There is one word from “Fiddler on the Roof” that sums up this particular week of local and national golf action – tradition.
One event is no less challenging than the other if you ask many locals who have participated over the many decades. Today is what golfers call moving day – the day before the final round of a tournament. Such is the case for both the U.S. Open in Wisconsin and our own Navajo Trail Open-First National Bank event at Hillcrest Golf Club. For the professionals locally, it is a real chance to make the move when temperatures and prevailing winds are less of a factor in the early morning hours, with Friday and Sunday’s rounds held in the afternoon.
The Hillcrest Golf Club will be closed to the public through Sunday while this event is taking place. However, spectators are welcome to follow and watch the action which always seems to culminate in an exciting conclusion down the stretch in the waning hours of daylight Sunday. I will have some concluding thoughts about this event in my next column July 1.
After the conclusion of the NTO at Hillcrest, we return to the rest of the tournament schedule beginning with the Hampton Inn-Yellow Ball Challenge on June 24. This event has an added prize purse of $500 and an entry fee of $35 per player. This is a choose-your-own four-person team event with 90 percent handicaps used for scoring. Scoring will be based on a rotating yellow ball score plus scramble score – net only, which makes this stop a nice break in late June. Check with the pro shop for sign-up information.
July 1-2 is the Animas Capital Management, Ltd. “Ryder Cup Format” tournament. This also has an added prize purse of $500, an entry fee of $50 per player and a unique 36-hole format which breaks up each of the four nine-hole segments. Formats include Alternate Shots, Best Ball, Scramble and Team Total to help mix it up. Sign-up info is also available in the pro shop.
Around the corner, June 24, The Choker tournament will be contested at Dalton Ranch. This event has a limit of the first 100 golfers signed up and is preceded June 23 with the Choker Calcutta at the Pavilion complex at DRGC at 6:30 p.m.
A look ahead reminder that Member Match Play begins on July 1 at the Dalton Ranch Golf Club. Check with the pro shop for all the details of this friendly competition.
Stepping outside of our immediate sphere of concentration, let us congratulate golfer Nick Kohler who recorded a hole-in-one on hole No. 3 at the nine-hole South Forty Course recently in Cortez.
Women’s Association Mixer
June 7, Dalton Ranch
1. Mary and Van Butler, 63.2. Jerry and Patti Lane, 66.3. Molly and Russ Smith, 68.T4. Cathy Gaskell, Mark James; Diane Curtis and Darlene Koontz, 69.Closest to Pin, Hole 5
Ariel Moody and Jerry Lane.
Dave Bray has covered the local golf scene for 36 years. He can be reached at dbray3751@gmail.com.
Ariel Moody and Jerry Lane.
