SWPT 2016 PPA/APA Final Statistics
| SWPT 2016 | Regular | SWPT | Total | |||||||||
| PPA | Stroke | POY | ASA | Season | Finals | 2016 Season | # | Sp | # | Mch | Play | |
| FINAL | Avg | Points | Index | Winnings | Winnings | Winnings | Trn | ots | Win | W | L | |
| 1 | Jeffrey Smith | 28.69 | 961.5 | -0.74 | $1,002.00 | $1,000.00 | $2,002.00 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 1 | |
| 2 | Lee Messinger | 28.93 | 951.0 | -0.75 | $993.75 | $285.00 | $1,278.75 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| 3 | Brice Bergesen | 28.97 | 907.5 | -0.70 | $1,067.92 | $285.00 | $1,352.92 | 21 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Geoffrey Mosk | 29.10 | 822.5 | -0.76 | $870.00 | $530.00 | $1,400.00 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 3 | |
| 5 | Joe Lea | 28.38 | 779.5 | -1.00 | $704.58 | $400.00 | $1,104.58 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | Wade Sahmel | 28.12 | 514.0 | -0.93 | $608.33 | $310.00 | $918.33 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | Danny Tatum | 29.35 | 436.5 | 0.02 | $435.00 | $285.00 | $720.00 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 7 | |
| 8 | Jody Kimble | 29.52 | 411.0 | -0.43 | $342.50 | $200.00 | $542.50 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 9 | Don Parker | 30.02 | 408.5 | 0.60 | $347.92 | $200.00 | $547.92 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 10 | Rainey Statum | 28.94 | 285.5 | -1.21 | $315.00 | $315.00 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 11 | Gary Love | 30.71 | 242.0 | -0.16 | $230.00 | $200.00 | $430.00 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | |
| 12 | Byron Kirby | 29.02 | 224.5 | 0.13 | $140.00 | $285.00 | $425.00 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| 13 | Tom Adair | 30.82 | 204.5 | 0.59 | $111.67 | $200.00 | $311.67 | 10 | 4 | 3 | ||
| 14 | John Kropinak | 30.80 | 100.0 | 0.48 | $60.00 | $200.00 | $260.00 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| 15 | Greg Simpson | 31.08 | 96.5 | 2.27 | $0.00 | 11 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 16 | Cliff Matthews | 30.25 | 89.5 | -0.70 | $125.00 | $90.00 | $215.00 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 17 | Joel Woodall | 33.33 | 77.5 | 2.47 | $200.00 | $200.00 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 18 | Matt Bellner | 32.96 | 75.5 | 2.31 | $25.00 | $25.00 | 8 | 4 | ||||
| 19 | Gary Reed | 30.44 | 69.0 | -0.70 | $80.00 | $80.00 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 20 | Rudy Cuellar | 33.27 | 49.0 | 2.95 | $90.00 | $90.00 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 21 | David McCollister | 29.67 | 48.5 | 1.09 | $20.00 | $20.00 | 4 | 5 | 1 | |||
| 22 | Pat Simpson | 30.00 | 37.0 | -0.10 | $7.50 | $110.00 | $117.50 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 23 | Jason Van Buskirk | 31.83 | 35.5 | 0.90 | $0.00 | 2 | 2 |
| SWPT 2016 | Regular | SWPT | Total | |||||||||
| APA | Stroke | POY | ASA | Season | Finals | Season | # | Sp | # | Mch | Ply | |
| FINAL | Avg | Total | Index | Won | Won | Reimburse | Trn | ots | W | W | L | |
| 1 | Bill Shelar | 29.58 | 1530.0 | -2.63 | $325.00 | $70.00 | $395.00 | 14 | 4 | 10 | ||
| 2 | Steve Tanton | 30.74 | 823.5 | -2.05 | $156.00 | $60.00 | $216.00 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
| 3 | Greg Everly | 31.10 | 730.0 | -1.81 | $182.00 | $50.00 | $232.00 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Chris Conradi | 32.35 | 607.0 | 0.16 | $156.00 | $40.00 | $196.00 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Mason Spradlin | 31.74 | 588.0 | -0.91 | $165.75 | $35.00 | $200.75 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | Mickey DeLucca | 32.02 | 507.5 | -0.10 | $153.83 | $40.00 | $193.83 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 4 | |
| 7 | Ken Stanfill | 32.42 | 410.0 | 0.36 | $117.00 | $40.00 | $157.00 | 19 | 4 | 6 | 4 | |
| 8 | Charles Cox | 30.53 | 402.0 | -0.70 | $91.00 | $91.00 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 9 | Mike Huckaby | 32.14 | 371.0 | -0.17 | $94.25 | $40.00 | $134.25 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |
| 10 | Alan Sahmel | 31.48 | 291.5 | -0.76 | $70.00 | $70.00 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 11 | Gary Plain | 32.89 | 261.0 | 0.16 | $52.00 | $35.00 | $87.00 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | |
| 12 | Trevor Lewin | 33.45 | 253.5 | 0.95 | $69.33 | $35.00 | $104.33 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 2 | |
| 13 | Adam Sahmel | 32.49 | 221.5 | 0.57 | $49.84 | $49.84 | 8 | 1 | ||||
| 14 | Jack Ramsey | 33.39 | 198.5 | 1.16 | $18.00 | $35.00 | $53.00 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 4 | |
| 15 | Jimmy Van Buskirk | 33.11 | 125.0 | 0.38 | $13.00 | $50.00 | $63.00 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 16 | Steven Yancey | 33.17 | 123.5 | 0.53 | $29.25 | $35.00 | $64.25 | 6 | 4 | |||
| 17 | Dwain Willett | 31.67 | 91.5 | -0.27 | $32.50 | $32.50 | 4 | 4 | 1 | |||
| 18 | Robert Cook | 31.67 | 82.0 | -1.33 | $26.00 | $26.00 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| 19 | Tommy Phillips | 30.67 | 77.0 | -0.33 | $13.00 | $13.00 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 20 | Donnie Halpain | 31.33 | 76.0 | -1.40 | $26.00 | $26.00 | 2 | |||||
| 21 | Allen Thomas | 35.96 | 70.0 | 3.09 | $13.00 | $13.00 | 6 | 1 | ||||
| 22 | Charles Tarbell | 31.95 | 52.5 | 1.35 | $5.00 | $5.00 | 5 | 2 | 4 | |||
| 23 | Scott Myers | 34.67 | 48.5 | 2.94 | $35.00 | $35.00 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| 23 | Robert Martin | 32.67 | 35.0 | 0.30 | $3.25 | $20.00 | $23.25 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 25 | Greg Cole | 37.44 | 28.5 | 4.07 | $15.00 | $15.00 | 3 | 2 | ||||
| 26 | Jason Sheffield | 31.00 | 21.0 | -0.50 | $13.00 | $13.00 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 27 | Steve Willmann | 36.83 | 20.5 | 1.61 | $0.00 | 2 | ||||||
| 28 | Doug Austin | 37.67 | 18.0 | 4.57 | $0.00 | 2 | 2 |
2016 Tournament Stoires
9 October, 2016--Sunday--Arlington Texas
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
Joe Lea vs Jeffrey Smith on hole 8 2015 SWPT Champ Geoff Mosk, 2016 SWPT chan Jeffrey Smith (R)
PPA
The weather could not be better for the Sunday playoffs to determine the PPA and APA Southwest Putting tour champions. Sunny, low 80's, the carpets are completely dry, conditions are perfect for some players to go low. It turns out a lot of players went low, sometimes both in the same match. What made this Sunday special is after a match was over there was no "I gave him that match", but "I played good, he just played better!" It was a fun pressure filled day and in the end we came out with two very deserving champions.
