morri Rose (and the Oklahoma Golf Association) and the Players Tour run by the South Central Section of the PGA of America. Both have done an exceptional job of providing players from ages of 13 and up venues for highly competitive golf at a fraction of the cost of national organizations such as the AJGA. Graduates from the OJGT have earned approximately 450 college scholarships and some have gone on to the professional ranks. In 2020, there was not a single Black player competing on either the OJGT or the Players Tour, according to the directors of both tours. How are we losing every single Black golfer between the ages of 12 and 15? A Learning the fundamentals.

good start is that there is not a single junior high team in the Tulsa or Oklahoma City public school systems and only a handful of high school teams. In Tulsa Public Schools, only Booker T. Washington, Edison and Memorial have golf teams and TPS Director of Athletics Gil Cloud said he wasn’t aware of any black golfers on those three teams before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the high school season prematurely. In Oklahoma City Public Schools, there are no junior high teams and six high school teams. Jordan Hale, an assistant to OCPS athletics director Todd Dilbeck, estimated there are a total of 10 Black golfers on those teams. The lack of junior high programs is a key. While suburban kids get a free ride to a course that grants them playing privileges in Tulsa. the spring, many city kids would have to find a way to continue in the game. Courses often provide extremely reduced rates or even free golf for juniors, but you would have to be really determined to not only find your way to the course but practice and play when most of your friends are gathering for extended sessions on the basketball court. One who did was Tommy Riddle, who took full advantage of the opportunities offered by the First Tee of Tulsa, went on to become an employee and teach the game to others while continuing to play and practice with a goal of becoming a professional golfer. Riddle was home schooled and his father had already ruled out football as a safe activity, so the golf course became a natural escape when he moved to Tulsa at age 11 following his parents’ divorce. Now 23 and working in Oklahoma City while continuing to play and practice, Riddle has seen many promising African-American golfers get introduced to the game by The First Tee but then disappear into the world of team sports or other activities in their early teens. Riddle worries that Tiger Woods’ advancing years have left young Black players without a superstar to emulate, but his bigger concern is the lack of facilities where players can hone their games in a safe en-

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Outreach producing few competitive Black golfers, can it change? by ken macleod

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

Young pro Tommy Riddle. vironment with mentors or coaches readily available. He points to the AAU model used so successfully to build basketball powerhouses and would like to see an indoor golf facility that would give kids access to practice at all hours. Riddle said if the AAU would figure out a way to have golf programs and help run these sort of inner-city learning centers, many young players would continue in the game instead of leave it. This is not to imply that the First Tee and other programs are unsuccessful in their mission. There are many AfricanAmerican golfers who were first introduced to the game by the First Tee, dropped it during high school and college and came back once they began their working careers. But what it is not doing, at least here in Oklahoma, is producing many competitive success stories. And to judge by the lack of Black golfers in college and professional events, the situation is the same around the country. Golf is booming as a sport during the pandemic but only for those with access to a course and the means to pay. A lack of funding for junior high teams is not likely to change. “It’s a socio-economic thing,” Cloud said. “You’ve got to have access to the golf course first. And then around junior high there’s so much publicity about team sports, with the NBA and the NFL leading the way, that many of our kids have a tendency to go in that direction.” If you’re of the mindset that having more competitive Black players would be good for the game and a great opportunity for kids with all kinds of potential, then it’s going to take a special effort – by families, the players and by an outside agency looking to make it happen. GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

From small business to large enterprise, from rural communities to metropolitan areas and wholesale connectivity, Dobson connects you through our own 3,700 mile state-of-the-art fiber optic network. Your strategy, your choices, our product, one provider…that’s the power of being truly connected.

1.855.5.DOBSON DOBSON.NET INTERNET | VoIP PHONES | MANAGED IT

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

COM PET I T ION ROUN DU P

The day Arnie came to the T-O Junior by pat wheeler

WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Bobby Harwell was in a big hurry. What he thought would be his usual five-minute drive to Weeks Park Golf Course was now in serious peril. It seems a lot of local folks wanted to see Arnold Palmer play nine holes with Harwell and three other outstanding junior golfers on the eve of the annual Texas-Oklahoma Junior Tournament. Talk about pressure – what to do? “I only lived a few blocks from the course but there was this huge traffic jam,” Harwell said, remembering that hot August day in 1970. “I finally realized I would miss my tee time if I didn’t do something drastic,” said Harwell, now a resident of Edmond. “So I just pulled my old car up onto someone’s yard and thought it would probably be towed away but that I could walk and jog with my clubs and make it on time.” He did make it just in time and waiting for him on that first tee was Arnie, 18-year-old Ben Crenshaw and two Oklahoma juniors – defending champion Bruce Scott and Mark DeBolt. “They gave me funny looks but in no time they began the announcements and it was time to hit that first tee shot,” Harwell said. “And I have never been more nervous on a first tee.” Palmer’s playing that exhibition match in Wichita Falls is a moment still remembered by those in attendance 50 years later. The crowd that Monday in August was estimated at 5,000. Crowd control was such an issue that the 9-hole match was shortened to seven holes so Palmer could make his speaking engagement on time that evening. Earlier that day, upon his arrival in Wichita Falls via his private jet, Palmer proceeded straight to Weeks Park where he signed autographs and put on a short clinic with precision golf shots and a lot of clever banter. He talked of his friend and sometimes rival Jack Nicklaus and their relationship. Palmer went to the first tee for introduc28

