Waco is always a favorite tour stop on the SWPT. The course was built in 1959 and has some hole designs that we don’t see anywhere else on tour. The date for the Waco stop was moved into April because it can get extremely hot during the summer months and the players appreciated the cooler temperatures. The first event on Saturday was the Allan Thomas memorial. Allan passed away several years ago and was Waco local who has the course record of a 21 on the tournament course. That record will very likely never fall, or even be approached, ever again.
Messinger and Huckaby win the Allan Thomas Memorial
In the Pro division Jeffrey Smith who did not win a tournament last season for the first time since anyone could remember, Came out hot and was confident that he was going to get a win this weekend. Hs first round score of 29 was good for a 2 stroke lead over Lee Messinger. No other player was able to break 34 in round 1. In Round 2 all but 1 player shot between 31 and 33. Smith maintained his 2 stroke lead over Messinger heading into the Final round. Smith had found himself in or near the lead several times over last year and the early part of this year but had not been able to finish off the event and get the win. This event would be no different. Smith struggled in his last round with a 34 whle Messinger was having the best round of any pro for the early event with a 28. Messinger’s great round had him finish at 91 which was good for a 4 stroke victory over Smith. Don Parker came in 3rd at 96. Geoffrey Mosk and Jerry medina shared the crumb at 97.
In the APA Steve Willmann looked to win on the course he grew up playing in his youth while Chris Conradi looked to continue his APA dominance and Mike Huckaby was eying his 9th APA Tour Championship in the 2021 season. While this was going on, Steve Yancey took the first round lead with a 33. Ken Stanfill was just 1 stroke at 34. Steve Willmann was determined to get his firt win of the year after finishing in 2nd place in both events at Cool Crest 2 weeks ago, jumped into the lead after shoot a 30 in his second round. His 2 round score of 67 was good for a 1 stroke lead over Steven yancey and 2 strokes over Stanfill and Huckaby. In the last round almost half the field had their best rounds of the event. Conradi shot a 20 to come in at 101, which was just 1 stroke behind Willmann and Huckaby who finished at an even 100. In the playoff Huckaby and Willmann were close the entire way. With just 2 holes to go, and neither being an easy ace, it looked like we were going to head into sudden death. But Huckaby hot a great putt on hole 17. Hos putt was a little left of the hole as it went by just as it was supposed to be. His ball came off the back rail at very good speed and rocked in to the hole off the hill. It was an excellent putt and gave him a 1 stroke lead. Both players made the typical deuce on hole 18 and Mike Huckaby had secured the victory.
Jeffrey Smith calls off retirement, Conradi dominates.
Jeffrey Smith was more than a little frustrated that he had not been able to put 3 good rounds together in quite some time and had vocalized his frustration. He is the all time leader in wins on the SWPT and the 2014 National Champion. Winning on a consistent basis is what he is used to doing. In the 4th annual “the Brice” event, Smith was intent on ending his drought. He again came out hot with a 29. This time is was good for a 1 stroke lead over Jerry Medina and a 2 stroke lead over Lee Messinger and Greg Everly. Brice Bergesen who had won his event 2 of the 3 previous years was only 3 strokes back at 32. Smith continued his great play n round 2 with a 28. This gave him a commanding 4 stroke lead over Lee Messinger with only Geoff Mosk and Greg Everly able to stay withing 6 strokes at 63. It looked like the drought was over for Smith, especially with him shoot a very respectable 15 on the front 9 the last round, except that Messinger shot an 11 to pull into a tie with Smith. When Messinger made hole 10 to be an unbelievable 8 under after 10 holes it looked like victory would again slip through Smth’s fingers. But we all know the drought couldn’t last forever as Smith is just too good of a putter. He showed his championship grot and made 5 of the last 8 holes. This allowed him to pass Messinger and finish at 85. Messinger easily hung on for 2nd pace at 87 while Mosk had his best round of the day, a 29, to hold on for 3rd over Everly who finished in 4th.
In the APA, Chris Conradi dominated the field. His 1st round score of 30 gave him a 4 stroke lead over Trevor Lewin, who was the only other player to finish under par. Chris had 2 more fine rounds of 31 and 30 as he finished with a score of 91 for the event. His 2 round score of 61 was good for an 8 stroke lead over Yancey. Chris walked the proverbial dog the last round and was never threatened. Steven yancey was able to hold on to 2nd place with a 3 round score of 104. Trevor Lewin hung on for 3rd place at 105 to collect the final cash spot.
In the APA Chris Conradi took a slim first round lead over Steve Willmann 42-43 with Doug Austin just a few strokes back at 46. Conradi had the best APA round of the weekend shooting a very fine score of 34 in round 2. This gave him a commanding 9 stroke lead over Willmann. Conradi continued his dominance with another good round of 39 in the final round to finish with a 18 stroke lead over second place finisher Willmann. Trevor Lewin captured the final APA cash spot with a 3 round score of 139.