There were two matches in the round of 32, Wade Sahmel against Rudy Cuellar. Wade thanked Rudy for the wonderful meal the night before at the banquet then beat him 7 and 6. The other match would be considered an upset as Pat Simpson, one of Al's sons, beat Cliff Matthews 3 and 2. Cliff is busy with his kids and has not played much this year, but what made the upset is this was Pat Simpson's first tournament of the year! In the round of 16 some really good players were eliminated. The big upset was Jody Kimble going down to Wade 4 and 3 after Jody had dominated in all three tournaments yesterday. Gary Love, Pat Simpson, John Kropinak, Tom Adair, Joel Woodall and Don Parker all also lost. In the round of eight Wade won his third easy match, this time over the very hot Danny Tatum, 5 and 4. Geoffrey Mosk won his second straight match on the 36th hole and beat Byron Kirby. In the bottom bracket, Jeffrey Smith figured out the night before before he picked that the only way he could win the Player-of-the-Year award was if Lee Messinger did not make it past the round of eight and Jeffrey went on to win the championship, so he picked Lee. And he beat Lee on the 36th hole. In the other match in the lower bracket Joe Lea destroyed Brice Bergesen by acing 16 of his first 22 holes and breezed by a 8 and 7 margin. What we had left in the final four was a very strong four players. In the top bracket was Wade Sahmel (runner-up two weeks ago in the 2016 Nationals) against defending SWPT champ and a USA picked team player for the World Putting Championships in Kosovo in June. In the bottom bracket it got even better, 2014 National Champion Jeffrey Smith against the 2015 National Champion Joe Lea You never know in match play as Wade was the hottest player, easily winning all three of his matches and Geoffrey barely squeaking by winning on the last hole. So of course Geoffrey hammers Wade 6 and 5! In the bottom bracket Jeffrey and Joe put on a classic match. Joe had nasty lipouts on hole 18 and later in the match on hole one after Jeffrey had aced the hole at maximum speed. But such is match play, and when there are two great players playing their best it comes down to who can avoid the unlucky break. One up going into the final hole, number four, Jeffrey missed to give Joe a chance but on a very speed sensitive hole Joe just did not hit the ball hard enough and Jeffrey had made it to the finals again. In the final match both players were really playing good, even after 17 holes, then the ability that all great players have to put it into another gear happened, not just to one player but to both players. Jeffrey aced hole 18 to go one up with 18 holes to go. Geoffrey showed the champion he is by acing 8 of his first 11 holes, and lost ground as Jeffrey made 9 of his first 10 holes. When Jeffrey doubled banked in the difficult 15th hole the match was over, Geoffrey was decrowned, Jeffrey won his 7th SWPT Championship, his first since 2009, and by 961.5 to 951 points, Jeffrey clipped Lee Messinger for the Player-of-the Year award. It was quite a performance on Sunday, not just by Jeffrey and Geoffrey, but all the players, as everyone raised their game.
APA
APA Runner-Up Steve Tanton, Winner Bill Shelar Jimmy Van Buskirk gave Steve a good match, came up just a little short
Steve Tanton acing #10 in final match Bill Shelar played hole #18 well all weekend
APA
Having already clinched the Player-of-the-Year award and won 9 times in 14 tournaments it would seem that Bill Shelar would be a prohibitive favorite. He was the favorite all right, but not by much because Steve Tanton had quietly also had a spectacular season. Steve had only won 3 of the 9 tournaments he had played in but was second or third in four others. His doctors did not want him playing when the temperature was above the low 80's, so he missed 12 tournaments but still finished second in the Player-of-the-Year points and stroke average. Bill and Steve were in opposite brackets, it would be awesome if they both made it to the finals.
There was only one match in the round of 32 and Robert Martin edged Greg Cole on the last hole. His reward was to play Steve in the round of 16 and Steve beat Robert 4 and 2. There was only one mild surprise loss in the round of 16 and that was Tyler's Mason Spradlin, who had played so strong all season in his rookie year. But he lost to Jimmy Van Buskirk from Oklahoma who has been a top players for many years. Jimmy beat Mason 5 and 3, very mild surprise. Others that ended their day in the round of 16 were Ken Stanfill,Steven Yancey, Gary Plain, Jack Ramsey, Trevor Lewin and Scott Myers. In the round of 8 Steve Tanton continued to move on by beating Ken Stanfill 5 and 4. Jimmy Van Buskirk continued his strong play by eliminating Chris Conradi 3 and 2. Bill Shelar got hot and never stopped as he poured on a 11 to 9 win over a very fine player in Mike Huckaby. After Mickey DeLucca had won his round of 16 match by a 10 to 9 win, he was involved in another 10 and 9 match but this time on the losing end as Greg Everly showed no mercy. As in the PPA, four very strong players were left standing. Steve Tanton, the 2011 APA National Champion, Jimmy Van Buskirk who has won everything in Oklahoma for many years, defending champion Bill Shelar and Greg Everly, who always finishes in the top three at the end of a season. Jimmy played a great match against Steve, had a couple of things not go as he had hoped and lost to Steve 2 and 1, Steve Tanton goes to the finals. Bill Shelar found out how tenacious Greg Everly is as they were all even after 36 and went to sudden death on hole 16. Still tied on hole 18 Bill aced and Greg did not and Bill moved to the finals.