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

tions and photos with Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, tournament director John Shiiltz and Jack Carnes, who coaxed Palmer to Wichita Falls and the T-O Junior. Soon they were joined by the golfers and Palmer’s caddie, a local junior golfer, Scott Haynie, who would win the T-O Junior the following year. Getting Palmer for the clinic and exhibition was a major achievement for the tournament which was one of the few large tournaments in the country in 1970. Palmer followed in the footsteps of others who had given the clinic beginning with Ben Hogan in 1960 and followed by Earl Stewart, Don January and Byron Nelson, just to name a few famous Texas pros. From Oklahoma, pros Labron Harris and Ernie Vossler had hosted the clinic in previous years. What made 1970 work for Palmer was the PGA Championship being contested the same week at Southern Hills in Tulsa. That way, he could fly into Wichita Falls on Monday for the clinic and dinner that night before flying to Tulsa later that night to ready his game for the only major to elude Palmer. As it turned out, Palmer was in the hunt for the PGA title late on Sunday before giving way to the eventual winner Dave Stockton. Crenshaw came into the T-O Junior as the overwhelming favorite coming off of a low amateur performance earlier that summer at the U.S. Open in Hazeltine, Minn. And true to form, Crenshaw would go on to win the tournament by two strokes over the late Mike Huebinger of San Antonio. But Palmer’s round with the juniors was the highlight as the crowd was stoked for fun. Arnie watched the juniors hit their drives on the drivable, short par-4 first hole at Weeks Park. Harwell didn’t know it at the time but the other junior players,

though seasoned for their ages, were nervous, too. “Later I played with Ben on the University of Texas team and asked him about being nervous that day and he said, `Yes,’ ” Harwell said. Perhaps the most nervous was DeBolt of Oklahoma City. “I got ready to hit and could not find my golf glove,” DeBolt said from his home in Minnesota. “I mean I was in a panic because I could not swing a club without a glove and started asking everyone around the tee for a glove. Someone thankfully gave me one and it wasn’t until I got to the first green that I realized mine was in my back pocket.” Palmer ripped his opening tee shot to the delight of the gathering but he was soon upstaged by the local hero Harwell. “That opening tee shot may have been the only shot I saw land all day,” Harwell said. “The crowd was so big that on the other shots I would hit, people were running in front of me quickly blocking my view.” Harwell’s opening tee shot was down the left side of the fairway but just far enough right to avoid a parallel pond to the first green. He was faced with a wedge shot of perhaps 70-to-80 yards and hit it well, very GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

to the gallery’s delight. well, as the ball landed “On the next tee, he and rolled right into the said, `Now, what was cup for an eagle-2. The your name again young crowd erupted and Palmman?’ ” Harwell said. er waved his acknowl“And then he asked me edgement to Harwell. if I always made long “It was just one of shots like those. It was those shots that I knew definitely a moment for I hit well but never saw me that I will never forit go in,” Harwell said. get.” “But the crowd reaction The exhibition congave me chills then and tinued for seven holes is giving me a little bit with Palmer making of that now thinking routine pars on each about it 50 years later.” hole. Then the players The second hole is a rushed to clean up and long and straight par-4 make the special dinner of about 400 yards and that evening with Palmit was there that Crener speaking from his shaw bombed a drive heart to the junior golfthat would be ahead of ers and city dignitaries. Palmer’s when the play“I just remember that ers reached their balls Left to right, Mark Debolt of OKC, Bob Harwell of Wichita Falls, Jack Carnes room being packed and for the second shot. Harof Wichita Falls, Palmer, former Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes, Scott Haynie of Palmer spoke about all well hit a good drive and Wichita Falls and Bruce Scott of Oklahoma. of us making good decithen his approach onto the front right of the green with a back left monster putt of at least 35 feet with the sions in life with a special emphasis on not using drugs or anything,” Harwell said. hole location. crowd erupting in cheers again. And then the king of golf was back into Harwell cemented his legacy as a bona It was at that point that Palmer playfully fide Wichita Falls hero by rolling in the gave the young Harwell a prolonged stare the skies and headed for Tulsa.

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

An affair of the heart Logan Allen keeps a great attitude on the course despite her heart difficulties. by ken macleod

ew have come so far so fast in the game of golf as Logan Allen. It’s quite an accomplishment for someone who has to move so slowly. Allen needs a pacemaker to keep her slowly deteriorating heart pumping properly. Some days she feels like her feet are filled with wet sand. Her dad, Kenneth, watches nervously if she has to climb a large hill on the course. But she keeps going. At age 18, the senior at Perkins-Tryon has already undergone three extensive surgeries since her condition was discovered three years back. The diagnosis was AV node dysfunction of the heart, meaning her lower chamber, the second beat in a normal heartbeat, was not firing properly. It was a staggering diagnosis for a young athlete who was a powerful softball pitcher and hitter and just a casual golfer at the time. Logan underwent a six-hour surgery at OU Children’s Medical Center to put in a pacemaker, but the leads worked themselves loose and were shocking her, causing intense pain and requiring a second emergency surgery the next day. A month 30

