Competition

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

to square off against his good friend and but was burned out on golf after college frequent four-ball partner in the finals. and played only a few rounds for the next

There was a stunning refive years. It was at the versal of fortune in Voegeinsistence of Hunt that li’s semifinal match as well. he started playing and He trailed Jaxon Dowell enjoying the game again. of Edmond by a shot on The two teamed up to the tee of the par-3 17th. win the Tulsa Golf AssoDowell pulled his tee shot ciation Four-Ball Champileft and part way down a onship in 2017 and have hill leading to a bogey. Tied since played in numerous on 18, Dowell, who had hit events at their respecnearly every fairway in five tive clubs and around the matches, pulled his tee shot state. left again and though he “Tyler really is the reaclambered into the canyon son I’m here,” Voegeli to pitch his second shot said. “He got me started backwards, it again led to a playing again.” bogey and sent Voegeli into The two both decided the finals. to enter the State Ama

“That was really disteur and joked when they appointing because I feel saw the draw that the like I gave it away,” said only way they would get Dowell, bound for the University of Oklahoma. “I missed my target a little Jamie Voegeli and caddie Tyler Hunt. to play each other was in the final. “I’m sorry I couldn’t hold left and it just kept going left.” up my end, but I’m so happy for Jamie,”

Voegeli grew up in Muskogee and played Hunt said. four years for Missouri Southern (2007-11), After surviving the match against Dow

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,

Jamie Voegeli 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 a chance to beat Charlie Jackson 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.

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.”

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

Raychel Nelke and Roller sent tee 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.

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 7,099- yard 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

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.

www.LaFortuneParkGolf.com 5501 S. Yale Ave., Tulsa, Okla. 918-496-6200

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

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.” 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.