Bill got off to a good lead over Steve, going 4 up before the end of 18 holes but Steve kept chipping away and took it to the 36th hole, number 18, where Bill again aced it to win 2 up. Just like in the PPA, tow great champions battling it out to the end. This was Bill's last win as a APA player as he will turn PPA either next season or at the Al (Lake Charles Tournament of Champions) the first weekend in November. Bill showed that he belongs in the top APA's to ever play the SWPT.
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
Joe Lea vs Jeffrey Smith on hole 8 2015 SWPT Champ Geoff Mosk, 2016 SWPT chan Jeffrey Smith (R)
PPA
The weather could not be better for the Sunday playoffs to determine the PPA and APA Southwest Putting tour champions. Sunny, low 80's, the carpets are completely dry, conditions are perfect for some players to go low. It turns out a lot of players went low, sometimes both in the same match. What made this Sunday special is after a match was over there was no "I gave him that match", but "I played good, he just played better!" It was a fun pressure filled day and in the end we came out with two very deserving champions.
There were two matches in the round of 32, Wade Sahmel against Rudy Cuellar. Wade thanked Rudy for the wonderful meal the night before at the banquet then beat him 7 and 6. The other match would be considered an upset as Pat Simpson, one of Al's sons, beat Cliff Matthews 3 and 2. Cliff is busy with his kids and has not played much this year, but what made the upset is this was Pat Simpson's first tournament of the year! In the round of 16 some really good players were eliminated. The big upset was Jody Kimble going down to Wade 4 and 3 after Jody had dominated in all three tournaments yesterday. Gary Love, Pat Simpson, John Kropinak, Tom Adair, Joel Woodall and Don Parker all also lost. In the round of eight Wade won his third easy match, this time over the very hot Danny Tatum, 5 and 4. Geoffrey Mosk won his second straight match on the 36th hole and beat Byron Kirby. In the bottom bracket, Jeffrey Smith figured out the night before before he picked that the only way he could win the Player-of-the-Year award was if Lee Messinger did not make it past the round of eight and Jeffrey went on to win the championship, so he picked Lee. And he beat Lee on the 36th hole. In the other match in the lower bracket Joe Lea destroyed Brice Bergesen by acing 16 of his first 22 holes and breezed by a 8 and 7 margin. What we had left in the final four was a very strong four players. In the top bracket was Wade Sahmel (runner-up two weeks ago in the 2016 Nationals) against defending SWPT champ and a USA picked team player for the World Putting Championships in Kosovo in June. In the bottom bracket it got even better, 2014 National Champion Jeffrey Smith against the 2015 National Champion Joe Lea You never know in match play as Wade was the hottest player, easily winning all three of his matches and Geoffrey barely squeaking by winning on the last hole. So of course Geoffrey hammers Wade 6 and 5! In the bottom bracket Jeffrey and Joe put on a classic match. Joe had nasty lipouts on hole 18 and later in the match on hole one after Jeffrey had aced the hole at maximum speed. But such is match play, and when there are two great players playing their best it comes down to who can avoid the unlucky break. One up going into the final hole, number four, Jeffrey missed to give Joe a chance but on a very speed sensitive hole Joe just did not hit the ball hard enough and Jeffrey had made it to the finals again. In the final match both players were really playing good, even after 17 holes, then the ability that all great players have to put it into another gear happened, not just to one player but to both players. Jeffrey aced hole 18 to go one up with 18 holes to go. Geoffrey showed the champion he is by acing 8 of his first 11 holes, and lost ground as Jeffrey made 9 of his first 10 holes. When Jeffrey doubled banked in the difficult 15th hole the match was over, Geoffrey was decrowned, Jeffrey won his 7th SWPT Championship, his first since 2009, and by 961.5 to 951 points, Jeffrey clipped Lee Messinger for the Player-of-the Year award. It was quite a performance on Sunday, not just by Jeffrey and Geoffrey, but all the players, as everyone raised their game.
| PPA Playoff 2016 | SWPT- Arlington Texas | |
| 9 October 2016 | ||
| Round of 32 | Wade Sahmel d Rudy Cuellar | 7 and 6 |
| Pat Simpson d Cliff Matthews | 3 and 2 | |
| Round of 16: | Wade Sahmel d Jody Kimble | 4 and 3 |
| Danny Tatum d Gary Love | 2 and 1 | |
| Byron Kirby d Pat Simpson | 6 and 5 | |
| Geoffrey Mosk d John Kropinak | 1 up | |
| Lee Messinger | bye | |
| Jeffrey Smith d Tom Adair | 3 and 1 | |
| Brice Bergesen d Joel Woodall | 37 holes | |
| Joe Lea d Don Parker | 1 up | |
| Round of 8: | Wade Sahmel d Danny Tatum | 5 and 4 |
| Geoffrey Mosk d Byron Kirby | 1 up | |
| Jeffrey Smith d Lee Messinger | 1 up | |
| Joe Lea d Brice Bergesen | 8 and 7 | |
| Semi-Finals: | Geoffrey Mosk d Wade Sahmel | 6 and 5 |
| Jeffrey Smith d Joe Lea | 1 up | |
| Finals: | Jeffrey Smith d Geoffrey Mosk | 4 and 3 |
APA
APA Runner-Up Steve Tanton, Winner Bill Shelar Jimmy Van Buskirk gave Steve a good match, came up just a little short
Steve Tanton acing #10 in final match Bill Shelar played hole #18 well all weekend
APA
Having already clinched the Player-of-the-Year award and won 9 times in 14 tournaments it would seem that Bill Shelar would be a prohibitive favorite. He was the favorite all right, but not by much because Steve Tanton had quietly also had a spectacular season. Steve had only won 3 of the 9 tournaments he had played in but was second or third in four others. His doctors did not want him playing when the temperature was above the low 80's, so he missed 12 tournaments but still finished second in the Player-of-the-Year points and stroke average. Bill and Steve were in opposite brackets, it would be awesome if they both made it to the finals.