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

later an evaluation showed the leads were again becoming loose and a third operation was performed, this time sewing the leads to her collarbone and better securing the pacemaker as well. Once it became clear that softball was no longer an option, Allen turned her attention to golf. Playing on instinct and raw power, she finished 10th in Class 3A as a sophomore. Her father took her to one of instructor Steve Ball’s junior camps in Norman, and her development since that time has been rapid. Logan won the South Central Section’s Players’ Tour event at The Club at Indian Springs, a tournament that was supposed to be a qualifier for the national PGA Junior Championship until that event was canceled. “She showed up here one day and didn’t know what she was doing, but she was a softball kid and better yet a pitcher,” Ball said. “Softball kids always have some speed and power and know how to release. She was hitting a big old slice but by about the third lesson started hitting some nice draws. I knew

they were going far, but we measured one at about 240 yards in the air. Her dad and I looked at each other, like wow.” Allen’s speed and power give her a chance to hit a lot of short and partial wedges, which she’s still getting better at. We watched her play at a recent event at Meadowbrook and after back-to-back birdies she chopped up the next hole, finally getting down with a quadruple bogey. That’s what learning to be good is about, but she has the raw talent and the dedication. “I just want to live my life and play better,” Logan said. “I hope this doesn’t sound selfish, but I just want to work hard and just continue to win. I have my bad days but I’m going to keep working hard.” She is already drawing the interest of some college coaches and is looking forward to her senior season next spring, which hopefully will be played. “She has never used her situation as an excuse,” her mother June said. “She’s never dwelled on it. She picks herself back up and goes right back at it.” The surgeries were painful for Logan, but agony for her parents. “When you sit there and hear your child screaming in pain for hours on end and can’t do anything about it, it’s really frustrating,” Kenneth said. “Not only frustrating, but it’s heart breaking. Then with the diagnosis that the situation will always be there and you don’t know what the next step is, it’s always in your mind.” Logan misses softball and basketball, but has fallen in love with golf. “Golf keeps me calm, which is good for the heart,” she said. “In softball, my teammates would always try to get me riled up to pitch or hit harder. In golf, I can meditate, thinking calming thoughts and it really helps.”

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

COM PET I T ION ROUN DU P

Voegeli makes sterling run in

State Amateur Jamie Voegeli is first mid-am to win State Amateur since 2006. by ken macleod

OWASSO – Aided by a caddie who put aside his own bitter disappointment at missing a golden opportunity to play his close friend in the final, Jamie Voegeli completed his improbable maiden journey in the Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur Championship with a joyous champagne-soaked ending. The 31-year-old member of Meadowbrook Country Club and a sales engineer at T.D. Williamson birdied the 17th hole to complete a 3 and 1 victory over 18-year-old Charlie Jackson of Norman, who will begin his freshman season at Abilene Christian this fall. Voegeli navigated his first five matches on his own, but after losing the first hole and pushing his drive badly right, waved Tyler Hunt into his cart. Hunt moments earlier in the semifinals July 23 had been poised to defeat Jackson. He was 1 up hitting a 52-degree wedge from 117 yards over the canyon on the 18th hole at The Patriot, but hit a flyer that sailed over the green into trees and was never found. He lost that hole and the subsequent playoff hole with another lost ball, missing the chance GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

to square off against his good friend and but was burned out on golf after college and played only a few rounds for the next frequent four-ball partner in the finals. five years. It was at the There was a stunning reinsistence of Hunt that versal of fortune in Voegehe started playing and li’s semifinal match as well. enjoying the game again. He trailed Jaxon Dowell The two teamed up to of Edmond by a shot on win the Tulsa Golf Assothe tee of the par-3 17th. ciation Four-Ball ChampiDowell pulled his tee shot onship in 2017 and have left and part way down a since played in numerous hill leading to a bogey. Tied events at their respecon 18, Dowell, who had hit tive clubs and around the nearly every fairway in five state. matches, pulled his tee shot “Tyler really is the realeft again and though he son I’m here,” Voegeli clambered into the canyon said. “He got me started to pitch his second shot playing again.” backwards, it again led to a The two both decided bogey and sent Voegeli into to enter the State Amathe finals. teur and joked when they “That was really dissaw the draw that the appointing because I feel only way they would get like I gave it away,” said to play each other was in Dowell, bound for the Jamie Voegeli and caddie the final. University of Oklahoma. Tyler Hunt. “I’m sorry I couldn’t hold “I missed my target a little up my end, but I’m so happy for Jamie,” left and it just kept going left.” Voegeli grew up in Muskogee and played Hunt said. After surviving the match against Dowfour years for Missouri Southern (2007-11), W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

