While many ears and eyes were trained toward World Cup football the last few weeks, there remained golden opportunities to compress a smaller and tightly dimpled ball in one of three ways on a local level.
We begin with the Animas Capital Management, LTD- Ryder Cup Format on Saturday and Sunday on the Hillcrest Golf Club layout. This fun format will divide the competition into four 9-hole mini-formats: The first nine holes are alternate shots, followed by nine holes of best ball, then nine holes of a scramble and finally nine holes of team total.
Five-hundred dollars were added to the prize purse, with an entry fee of $50 per person. You can choose your own partner with 100-percent handicaps with flights. There is, however, a maximum eight-stroke handicap differential between partners.
Tee times will begin at 8 a.m. both days.
The annual Firecracker Classic will be played over a three-day span Friday through Sunday at the Conquistador Golf Course in Cortez.
And, finally, the juniors will get a chance to tune-up their game with a clinic July 9-11 at Hillcrest. There will be two age group clinics: one for ages 11 and up from 9 to 10:30 a.m. each day, while juniors age 6-10 will learn skills from 10:45 a.m. to noon each of those days.
The deadline to enter is Monday. The cost of the clinic is $20 per person.
Dalton Ranch Golf Club will host the Member/Member tournament July 12-13, and the field is limited to the first 100 players.
Dalton Ranch Golf Club
The Choker, June 28:
1. Rocky Ariano, Mike Salmina, Joe Sposi, Jim Strickland, 135. (They won a scorecard playoff.)
2. Tony Bagneschi, Jim Hollingsworth, Denny Pelle, Tim Tyson, 135.
3. John Betka, Jim Foltz, Steve Foltz, Russ Smith, 138.
4. Robert Barnhardt, Brett Englund, Pete Guerra, Aaron Sinberg, 139.
T5. Mark Buono, Tom Gorton, Neil Johnson, Fal Wood, 140.
T5. Brad Caskey, Roger Hayes, Tom Langefels, John Piccaro, 140.
T5. Rex Doyle, Hop Lee, Pat Palmer, Stewart Williams, 140.
8. Boyd Hodges, Mike Malone, John Thrasher, Arnold Valdivia, 142.
H H H
Ladies Day, on June 25:
1. Patti Lane, low gross, 94.
T2. Ann Emigh, 101.
T2. Debbie Wright, 101.
1. Rita Davis, low net, 71.
2. Diane Smith, 72.
Hillcrest Golf Club
Juniors, final week of June:
1. Kyle Pritchard, 18-hole champion, 87.
1. Lucas Carlson, 9-hole first flight champion, 47.
1. Liana Bygel, 9-hole second flight champion, 49.
H H H
Ladies Day, par-4, on June 24:
First Flight
1. Aimee Fladt, low gross, 49; 1. Jan Smith, low net, 43.
Second Flight
1. Vicki Hagler, low gross, 58; 1. Macky Headrick, low net, 43.
Third Flight
1. Marna Burnett, low gross, 64; 1. Charlotte Fischer, low net, 45.
9-Hole
1. Betty Kilpatrick, low gross, 30; 1. Sandy Hartnett, low net, 19.
Dave Bray has been covering the local golf scene for 33 years. He can be reached at dbray2751@gmail.com.