There was only one match in the round of 32 and Robert Martin edged Greg Cole on the last hole. His reward was to play Steve in the round of 16 and Steve beat Robert 4 and 2. There was only one mild surprise loss in the round of 16 and that was Tyler's Mason Spradlin, who had played so strong all season in his rookie year. But he lost to Jimmy Van Buskirk from Oklahoma who has been a top players for many years. Jimmy beat Mason 5 and 3, very mild surprise. Others that ended their day in the round of 16 were Ken Stanfill,Steven Yancey, Gary Plain, Jack Ramsey, Trevor Lewin and Scott Myers. In the round of 8 Steve Tanton continued to move on by beating Ken Stanfill 5 and 4. Jimmy Van Buskirk continued his strong play by eliminating Chris Conradi 3 and 2. Bill Shelar got hot and never stopped as he poured on a 11 to 9 win over a very fine player in Mike Huckaby. After Mickey DeLucca had won his round of 16 match by a 10 to 9 win, he was involved in another 10 and 9 match but this time on the losing end as Greg Everly showed no mercy. As in the PPA, four very strong players were left standing. Steve Tanton, the 2011 APA National Champion, Jimmy Van Buskirk who has won everything in Oklahoma for many years, defending champion Bill Shelar and Greg Everly, who always finishes in the top three at the end of a season. Jimmy played a great match against Steve, had a couple of things not go as he had hoped and lost to Steve 2 and 1, Steve Tanton goes to the finals. Bill Shelar found out how tenacious Greg Everly is as they were all even after 36 and went to sudden death on hole 16. Still tied on hole 18 Bill aced and Greg did not and Bill moved to the finals.
Bill got off to a good lead over Steve, going 4 up before the end of 18 holes but Steve kept chipping away and took it to the 36th hole, number 18, where Bill again aced it to win 2 up. Just like in the PPA, tow great champions battling it out to the end. This was Bill's last win as a APA player as he will turn PPA either next season or at the Al (Lake Charles Tournament of Champions) the first weekend in November. Bill showed that he belongs in the top APA's to ever play the SWPT.
| APA Playoff 2016 | SWPT- Arlington Texas | |
| 9 October 2016 | ||
| Round of 32 | Robert Martin d Greg Cole | 1 up |
| Round of 16: | Steve Tanton d. Robert Martin | 4 and 2 |
| Ken Stanfill d Steven Yancey | 1 up | |
| Chris Conradi d. Gary Plain | 5 and 4 | |
| Jim Van Buskirk d Mason Spradlin | 5 and 3 | |
| Bill Shelar | bye | |
| Mike Huckaby d Jack Ramsey | 4 and 3 | |
| Greg Everly d Trevor Lewin | 5 and 4 | |
| Mickey DeLucca d. Scott Myers | 10 and 9 | |
| Round of 8: | Steve Tanton d. Ken Stanfill | 5 and 4 |
| Jim Van Buskirk d Chris Conradi | 3 and 2 | |
| Bill Shelar d Mike Huckaby | 11 and 9 | |
| Greg Everly d Mickey DeLucca | 10 and 9 | |
| Semi-Finals: | Steve Tanton d. Jim Van Buskirk | 2 and 1 |
| Bill Shelar d Greg Everly | 39 holes | |
| Finals: | Bill Shelar d Steve Tanton | 1 up |
8 October 2016--Saturday--Arlington Texas
SWPT Finals
Arlington has a nice patio for the players Brice Bergesen found some Putt-Putt colored shoes
Most of the players arrived on Friday to get some practice in since the Saturday tournaments started at 10 am on Saturday. A fairly heavy rain fell on Friday morning and the players had to practice on wet then only damp carpets all day Friday. After the front moved through we were blessed with perfect weather for the whole finals weekend. Unfortunately we had a few players who had qualified for the finals that were not able to make it to Arlington, but we still had 32 dedicated players tee it up for Saturday. There was a buzz in the air as the purse for the PPA division had been strengthened due to a generous donation by Rudy and Francis Cuellar. First place was guaranteed to be $1,000. Rudy and Francis also arranged for the awards banquet to be at the Marriott Hotel and they had it catered. Pat Conradi donated a large bagof chips, chocolate and cookies that gave the players a energy boost in between matches on Sunday.
Saturday.
Jody Kimble (PPA) won his first ever SWPT tournament, Bill Shelar won his 9th event of the 2016 season
PPA
The final chance to qualify for the SWPT finals was the 54 hole tournament on Saturday morning. Newly inducted Hall of Fame member Cliff Matthews was the first round leader with a 27, a 11 on the front side. Close behind Cliff at 28 was Jody Kimble from Arkansas and runner-up last week in the Louisiana State Championship, Danny Tatum of Deritter Louisiana Jody and Danny were playing in the same threesome and they tied again in the second round with 26's, good for a 54 total and a 3-shot lead over 2014 National Champion Jeffrey Smith, sho had a 26 of his own. No one else was within five shots. Going into the difficult back nine Danny had a one shot lead over Jody and two shots over Jeffrey. Danny and Jeffrey both shot routine 16's on the back nine and Jody shot the low back nine of the tournament with a 12, which gave Jody a 81 total and a 3-shot win over Danny and 5 shots over Jeffrey. John Kropinak, who came down from Kansas City to play, was fourth at 88. The five remaining qualifying spots went to John Kropinak, Cliff Matthews, Pat Simpson, Joel Woodall and Rudy Cuellar.
APA
Bill Shelar had won 8 tournaments so far this year and Steve Tanton three times, but they only played against each other in four tournaments, Bill won three of those and Steve one. They were in the first threesome and everyone was looking to see who would win the battle. Nither one of them in the first round as there was a 3-way tie for first, with the most surprising leader being Scott Myers of Tyler, not only playing in his first event outside east Texas, but he did not arrive until Saturday morning. Tied with Scott at 28 was Jack Ramsey and Chris Conradi. Bill was one back at 29 nd Steve was at 31. Chris added a 28 to his first round 29 and led after two at 57,but Bill was only one shot back at 58. Mickey DeLucca was hanging close at 60. Steve made the big move in the final 18 holes, starting at 62 he shot a tournament low 26 his last round and was in the clubhouse at 88, really good but not quite enough to keep Bill from his 9th victory of the season as Bill shot a 28 for a 86 total. Chris fell back to 90 but still finished in third place, and three players finished in a fourth place tie at 93. The final four spots went to Steven Yancey, Robert Martin, Jimmy Van Buskirk and Greg Cole.