COM PET I T ION ROUN DU P

Jamie Voegeli

ell, Voegeli, who said he hadn’t played two rounds of golf three days in a row since college, birdied four of the first seven holes against Jackson. However, he bogeyed both par-5s and had a 3 up lead after nine holes. Jackson, a slender 6-foot-3 with room to grow stronger, came back with a birdie on the par-3 11th, then won the par-4 12th with a par to close within one. Voegeli regained control with a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 13th, the same hole he aced in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Both players bogeyed the par-4 14th, at which point he told Hunt

how tired he was. “He told me I wasn’t tired and just needed to make one good swing.” After driving in the fairway on the par-5 15th, Voegeli and Hunt collaborated on a crucial decision. From 270 yards out, they first leaned toward laying up with a 5-iron. Then Voegeli decided to lay into his trusty 20-year-old Sonartec 3-wood, virtually the same decision Hunt had made that led to his quarterfinal victory Wednesday. Voegeli hit a beautiful fade onto the green for an easy two-putt birdie that put him three holes ahead with three to play. A birdie by Jackson on 16 delayed stretched the match, but Voegeli’s 7-iron from 170 yards to 10-feet away on 17 sealed the victory. “I certainly didn’t expect to win this, but I’ve been playing really well leading up to it and I thought if I just stick to my game plan and execute one shot at a time, I would have Charlie Jackson a chance to beat anybody,” Voegeli said. “It sounds cliché, but that’s the mindset I had in all six matches. “I’m really grateful to Tyler for jumping in and helping me out. I know he was disappointed not to be in the finals. He’s a great friend and really the reason I’m playing golf today.” For his first time in the top amateur tournament in the state, it was a memorable run that neither Voegeli nor Hunt will ever forget. 32

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Young still has game by patrick prince

BROKEN ARROW – Capping off a dominant week, Annie Young captured the 102nd Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur Championship on July 23 at The Golf Club of Oklahoma. Playing in her first WOGA State Amateur, Young, the University of Tulsa women’s golf coach, defeated Ponca City native and current Dalton State golfer Sydney Hermann 6 and 4. Riding a hot putter, Young ended the match on the par-4, 14th after sinking an 18-foot putt. It was one of seven one-putts for Young, who until a practice round six days earlier had never played The Golf Club of Oklahoma. “I felt like honestly it was one of those days that everything looked like it was going in,” Young said. In a match that was over in two hours and 15 minutes, Young was 3 up after four holes against the 19-year-old Hermann, who eliminated Taylor Dobson, one of Young’s top players at TU, the day before in the semifinals. “(Hermann) is a heck of a player, I was fortunate to get a lead early and I think that was

a key for me,” Young said. “It’s always hard to play catchup in match play.” Down five holes, Hermann did win the par-4 12th hole. But, Young won the next hole — the 517-yard, par-5 13th, when she sank a 25-foot putt before closing the match out on No. 14. “I was a little nervous because she is really, really good,” said Hermann, who also was playing in her first WOGA State Amateur. “So I just tried my best and she was dropping birdies and there really wasn’t much I could do.”

Nelke takes WOGA Junior BROKEN ARROW – Finishing with back-to-back birdies, Pocola’s Raychel Nelke captured the WOGA Junior Girls Championship on July 15 at Cedar Ridge Country Club by one stroke in a competitive final grouping of the two-day event. Nelke, who shot a 1-over-par 73 for a two-day total of 1-over-par 145, held off defending champ Maddi Kamas of Kingfisher, who has multiple wins this summer, and Jenks’ Jenni Roller. “All I really did was just kind of focus on shot to shot, didn’t really worry too much about score,” Nelke said. “Going into the last

hole, I really had no idea where we’re at.” It’s the second win this summer for Nelke, who just turned 16. In June, she won the inaugural Oklahoma Junior Masters Invitational at Southern Hills Country Club. It was stellar play on her final two holes that secured the win. Nelke birdied the 405-yard, par-5 17th. She was just off the green in two, got relief from a cooling fan and chipped on and then sank a short putt. While not knowing the overall standings, Nelke said she figured she’d need another birdie on 18, and she was right. On 18, Nelke was safely in the fairway while Kamas and Roller sent tee Raychel Nelke shots into the right rough. All three reached the green in two shots, setting up three birdie putts and a dramatic finish. Kamas and Roller each made birdie, leaving Nelke with about a 10-foot putt for birdie and the win. “I just hit it straight with some speed. I didn’t want to leave it short,” Nelke said.

THE ULTIMATE LAKE & GOLF GETAWAY

ICA’S

AMER

“BESSTORT RE NEWIDWEST GOLFEING M

ZIN MAGA

”

Escape to the lakeside getaway and conference center on Oklahoma’s premier golf course. Book Your Getaway Today | shangrilaok.com | 918-257-4204 GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

YOUR ISLAND AWAITS

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

COM PET I T ION ROUN DU P

Hudelson repeats in Mid-Amateur by murray evans

OKLAHOMA CITY – On some loaded small-college golf teams at Oklahoma Christian, Kyle Hudelson of Edmond often found it difficult to break into the lineup. But in young adulthood, he’s blossomed into a player who’s a threat to win in amateur events. He earned his secKyle Hudelson ond straight Oklahoma Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship title on Tuesday, posting five birdies over the final 11 holes to pull away for a three-shot win over J.R. Hurley of Norman at Quail Creek Golf and Country Club. Hudelson, a 32-year-old who works for NFP Property and Casualty of Oklahoma City and plays out of Gaillardia Country Club, followed his first-round 67 with a

4-under-par 68 over Quail Creek’s 7,099yard track and finished at 9-under 135 for the tournament. Hurley shot a final-round 70 while Phillip Bryan of Norman, who entered the round tied for the lead with Hudelson, posted a 73 and dropped to third at 4-under 140. “It was nice to defend,” Hudelson said. “I hadn’t played a competitive round since January. With COVID, everything got cancelled.”

