Pittsboro, NC (May 12, 2011) - Two weeks in a row "birthday boys" have hit pay dirt on the Senior Amateur Golf Tour. Last week it was Cary's Johnny Adams winning his 1st Tour victory on his birthday at Bermuda Run West in the Championship Flight. Today Mark McKenna of Fuquay-Varina duplicated that feat in A Flight competition at The Golf Club at Chapel Ridge. McKenna toured the 6,503 yard, par 72 course in 75 strokes, leaving him 2 shots clear of Laurinburg's James McMillan and Cecil Lockley of Hillsborough.
McKenna started as a member of the Carolina Blonde Tour years ago and has "graduated" to Senior status the last few years. Today’s victory represented his best finish and score "on-Tour" during that time span. Playing partner Sam Patterson noted "Not only did he play well, but Mark is just a great guy to play with".
Ronnie Grubbs of Clemmons took full advantage of the fact that the B and C Flights played from 300 yards shorter than the Championship and A Flights as his 71 equaled the lowest score in the entire event and "blitzed" the field in the B Flight by 6 strokes. "I must have made 200 feet of putts today" said Grubbs as he accepted his $180.00 MasterCard for winning. A pair of Greensboro golfers, Dan Whalen and Vic Robertson took 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Another Greensboro member, Len Bullock, also benefited from the shorter tees with an 81 to grab the top spot in the C Flight. Bullock enjoyed a stretch of 3 birdies in a 5-hole span on the front side to help propel him to his lowest score of the season. Advance's Ron Alligood was 2 back with an 83, while Raleigh's Darrell Hagwood, making his 2011 Tour debut, finished 3rd with an 84.
The Championship Flight provided a rather ignominious ending as Cary's James Dill, and 2-time National Champion Alan Dirk of Sanford, two of the top players on Tour, headed out for a sudden-death playoff after both posted regulation 71s. What happened next is not what you'd expect from 2 guys who just shot under par on their original 18 holes.
Dirk's 1st tee shot of the playoff on the 421 yard, par 4, 9th hole lodged behind a tree which forced him to take an unplayable lie. He was not able to recover from where he had to drop, allowing Dill to take the win with a bogey. "As good as these guys are, you could have made some serious money betting that the playoff would be won on the 1st hole with a score less than par", said Tour Director Bruce Hallenbeck.
The next Senior Tour event is the 2011 season's 2nd "Major Championship" next Thursday at Sapona Country Club in Lexington. Any amateur golfer interested in playing in that event, or any other on schedule for this year, can contact Hallenbeck at 336-495-6556, or email him at behgolf@aol.com.
THE SENIOR AMATEUR GOLF TOUR
THE GOLF CLUB AT CHAPEL RIDGE EVENT
TOP FIVE SCORES BY FLIGHT
CHAMPIONSHIP (6,503 yards)
James Dill, Cary 71
Alan Dirk, Sanford 71
Chuck Taubersmith, Pinehurst 72
Mike Smith, Lewisville 74
Steve Linton, Cary 76
A FLIGHT (6,503 yards)
Mark McKenna, Fuquay-Varina 75
James McMillan, Laurinburg 77
Cecil Lockley, Hillsborough 77
John East, Rockingham 78
Turner Church, Gibsonville 78
Gene Greenawalt, Carthage 78
Brent Massey, Zebulon 78
B FLIGHT (6, 205 yards)
Ronnie Grubbs, Clemmons 71
Dan Whalen, Greensboro 77
Vic Robertson, Greensboro 78
Tal Brown, Bermuda Run 80
Edward Burton, Durham 81
Gary Core, Greensboro 81
Tom Handy, Fuquay-Varina 81
C FLIGHT (6,205 yards)
Len Bullock, Greensboro 81
Ron Alligood, Advance 83
Darrell Hagwood, Raleigh 84
Brian Costine, Durham 85
Phillip Beane, Durham 86