Winning team APA Chris Conradi PPA Jody Kimble PPA Byron Kirby PPA Danny Tatum
"The Codgers Too"
The team "The Codgers", has dominated the Team Championship like the Yankees dominated baseball years ago and the Celtics dominated basketball when Bill Russell played. With another stacked team of captain Jeffrey Smith, new Hall of Famer Cliff Matthews on his home course, 2014 SWPT champ Lee Messinger and 2014 APA Player of the Year Mike Huckaby, they looked ready to roll again. Jody Kimble and Danny Tatum had a team and for good luck it was named "Codgers too", thinking maybe there was magic in the team name. The tournament is played in conjunction with the 54-hole SWPT event. The "Codgers too" shot a first round 84 to lead "The Codgers" by three and "No Name" by five shots. After two rounds, with Jody and Danny tied for the tournament lead, "Codgers too" increased their lead to eight strokes over "The Codgers" and by 13 strokes over "Thirty Fives". With Jody and Danny playing so well, a one-two finish in the regular tournament, the "Codgers too" breezed to a 12-shot win over "The Codgers" (263) with a 251 total score, only their fourth loss in over 20 years. Third place went to "Gulf Freeway and Bill" at 264.
The winning Pro-Am team, PPA Jody Kimble and APA Greg Everly, with their colorful golf balls
PRO-AM
The fun part of the Finals weekend begins in the afternoon with the Pro-Am, 54-holes of best ball with a PPA pro and a non PPA pro. There were fourteen teams playing, and the favorites were defending champs Joe Lea and Bill Shelar, mainly because of Bill's 9 wins this season. Joe Lea was also playing with Scott Myers and the Lea-Myers team shot a 22 for the first round lead, by two shots over three teams. Jody Kimble, after winning the morning tournament and leading his team to the Team Championship, was playing with Greg Everly and they were smoking the second round with a 22 and a 46 total, good for a two shot lead over three teams at 48 and one team at 49. In the third round it came down to the wire and Jody and Greg made some crucial aces down the stretch to shoot 69 and beat the defending Lea-Shelar team by one shot (70). Lea-Myers and Messinger-Huckaby tied for third at 72. It is pointed out in this space each year that the record score of 19-20-22=61 shot at Killeen by Brice Bergesen and Jason Sheffield is still safe.
SWPT Finals
Arlington has a nice patio for the players Brice Bergesen found some Putt-Putt colored shoes
Most of the players arrived on Friday to get some practice in since the Saturday tournaments started at 10 am on Saturday. A fairly heavy rain fell on Friday morning and the players had to practice on wet then only damp carpets all day Friday. After the front moved through we were blessed with perfect weather for the whole finals weekend. Unfortunately we had a few players who had qualified for the finals that were not able to make it to Arlington, but we still had 32 dedicated players tee it up for Saturday. There was a buzz in the air as the purse for the PPA division had been strengthened due to a generous donation by Rudy and Francis Cuellar. First place was guaranteed to be $1,000. Rudy and Francis also arranged for the awards banquet to be at the Marriott Hotel and they had it catered. Pat Conradi donated a large bagof chips, chocolate and cookies that gave the players a energy boost in between matches on Sunday.
Saturday.
Jody Kimble (PPA) won his first ever SWPT tournament, Bill Shelar won his 9th event of the 2016 season
PPA
The final chance to qualify for the SWPT finals was the 54 hole tournament on Saturday morning. Newly inducted Hall of Fame member Cliff Matthews was the first round leader with a 27, a 11 on the front side. Close behind Cliff at 28 was Jody Kimble from Arkansas and runner-up last week in the Louisiana State Championship, Danny Tatum of Deritter Louisiana Jody and Danny were playing in the same threesome and they tied again in the second round with 26's, good for a 54 total and a 3-shot lead over 2014 National Champion Jeffrey Smith, sho had a 26 of his own. No one else was within five shots. Going into the difficult back nine Danny had a one shot lead over Jody and two shots over Jeffrey. Danny and Jeffrey both shot routine 16's on the back nine and Jody shot the low back nine of the tournament with a 12, which gave Jody a 81 total and a 3-shot win over Danny and 5 shots over Jeffrey. John Kropinak, who came down from Kansas City to play, was fourth at 88. The five remaining qualifying spots went to John Kropinak, Cliff Matthews, Pat Simpson, Joel Woodall and Rudy Cuellar.
APA
Bill Shelar had won 8 tournaments so far this year and Steve Tanton three times, but they only played against each other in four tournaments, Bill won three of those and Steve one. They were in the first threesome and everyone was looking to see who would win the battle. Nither one of them in the first round as there was a 3-way tie for first, with the most surprising leader being Scott Myers of Tyler, not only playing in his first event outside east Texas, but he did not arrive until Saturday morning. Tied with Scott at 28 was Jack Ramsey and Chris Conradi. Bill was one back at 29 nd Steve was at 31. Chris added a 28 to his first round 29 and led after two at 57,but Bill was only one shot back at 58. Mickey DeLucca was hanging close at 60. Steve made the big move in the final 18 holes, starting at 62 he shot a tournament low 26 his last round and was in the clubhouse at 88, really good but not quite enough to keep Bill from his 9th victory of the season as Bill shot a 28 for a 86 total. Chris fell back to 90 but still finished in third place, and three players finished in a fourth place tie at 93. The final four spots went to Steven Yancey, Robert Martin, Jimmy Van Buskirk and Greg Cole.