During his time at OC, Hudelson’s teammates included current PGA Tour player Rhein Gibson; Oscar Stark, a winner on the European Challenge Tour; current West Texas A&M men’s coach Axel Ochoa and numerous other players who each earned multiple NAIA or NCAA Division II AllAmerica honors. OC won two NAIA and one National Christian College Athletic

See Hudelson on page 36

Raffensperger enjoying golf revival by murray evans

OKLAHOMA CITY – After a career in golf, which included time as a club pro in Boca Raton, Fla., Todd Raffensperger was burned out on the sport. He moved back to his home state of Oklahoma and took a couple of years away from the game. “I just didn’t play any golf at all. I didn’t want any part of it,” he said.

Todd Raffensperger

Jerry Nick

See Senior on page 36

918-496-6200

South Lakes

9253 S. Elwood • Jenks, America 918-746-3760 www.SouthLakesGolf.com 34

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Award-winning dining, a booming craft beer scene and exceptional year-round golf on courses along the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail await you in Alabama. Plus, with Jerry Pate’s Kiva Dunes and Arnold Palmer’s Craft Farms in Gulf Shores, from the mountains to the coast you can take it all in.

www.GolfAlabama.org

Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, Birmingham GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

COM PET I T ION ROUN DU P SENIOR cont. from page 34 But soon enough, the competitive bug bit again and Raffensperger did what was necessary to regain his amateur status. Since then, he’s become a force on the Oklahoma senior golf circuit, as evidenced by his performance Aug. 4 when he outdueled Jon Valuck in a two-hole playoff to win the Oklahoma Golf Association Senior Stroke Play Championship at Quail Creek Golf and Country Club. It was the first career OGA title for Raffensperger, who plays out of Battle Creek Golf Club in Broken Arrow and works as an Internet technology and network administrator and does training for a collection company. Since his return to golf, the 57-year-old Raffensperger has enjoyed considerable success, winning club championships at Battle Creek, South Lakes Golf Course in Jenks and LaFortune Park Golf Course in Tulsa as well as a couple of Tulsa Golf Association events. He began entering the OGA Senior Stroke Play event two years ago, finishing fifth in 2018 and fourth last year. “The competition, I now enjoy it,” he said. “It’s just the battle. The trophy, that’s the fun part of it. It’s fun to get out with the guys. It’s camaraderie and friendly competition.” He entered the day in a three-way tie

for second at even par, two shots behind Valuck, an Oklahoma City cardiologist who won the OGA Senior Stroke Play title in 2017 at Shawnee Country Club and the OGA Senior Amateur Championship earlier this summer at Belmar Golf Club in Moore. The OGA’s Super Senior Championship, also had a dramatic finish. Three players – Jerry Nick of Okmulgee, Tim Rogers of Broken Arrow and Craig Collins of Enid – entered the final hole (No. 9) tied. Nick’s

PUBLISHER cont. from page 6 McCrate said the pandemic has been the biggest boon for golf since the Tiger Woods phenomenon in the late 1990s. An overlooked aspect was allowing family members to ride along when carts were restricted to single users. Suddenly men were bringing their wives or girlfriends, who were eager to get out of the house. Many of them decided they would rather play than watch, and began buying clubs and taking lessons. Junior play is up 20 percent nationally. Tee times for the lighted par-3 course at LaFortune Park are full every night between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., mostly with teens and millennials on date nights. We went out to the first

approach shot on the par-4 landed about 4 feet behind the hole and the resulting birdie capped a round of 3-over 75 and gave him the win. Nick’s two-round score was 146 (2-over), one shot better than Rogers. It was the second straight year Nick won the Super Senior Championship with a birdie on the final hole. Asked if that made him a clutch player, he chuckled. “I’m starting to believe I am,” said Nick.

tee box on the par-3 on a recent night and met several golfers new to the game. One 15-year-old young lady said her dad was a golfer and had been encouraging her to play for years, but she never gave it a thought until the pandemic. And now? “I love it.” Now it is up to golf and each course operator to keep the good vibes going and help reverse years of decline. People’s normal routines will return once there is a vaccine, but there is no reason those routines can’t include golf. The game should take full advantage of this odd set of circumstances that has allowed many to discover or rediscover its charms.

HUDELSON cont. from page 34 Association national titles during that span. More often than not, Hudelson wasn’t in the Eagles’ starting lineup, but he credits OC coach David Lynn with helping push him to a higher level of competition – something that has paid off post-college. Three years ago, Hudelson and former Oklahoma City University player Clark Collier were surprise finalists in the U.S. Golf Association Amateur Four-Ball Championship in Pinehurst, N.C. Last year, Hudelson won his first OGA title, taking the Mid-Amateur Championship at Twin Hills Country Club. The week of the USGA Four-Ball “was the week that I learned I could hit shots under huge amounts of pressure,” Hudelson said. “It’s hard to replicate that (pressure) elsewhere, outside of a PGA event. It was just crazy. … All of a sudden you wake up one morning and you’ve got the only tee time on Pinehurst No. 2. “I always joke with coach Lynn that it’s too bad I didn’t start my college career at 26. I think I might have finally cracked that top five every once in a while. Golf didn’t make sense to me in college. I put way too much pressure on myself. Now, it doesn’t matter if I go win the Masters – I’m still an insurance salesman.” 36