There was some overnight and early morning rain on Sunday but the rain had stopped well before the players teed off at 10am. The wind however did not stop making the course play much more difficult that the day before. You often have 5-7 ft deuce putts and the wind was having an impact on those. 3 players, Gary Hester, Don Parker, and Mason Spradlin, were able to break par by a single stroke in the first round with 35’s while everyone else remained within striking distance. In Round 2 only Brice Bergesen and Rainey Statum were able to break par, again with 35’s. This left Parker and Bergesen tied for the lead at 71. Just 1 stroke back was Gary Hester, and 2 back were Statum, Geoffrey Mosk, and Spradlin. The race for 2nd place remained close right down to the final hole, but Bergesen pulled away a bit with a fine front nine and he was able to hold on with a very solid 34 his final round to win by 3 over Statum. Mosk and Hester finished 1 more stroke back at 109. Lee Messinger took home the final cash spot at 111
In the APA Trevor Lewin was the first round leader with a score of 42, Steve Willmann, Steven Yancey, and Ken Stanfill, were close nehind just 2, 3, and 4 strokes back respectively. Doug Austin had his best round of the weekend with a 40 in round 2 to pull into the lead with Yancey just 3 strokes back and WillMann 4 strokes back. Chris Conradi surged up the leader board with a last round score of 38. Plating in his group was Wilmann who was able to finish 1 stroke ahead of him. Playing right behind them Austin finished 1 stroke behind Willmann. It looked like Willmann was going to get the win but Yancey was busy having his best round of the weekend, a 39, to steal the win.
Everyone had a great time at the course. We’d all like to thank the staff and owners at the course for making us feel so welcome. The course is in amazing shape and the SWPT will definitely be coming back for many years to come.
SWPT | Cool C | SWPT | Cool C | |||||||||||
2021 | 27Mar | 2020 | 27Mar | |||||||||||
PPA | APA | |||||||||||||
1 | Rainey Statum | 33 | 32 | 32 | 97 | $115.00 | 1 | Chris Conradi | 42 | 34 | 39 | 115 | $36.00 | |
2 | Lee Messinger | 38 | 32 | 35 | 105 | $43.00 | 2 | Steve Willmann | 43 | 42 | 48 | 133 | $18.00 | |
2 | Don Parker | 36 | 35 | 34 | 105 | $43.00 | 3 | Trevor Lewin | 47 | 45 | 47 | 139 | $18.00 | |
2 | Gary Hester | 34 | 33 | 38 | 105 | $43.00 | 4 | Doug Austin | 46 | 50 | 45 | 141 | ||
5 | Geoffrey Mosk | 37 | 33 | 37 | 107 | $20.00 | 5 | Steven Yancey | 49 | 49 | 45 | 143 | ||
6 | Brice Bergesen | 34 | 36 | 43 | 113 | 6 | Joe Nova | 51 | 51 | 53 | 155 | |||
7 | Jeffrey Smith | 39 | 40 | 37 | 116 | 7 | Ken Stanfill | 49 | 54 | 56 | 159 | |||
8 | Mason Spradlin | 44 | 42 | 38 | 124 | |||||||||
9 | Jerry Medina | 42 | 41 | 42 | 125 |
SWPT | Cool C | SWPT | Cool C | |||||||||||
2021 | 28 Mar | 2020 | 28 Mar | |||||||||||
PPA | APA | |||||||||||||
1 | Brice Bergesen | 36 | 35 | 34 | 105 | $115.00 | 1 | Steven Yancey | 45 | 46 | 39 | 130 | $36.00 | |
2 | Rainey Statum | 38 | 35 | 35 | 108 | $70.00 | 2 | Steve Willmann | 44 | 48 | 42 | 134 | $18.00 | |
3 | Gary Hester | 35 | 37 | 37 | 109 | $30.00 | 3 | Chris Conradi | 48 | 49 | 38 | 135 | $18.00 | |
3 | Geoffrey Mosk | 36 | 37 | 36 | 109 | $30.00 | 4 | Doug Austin | 48 | 40 | 48 | 136 | ||
5 | Lee Messinger | 38 | 38 | 35 | 111 | $20.00 | 5 | Ken Stanfill | 46 | 50 | 45 | 141 | ||
6 | Don Parker | 35 | 36 | 42 | 113 | 6 | Trevor Lewin | 42 | 55 | 45 | 142 | |||
7 | Mason Spradlin | 35 | 38 | 41 | 114 | |||||||||
8 | Jeffrey Smith | 38 | 42 | 40 | 120 | |||||||||
9 | Jerry Medina | 41 | 40 | 49 | 130 |