| SWPT—2016 | Arlingt | SWPT-- 2016 | Arlingt | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 8Oct | APA | 8Oct | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Jody Kimble | 28 | 26 | 27 | 81 | $170.00 | 1 | Bill Shelar | 29 | 29 | 28 | 86 | $26.00 | ||||
| 2 | Danny Tatum | 28 | 26 | 30 | 84 | $110.00 | 2 | Steve Tanton | 31 | 31 | 26 | 88 | $13.00 | ||||
| 3 | Jeffrey Smith | 31 | 26 | 29 | 86 | $75.00 | 3 | Chris Conradi | 28 | 29 | 33 | 90 | $13.00 | ||||
| 4 | John Kropinak | 29 | 31 | 28 | 88 | $60.00 | 1 | 4 | Greg Everly | 29 | 36 | 28 | 93 | $13.00 | |||
| 5 | Don Parker | 29 | 32 | 28 | 89 | $35.00 | 4 | Ken Stanfill | 34 | 30 | 29 | 93 | $13.00 | ||||
| 5 | Cliff Matthews | 27 | 33 | 29 | 89 | $35.00 | 1 | 4 | Mickey DeLucca | 31 | 29 | 33 | 93 | $13.00 | |||
| 7 | Tom Adair | 29 | 31 | 30 | 90 | $7.50 | 7 | Gary Plain | 31 | 32 | 31 | 94 | $13.00 | ||||
| 7 | Joe Lea | 31 | 28 | 31 | 90 | $7.50 | 8 | Mason Spradlin | 33 | 33 | 32 | 98 | $3.25 | ||||
| 7 | Byron Kirby | 29 | 32 | 29 | 90 | $7.50 | 8 | Mike Huckaby | 32 | 30 | 36 | 98 | $3.25 | ||||
| 7 | Pat Simpson | 31 | 28 | 31 | 90 | $7.50 | 2 | 8 | Steven Yancey | 30 | 33 | 35 | 98 | $3.25 | 1 | ||
| 11 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 30 | 32 | 91 | 8 | Robert Martin | 34 | 33 | 31 | 98 | $3.25 | 2 | ||||
| 11 | Brice Bergesen | 32 | 30 | 29 | 91 | 12 | Jack Ramsey | 28 | 33 | 38 | 99 | ||||||
| 13 | Geoff Mosk | 32 | 31 | 31 | 94 | 13 | Jimmy Van Buskirk | 33 | 29 | 39 | 101 | 2 | |||||
| 14 | Joel Woodall | 34 | 30 | 31 | 95 | 1 | 14 | Trevor Lewin | 39 | 34 | 32 | 105 | |||||
| 15 | Gary Love | 35 | 29 | 32 | 96 | 1 | 15 | Scott Myers | 28 | 41 | 40 | 109 | 2 | ||||
| 16 | Rudy Cuellar | 34 | 35 | 32 | 101 | 1 | 16 | Greg Cole | 38 | 36 | 38 | 112 | 2 |
Winning team APA Chris Conradi PPA Jody Kimble PPA Byron Kirby PPA Danny Tatum
"The Codgers Too"
The team "The Codgers", has dominated the Team Championship like the Yankees dominated baseball years ago and the Celtics dominated basketball when Bill Russell played. With another stacked team of captain Jeffrey Smith, new Hall of Famer Cliff Matthews on his home course, 2014 SWPT champ Lee Messinger and 2014 APA Player of the Year Mike Huckaby, they looked ready to roll again. Jody Kimble and Danny Tatum had a team and for good luck it was named "Codgers too", thinking maybe there was magic in the team name. The tournament is played in conjunction with the 54-hole SWPT event. The "Codgers too" shot a first round 84 to lead "The Codgers" by three and "No Name" by five shots. After two rounds, with Jody and Danny tied for the tournament lead, "Codgers too" increased their lead to eight strokes over "The Codgers" and by 13 strokes over "Thirty Fives". With Jody and Danny playing so well, a one-two finish in the regular tournament, the "Codgers too" breezed to a 12-shot win over "The Codgers" (263) with a 251 total score, only their fourth loss in over 20 years. Third place went to "Gulf Freeway and Bill" at 264.
The winning Pro-Am team, PPA Jody Kimble and APA Greg Everly, with their colorful golf balls
PRO-AM
The fun part of the Finals weekend begins in the afternoon with the Pro-Am, 54-holes of best ball with a PPA pro and a non PPA pro. There were fourteen teams playing, and the favorites were defending champs Joe Lea and Bill Shelar, mainly because of Bill's 9 wins this season. Joe Lea was also playing with Scott Myers and the Lea-Myers team shot a 22 for the first round lead, by two shots over three teams. Jody Kimble, after winning the morning tournament and leading his team to the Team Championship, was playing with Greg Everly and they were smoking the second round with a 22 and a 46 total, good for a two shot lead over three teams at 48 and one team at 49. In the third round it came down to the wire and Jody and Greg made some crucial aces down the stretch to shoot 69 and beat the defending Lea-Shelar team by one shot (70). Lea-Myers and Messinger-Huckaby tied for third at 72. It is pointed out in this space each year that the record score of 19-20-22=61 shot at Killeen by Brice Bergesen and Jason Sheffield is still safe.
1, 2 October--Saturday and Sunday, Lake Charles Louisiana, Louisiana State Championship
A small but enthusiastic group of players showed up to play in the Louisiana State Championship
The 2016 Louisiana State Championship was originally scheduled for August 13th and 14th, but was rained out with the flooding that hit Louisiana, so it was rescheduled the only date available, which unfortunately was the weekend after the Nationals and the weekend before the SWPT Championships. We knew there would be a drop off in the number of players and there was, but the players that did participate had a great time and the scoring was very strong. The good scoring on Sunday was due a lot to the fact that we had a light rain just after we started on and off for a good part of an hour, That rain made the course play very true, thus the very low scores by almost everyone in the PPA, and some low APA scores also. Besides the Sunday rain the conditions were ideal all weekend. After the tournament on Saturday all the tournament players went to the sports bar next door to the course and watched football and the Ryder Cup together. A fun time, led by Joe Lea, was had by all.
Beautiful course 2 at Lake Charles, with the 3-block hole 15 in the background
Day one
PPA
Former National Champion (2015) Joe Lea was the first round leader with a 25 with former National Champion Jeffrey Smith (2014) and 2015 National Senior champ Danny Tatum and the previous winner on the SWPT in Tyler, Don Parker, all one shot back at 26. Danny shot a 24 the second round to be at 50, two shots ahead of Joe and four up on Jeffrey. Danny put the pedal to the medal with another 24 the third round for a 74 total. Jeffrey and 2014 SWPT champ Lee Messinger also had 24's so Danny's lead was now four shots over Jeffrey at 78 and five over Lee at 79. Danny shot an 11 on the front nine his fourth round to increase his lead to five shots but stumbled with a 16 on the back nine for a 27 and a still fine 101 total, but his lead was cut to three shots over Lee and four over Jeff. Brice Bergesen finished strong on Saturday to be in fourth place six shots out at 107.
APA
Bill Shelar has already clinched the 2016 APA player of the year award and has already won 7 times this season, so he was the favorite to battle Lake Charles top APA player Charles Cox. Bill got the early lead with a 28 to Charles's 29 the first round then increased his lead to four shots after two rounds with a 25 good for a 53 total. What was looking like another runaway win for Bill was derailed somewhat as Charles shot 26 his third round to be at 84 to Bill's 80. Charles continued to cut into the lead in the fourth round with a 29 to Bill's 31. Bill still lead after 72 holes but his 111 only led Charles by two shots. Nine shots back was Mickey DeLucca at 120 and Chris Conradi was at 122.