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

Where one great course leads to another

OUR COU RSES ARE OPEN !! Discover 13 incredible courses at one unforgettable destination. Come PLAY and STAY with us. Book your Golf Trail Getaway today at GolfingAtFunLake.com. You also can learn about all the safety protocols in place at our courses on the same website. GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

SCH E DU L E S & R E SU LTS : More at w w w.gol fok la homa.org OKLA. GOLF ASSOCIATION STATE AMATEUR AT THE PATRIOT GC, OWASSO JULY 21-23 ROUND OF 32 Jordan Wilson def. Jake Hopper 3 and 2; Tyler Hunt def. William Sides 2 and 1; Jared Strathe def. William Falleur 4 and 2; Dalton Daniel def. Patrick West 2 and 1; Harley Abrams def. Michael Gotcher 3 and 2; Payte Owen def. Jeremy Callison 1-up (21); Charlie Jackson def. Scott Mabrey 1-up; Carson Blaser def. Bosten Benn 2-up; Jack Gero def. Ross Taylor 4 and 2; Jack Glenn def. Bryce Newton 5 and 4; Jamie Voegeli def. Dylan Teeter 3 and 2; Kason Cook def. Tyler Trout 7 and 6; Jaxon Dowell def. Zane Heusel 1-up; J.P. Roller def. Luke Phillips 2 and 1; Eric Schuessler def. Dustin Hasley 2 and 1; Christian McAllister def. Craig Sanders 6 and 5. ROUND OF 16 Hunt def. Wilson 2 and 1; Strathe def. Daniel 1-up; Abrams def. Owen 2 and 1; Jackson def. Blaser 1-up (19); Glenn def. Gero 5 and 4; Voegeli def. Cook 2 and 1; Dowell def. Roller 2 and 1; McAllister def. Schuessler 1-up. QUARTERFINALS Hunt def. Strathe 1-up; Jackson def. Abrams 6 and 5; Voegeli def. Glenn 1-up; Dowell def. McAllister 1-up. Semifinals Hunt def. Jackson 1-up (19); Voegeli def. Dowell 1-up. FINAL Voegeli def. Jackson 3 and 1. STROKE PLAY AT THE TERRITORY GC, DUNCAN (PAR-72) JUNE 22-24 1, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 67-66-69 – 202; 2, Carson Tewell 68-68-69 – 205; 3, J.P. Roller 67-6574 – 206; 4, Jordan Wilson 68-72-67 – 207; 5 (tie), Jaxon Dowell 69-69-70 – 208 and Logan McAllister 71-69-68 – 208; 7, Brian Stark 69-69-71 – 209; 8 (tie), JR Hurley 73-72-66 – 211 and Tyson Reeder 69-72-70 – 211; 10 (tie), Drew Mabrey 71-67-74 – 212 and Mason Overstreet 71-70-71 – 212; 12 (tie), Alex Motes 73-69-71 – 213 and Heath Myers 73-69-71 – 213; 14 (tie), Heston Brown 69-70-76 – 215, Trent Lutze 71-71-73 – 215, Trevor Norby 72-68-75 – 215, Matthew Smith 70-69-76 – 215 and Kason Cook 7172-72 – 215; 19 (tie), Davis Woodliff 70-71-75 – 216, Dillon Eaton 74-71-71 – 216 and Bennett Baldwin 70-74-72 – 216; 22 (tie), Jared Strathe 72-70-75 – 217, Tres Hill 71-72-74 – 217 and Kolton Baber 70-7176 – 217; 25, Parker Rose 74-69-75 – 218; 26, Carson Griggs 75-70-74 – 219; 27, Patrick West 70-74-76 – 220; 28, Lane Wallace 71-74-77 – 222. 18-HOLE JUNIOR STROKE PLAY AT JIMMIE AUSTIN OU GC, NORMAN (PAR-72) JUNE 30 BOYS 1, Tres Hill 71; 2, Brooksie Levonitis 72; 3, Brett Wilcoxen 74; 4, Dylan Teeter 75; 5 (tie), Kaden Armstrong, Jesse Tandoy and Ross Taylor 76; 8 (tie), Bryce Carr, Ben Campbell and Max Garza 77; 11 (tie), Leyton Kyle and Alex Bloxham 78; 13 (tie), Evan Kelley and Austin Dolan 79. GIRLS 1, Emily Miller 76; 2, Olivia Coit 78; 3, Aiden Coffelt 82; 4, Sarah Sherrard 83; 5 (tie), Gracie Doke and Rylee Roberts 84; 7, Jenna Triplett 87; 8, Mika Ramos 87; 9, Mimi Hoang 89; 10 (tie), Peyton Coburn and Carrie Hutchings 90. SENIOR STATE AMATEUR AT BELMAR GC, NORMAN JUNE 16-19 ROUND OF 16 Blake Gibson def. Kirk Wright 1-up; Andy Lucas def. Michael McDonald 4 and 3; Jeff Smith def. Don Cochran 2-up; Michael Hughett def. John Stansbury 3 and 2; Jonathan Valuck def. Joel Driver 4 and 3; Don Clark def. Todd Brown 2 and 1; Bruce Maddux def. Nick Sidorakis 2 and 1; Mike Goold def. Doug Perry 4 and 3. Quarterfinals Gibson def. Lucas 2-up; Hughett def. Smith 4 and 3; Valuck def. Clark 6 and 5; Maddux def. Goold 5 and 3. Semifinals Hughett def. Gibson 3 and 2; Valuck def. Maddux 5 and 4.

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

FINAL Valuck def. Hughett 2 and 1. 2020 OGA SENIOR STROKE PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP MONDAY, AUGUST 03, 2020 - TUESDAY, AUGUST 04, 2020 QUAIL CREEK GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB OKLAHOMA CITY FINAL RESULTS SENIOR William Raffensperger, Broken Arrow - 72-71--143 (won playoff), Jonathan Valuck, Oklahoma City 70-73--143, Ron Roden, Oklahoma City - 74-71--145, Jeff Case, Norman - 73-75--148, Michael Hughett, Owasso - 77-72--149, Jeff Richter, Edmond - 75-75-150, Brian Szymanski, Oklahoma City - 72-79--151, Don Cochran, Norman - 72-80--152; Kirk Wright, Oklahoma City - 75-77--152; Don Clark, Shawnee - 78-76--154; Brian Cook, Tulsa - 73-81--154; Andy Lucas, Tulsa - 77-77--154; Jeff Oakes, Edmond 77-77--154 SUPER SENIOR Jerry Nick, Okmulgee - 71-75--146; Jim Rogers, Broken Arrow - 72-75--147; Robert Alexander, Mustang - 75-74--149; Craig Collins, Enid - 72-77--149; John Kuester, Oklahoma City - 74-75--149; Bruce Maddux, Ponca City - 73-77--150 2020 OGA MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP MONDAY, AUGUST 03, 2020 - TUESDAY, AUGUST 04, 2020 QUAIL CREEK GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB, QUAIL CREEK GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB OKLAHOMA CITY FINAL RESULTS Kyle Hudelson, Edmond - 67-68--135; JR Hurley, Norman - 68-70--138; Phillip Bryan, Mustang - 6773--140; Ben Blundell, Oklahoma City - 70-73--143; Austin Schmidt, Bixby - 70-73--143; Daniel Langley, Shawnee - 71-73--144; Mike Hearne, Yukon - 73-72--145; Jay Smith, Edmond - 72-73--145; Michael Gotcher, Broken Arrow - 71-75--146; Heath Myers, Kingfisher - 73-74--147; Christopher Laughlin, Edmond - 7771--148; Michael Nichols, Midwest City - 73-75--148; Preston Wilkins, Tulsa - 76-72--148; Rhett Bolen, Edmond - 76-74--150; Luke Phillips, Edmond - 7476--150; Brandon Weeden, Edmond - 73-77--150 WOGA STATE AMATEUR THE GOLF CLUB OF OKLAHOMA, BROKEN ARROW JULY 21-23 CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT Round of 32 Taylor Dobson def. Dana Hurley 7 and 6; Madison O’Dell def. Kalley Collier 5 and 3; Faith Belmear def. Bailey Blake 5 and 4; ShaeBug Scarberry def. Reagan Chaney 1-up (19); Hayden Meiser def. Taylor Towers, 1-up (19); Rebecca Davis def. Natalie Gough 1-up; Kaylee Petersen def. Faith Stewart 3 and 2; Sydney Hermann def. Hannah Torres 3 and 2; Faith Hopkins def. Brooklyn Bostick 1-up; Josie Patterson def. Sara Armstrong 6 and 4; Annie Young def. Lauren Behnken 5 and 4; Emma Shelley def. Jaiden Gregston 5 and 4; Janet Miller def. Madison Smith 3 and 1; Jaime Gustin def. Olivia Colt 1-up; Rachel Eckert def. Blayne Barker 2 and 1; Alyssa Wilson def. Marna Raburn 4 and 3. Round of 16 Dobson def. O’Dell 1-up; Belmear def. Scarberry 4 and 2; Meiser def. Davis 4 and 3; Hermann def. Peterson 5 and 4; Hopkins def. Patterson 2 and 1; Young def. Shelley 6 and 4; Miller def. Gustin 6 and 4; Eckert def. Wilson 1-up (20). QUARTERFINALS Dobson def. Belmear 1-up; Hermann def. Meiser 7 and 5; Young def. Hopkins 6 and 5; Miller def. Eckert 3 and 1. Semifinals Hermann def. Dobson 1-up; Young def. Miller 5 and 3. FINAL Young def. Hermann 6 and 4. A flight Semifinals Maisie Liddell def. LeighAnn Fore 1-up; Kim Bell def. McKenzie McCoy 2 and 1.