PPA winner Brice Bergesen with his silver Chromax, and APA winner Bill Shelar, a 8-time winner in 2016
Day two
PPA
Danny Tatum led from the second round on Saturday and when he opened Sunday by missing his first two holes there was hope but then Danny aced 14 of his final 16 holes for a 22 and gained five strokes on Lee Messinger, Jeffrey Smith and Brice Bergesen, when all of them had 27's for the firth round. Danny was at 123, Lee eight back at 131, Jeffrey at 132 and Brice at 134. Joe Lea was making his usual charge by shooting a 22 also, good for a 135 score. Danny shot a sixth round 26 for a 149 total and saw his lead drop to seven shots as Brice Bergesen shot a 22 of his own to grab second place at 156, with Jeffrey at 157 and Lee at 158. In the seventh round Danny ran into trouble on the third hole, a very easy ace, when he went over both hills, then lagged the hill and ended with a four on the hole. His stumble started him onto a round of 30, and he still had the lead, but only by one shot. Jeffrey shot a 23 and despite making a bogey on hole 15 for the third round in a row, Brice had a 24 and both were at 180 to Danny's 179. Lee was the only other player still in the picture at 183. In the eighth round Jeffrey continued his hot shooting with a front nine 11 to Danny and Brice's 13's. Lee also had a 11 so going into the final nine holes Jeffrey had a one shot lead over Danny, two over Brice and three over Lee. Jeffrey still had the lead with three holes to go, but only by one over his playing partner Brice, who putted hole 16 first. After Brice made the delicate front door shot up the hill, Jeffrey went for the ace also but his ball bounced about three feet off the tee mat and he lagged the hill and missed the hard deuce putt. Knowing he had a one shot lead to go with two holes left, Brice somehow managed to ace the final two holes,the third time in a row he made 16-18. Brice's 11 on the back nine was good for a 24 and a 204 total, one better than Jeffrey and Danny at 205, and Lee was fourth at 208. Just two weeks shy of his 70th birthday and a player since 1964, Brice could not remember ever making 50 aces in 72 holes (four rounds). It was a heartbreaking loss for Danny and Jeffrey but everyone enjoyed the battle, especially the "old" guy. .
APA
The expected battle between Bill Shelar and Charles Cox on Sunday never quite materialized as Bill moved to a five shot lead after five rounds with a opening Sunday round of 26 and a 137 total to Charles' 29 and 142 total. Round six saw Bill's lead increase to seven shots as Bill shot another 26 to Charles' 28, but a seven shot lead did not hole up in the PPA with two rounds to go so Charles still had a chance. Whatever chance Charles had was gone after the seventh round as Bill poured on the aces with a 25 for a 188 total and with Charles having a bad game (32) the lead was now an insurmountable 14 shots with one round to go. Charles might have been understandably a little deflated in round seven seeing the lead grow for Bill, but Charles should have been looking over his shoulder as the hottest player in the APA on Sunday the last three rounds was Chris Conradi, who started nine shots behind Charles going into the fifth round and after seven rounds was only three shots back. Chris's last three rounds were 27-26 and a final round 26 which was enough to catch Charles on the back nine of the final round 231 to 233. Bill went about his business the last round with a 29 and a 217 total, good for a 14 shot win. the other APA players were happy to hear that Bill is going to the PPA next season.
A small but enthusiastic group of players showed up to play in the Louisiana State Championship
The 2016 Louisiana State Championship was originally scheduled for August 13th and 14th, but was rained out with the flooding that hit Louisiana, so it was rescheduled the only date available, which unfortunately was the weekend after the Nationals and the weekend before the SWPT Championships. We knew there would be a drop off in the number of players and there was, but the players that did participate had a great time and the scoring was very strong. The good scoring on Sunday was due a lot to the fact that we had a light rain just after we started on and off for a good part of an hour, That rain made the course play very true, thus the very low scores by almost everyone in the PPA, and some low APA scores also. Besides the Sunday rain the conditions were ideal all weekend. After the tournament on Saturday all the tournament players went to the sports bar next door to the course and watched football and the Ryder Cup together. A fun time, led by Joe Lea, was had by all.
Beautiful course 2 at Lake Charles, with the 3-block hole 15 in the background
Day one
PPA
Former National Champion (2015) Joe Lea was the first round leader with a 25 with former National Champion Jeffrey Smith (2014) and 2015 National Senior champ Danny Tatum and the previous winner on the SWPT in Tyler, Don Parker, all one shot back at 26. Danny shot a 24 the second round to be at 50, two shots ahead of Joe and four up on Jeffrey. Danny put the pedal to the medal with another 24 the third round for a 74 total. Jeffrey and 2014 SWPT champ Lee Messinger also had 24's so Danny's lead was now four shots over Jeffrey at 78 and five over Lee at 79. Danny shot an 11 on the front nine his fourth round to increase his lead to five shots but stumbled with a 16 on the back nine for a 27 and a still fine 101 total, but his lead was cut to three shots over Lee and four over Jeff. Brice Bergesen finished strong on Saturday to be in fourth place six shots out at 107.
APA
Bill Shelar has already clinched the 2016 APA player of the year award and has already won 7 times this season, so he was the favorite to battle Lake Charles top APA player Charles Cox. Bill got the early lead with a 28 to Charles's 29 the first round then increased his lead to four shots after two rounds with a 25 good for a 53 total. What was looking like another runaway win for Bill was derailed somewhat as Charles shot 26 his third round to be at 84 to Bill's 80. Charles continued to cut into the lead in the fourth round with a 29 to Bill's 31. Bill still lead after 72 holes but his 111 only led Charles by two shots. Nine shots back was Mickey DeLucca at 120 and Chris Conradi was at 122.