FINAL McCoy def. Liddell 2-up. B flight Final Ann Cowan def. Marsha Cooper 4 and 3. C flight Final Susan Ferguson def. Meghan Moore 3 and 1. JUNIOR GIRLS STATE STROKE PLAY AT CEDAR RIDGE CC, BROKEN ARROW (PAR-71) JULY 14-15 CHAMPIONSHIP 1, Raychel Nelke 72-73 – 145; 2, Maddi Kamas 72-74 – 146; 3, Jenni Roller 74-73 – 147; 4, Olivia Colt 81-76 – 157; 5, Emily Miller 78-81 – 159; 6 (tie), Jaiden Gregston 84-78 – 162 and Reagan Chaney 84-78 – 162; 8, Brooklyn Benn 82-82 – 164; 9, Sarah Sherrard 84-82 – 166; 10, Gracie Doke 83-88 – 171. AGES 16-18 1, Aubrey House 82-80 – 162; 2, Lindyn Ross 84-81 – 165; 3, Ella Fryer 88-90 – 178. Ages 14-15 1, Mimi Hoang 78-83 – 161; 2, Adrian Piles 80-81 – 161; 3 (tie), Layne Allshie 81-81 – 162 and MaKaylee Cowan 77-85 – 162. AGES 12-13 1, Ava Kight 80-87 – 167; 2, Sophia Lefler 80-88 – 168; 3, Megan Kalapura 84-85 – 169. STROKE PLAY AT THE TERRITORY GC, DUNCAN (PAR-73) JUNE 8-9 CHAMPIONSHIP 1, Maddi Kamas 70-76 – 146 (won playoff); 2, Faith Belmear 75-71 – 146; 3, Taylor Towers 72-77 – 149; 4, ShaeBug Scarberry 74-76 – 150; 5, Sydney Hermann 79-72 – 151; 6, Natalie Gough 76-75 – 151; 7, Lauren Behnken 77-78 – 155; 8, Kim Bell 76-79 – 155. MID-AMATEUR 1, Michaela Dirinzo 74-72 – 146; 2, Janet Miller 76-76 – 152; 3, Kathy West 75-78 – 153; 4, LeeAnn Fairlie 78-77 – 155. SOUTH CENTRAL PGA W. OKLAHOMA CHAPTER NO. 2 AT GAILLARDIA CC, OKLA. CITY (PAR-72) JULY 22 1, Shannon Friday 64; 2 (tie), Jarod Lundy, Malachi Murphy, Aaron Kristopeit and Tim Fleming 69; 6, Jim Young 70. E. OKLAHOMA CHAPTER NO. 2 At Bailey Ranch, Owasso (par-72) July 15 1, Brian Davis 70; 2, Kyley Tetley 72; 3, 3 (tie), John Hron V and Corey Burd 77. SCPGA PROFESSIONAL CHAMIPIONSHIP AT GOLF CLUB OF OKLAHOMA, BROKEN ARROW (PAR-72) JULY 13-14 1, Trent Rommann 69-69 – 138 (won playoff); 2, Shannon Friday 70-68 -- 138; 3, Tim Fleming 71-73 -- 144; 4, Riley Seitz 73-71 – 144; 5, Malachi Murphy 72-72 – 144; 6, Blake Bowman 72-74 – 146; 7, Kyley Tetley 71-75 – 146; 8, Brad Simons 70-76 – 146. E. OKLAHOMA CHAPTER NO. 1 At Forest Ridge GC, Broken Arrow (par-71) July 1 1, Kyley Tetley 76; 2 (tie), J.J, Belcoff and John Hron V 77; 4 (tie), Edward Roethlisberger and Corey Burd 79. South Central PGA Senior Professional Championship at Meadowbrook CC SOUTH CENTRAL PGA SENIOR PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AT MEADOWBROOK CC 1, Tim Fleming, Oklahoma City G&CC, 70, 2, T, Janice Gibson, Mohawk Park, Tracy Phillips, Cedar Ridge CC, Jim Young, River Oaks GC, Kurt Gibson, Reflection Ridge GC, 72; 6, Tim Graves, Rose Creek, 73, 7 (tie), Brent Wilcoxen, South Lakes, JJ Johnson, Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course, Cary Cozby, Southern Hills, Jeff Combe, Mike Stewart, Rose Creek, 75

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

B U Y W I T H C O N F I D E N C E

Defending Champion, AST! More new and pre-owned vehicle buyers are choosing John Vance Auto Group because of the Antimicrobial Surface Treatment (AST) we perform on every interior of every car, truck, SUV and van we sell: a treatment that disinfects your vehicle by killing COVID-19.

AST will not harm electronics or any other parts or materials that comprise your car, truck, SUV or van’s interior.

• Best Prices • Best Customer Service • Best Return Customer Count In Guthrie, OK: 10 minutes north of Edmond Exit 153 & I-35 (405) 288-1042 • www.vanceautogroup.com

W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG

In Perry, OK: (580) 307-1796 • www.vanceautogroup.com In Miami, OK: Ford: (918) 238-7365 • www.vanceautogroup.com Chrysler: (918) 236-1363 • www.vanceautogroup.com

Get engine, transmission and other powertrain protection for as long as you own your vehicle at no additional cost.

GOLF OKL AHOMA • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

Find Your Sweet Spot. Work on your “long game” with a great plan for the future. Live the life you’ve always known. Be inspired. Oklahoma Methodist Manor promotes an active, vibrant lifestyle built around choices. Here you will find the most exciting, joyful and fulfilling experiences you can imagine. Whatever your interests, hobbies or goals, the opportunity to start living them is at OMM. It’s a good feeling to know that you are living the retirement lifestyle you have earned in a place you love. At OMM you’ll find resources and personalized activities to enhance health and wellness, including the Spann Wellness Center, with state-of-the-art fitness equipment with choices of classes and one-on-one training. CALL US AT 918.574.2590 TO SCHEDULE A PERSONAL TOUR 4130 E. 31ST STREET | SUITE C | TULSA, OK 74135 | WWW.OMMTULSA.ORG

2020 Golf Oklahoma August|September

Articles inside

Schedules and results

Chip Shots

Competition

Rules, Bob Phelps