PPA winner Brice Bergesen with his silver Chromax, and APA winner Bill Shelar, a 8-time winner in 2016
Day two
PPA
Danny Tatum led from the second round on Saturday and when he opened Sunday by missing his first two holes there was hope but then Danny aced 14 of his final 16 holes for a 22 and gained five strokes on Lee Messinger, Jeffrey Smith and Brice Bergesen, when all of them had 27's for the firth round. Danny was at 123, Lee eight back at 131, Jeffrey at 132 and Brice at 134. Joe Lea was making his usual charge by shooting a 22 also, good for a 135 score. Danny shot a sixth round 26 for a 149 total and saw his lead drop to seven shots as Brice Bergesen shot a 22 of his own to grab second place at 156, with Jeffrey at 157 and Lee at 158. In the seventh round Danny ran into trouble on the third hole, a very easy ace, when he went over both hills, then lagged the hill and ended with a four on the hole. His stumble started him onto a round of 30, and he still had the lead, but only by one shot. Jeffrey shot a 23 and despite making a bogey on hole 15 for the third round in a row, Brice had a 24 and both were at 180 to Danny's 179. Lee was the only other player still in the picture at 183. In the eighth round Jeffrey continued his hot shooting with a front nine 11 to Danny and Brice's 13's. Lee also had a 11 so going into the final nine holes Jeffrey had a one shot lead over Danny, two over Brice and three over Lee. Jeffrey still had the lead with three holes to go, but only by one over his playing partner Brice, who putted hole 16 first. After Brice made the delicate front door shot up the hill, Jeffrey went for the ace also but his ball bounced about three feet off the tee mat and he lagged the hill and missed the hard deuce putt. Knowing he had a one shot lead to go with two holes left, Brice somehow managed to ace the final two holes,the third time in a row he made 16-18. Brice's 11 on the back nine was good for a 24 and a 204 total, one better than Jeffrey and Danny at 205, and Lee was fourth at 208. Just two weeks shy of his 70th birthday and a player since 1964, Brice could not remember ever making 50 aces in 72 holes (four rounds). It was a heartbreaking loss for Danny and Jeffrey but everyone enjoyed the battle, especially the "old" guy. .
APA
The expected battle between Bill Shelar and Charles Cox on Sunday never quite materialized as Bill moved to a five shot lead after five rounds with a opening Sunday round of 26 and a 137 total to Charles' 29 and 142 total. Round six saw Bill's lead increase to seven shots as Bill shot another 26 to Charles' 28, but a seven shot lead did not hole up in the PPA with two rounds to go so Charles still had a chance. Whatever chance Charles had was gone after the seventh round as Bill poured on the aces with a 25 for a 188 total and with Charles having a bad game (32) the lead was now an insurmountable 14 shots with one round to go. Charles might have been understandably a little deflated in round seven seeing the lead grow for Bill, but Charles should have been looking over his shoulder as the hottest player in the APA on Sunday the last three rounds was Chris Conradi, who started nine shots behind Charles going into the fifth round and after seven rounds was only three shots back. Chris's last three rounds were 27-26 and a final round 26 which was enough to catch Charles on the back nine of the final round 231 to 233. Bill went about his business the last round with a 29 and a 217 total, good for a 14 shot win. the other APA players were happy to hear that Bill is going to the PPA next season.
| SWPT—2016 | LSC | |||||||||||
| PPA | Oct 1,2 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Brice Bergesen | 28 | 28 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 204 | $240.00 | |
| 2 | Jeffrey Smith | 26 | 28 | 24 | 27 | 27 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 205 | $110.00 | |
| 2 | Danny Tatum | 26 | 24 | 24 | 27 | 22 | 26 | 30 | 26 | 205 | $110.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 26 | 24 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 25 | 25 | 208 | $40.00 | |
| 5 | Joe Lea | 25 | 27 | 31 | 30 | 22 | 28 | 26 | 24 | 213 | ||
| 6 | Greg Simpson | 32 | 26 | 29 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 23 | 215 | ||
| 7 | Byron Kirby | 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 25 | 23 | 28 | 29 | 219 | 1 | |
| 8 | Don Parker | 26 | 34 | 28 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 27 | 26 | 230 |
| SWPT-- 2016 | LSC | ||||||||||
| APA | Oct 1,2 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Bill Shelar | 28 | 25 | 27 | 31 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 29 | 217 | $52.00 |
| 2 | Chris Conradi | 31 | 31 | 26 | 34 | 30 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 231 | $26.00 |
| 3 | Charles Cox | 29 | 29 | 26 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 32 | 31 | 233 | $26.00 |
| 4 | Mickey DeLucca | 32 | 33 | 28 | 27 | 33 | 33 | 27 | 29 | 242 | |
| 5 | Charles Tarbell | 34 | 29 | 32 | 34 | 33 | 32 | 28 | 25 | 247 | |
| 6 | Ken Stanfill | 29 | 36 | 32 | 33 | 31 | 31 | 33 | 31 | 256 |
11 September, 2016--Sunday-- Tyler Texas
PPA winner Don Parker (l) and 7-time APA winner Bill Shelar
PPA
On a gorgeous late summer Sunday morning we played the second half of the back to back tournaments in Tyler. Don Parker finished with a 26 on Saturday to finish in the money and decided to start out on Sunday with another 26, good for the first round lead by 2 shots over John Kropinak and Matt Bellner, both with 28's. Don also shot the low round in the second round with a 28 and his 54 total extended his lead to three, over Matt Bellner, and by five over Jeffrey Smith, Saturday's winner, and the only other player under 60. Don left little doubt that this was his day as he shot 13 on the front nine and a 27 for a "about as low as you can go on this course" remarkable 81 and a seven shot win over local course PPA pro Tom Adair, who also shot a 27 for a 88. Lee Messinger had a final round 27 and tied Jeffrrey and Matt for third at 89. Jjohn Kropinak won his third spot and Matt Bellner and Rudy Cuellar picked up their first spots.
It is difficult to take a picture without Matt Bellner seeing the camera!!
APA
The members of the SWPT APA division are counting down the number of tournaments left (2 or 3) that Bill Shelar has left as a APA member. Although Gary Plain made it anything but easy,Bill played very consistent at a high level all day in route to winning his 7th SWPT event of the year. Bill led after the first round with a 28, one ahead of Greg Everly and two ahead of Gary. Bill shot another 13-15=28 the second round for a 56 but saw his lead cut to one as Gary shot a 27. no other player was better than n 61 after two rounds. Playing in the same group, Gary shot a solid 14 on the front nine but Bill did Gary three shots better with a 11 on the front. When Bill made the tricky 10th hole to go 8 under thru 10 holes it was just too much for Gary to catch, being down by five strokes with only 8 holes left. Gary did cut two shots off his lead and his 28, good for a 85, would have won the APA division in any other tournament in recent memory. Bill had a back nine 16 for a 27 and a 83 total. Saturday's winner, Mason Spradlin, made a spirited attempt to catch the leaders the last round with a 26 despite getting totally robbed on ace putts on three of the first four holes on the back nine. Mason ended up at 87. Greg Everly and Mike Huckaby ended up tied for fourth at a distant 92. The finals spots went to Gary Plain, his fourth, and to Scott Myers.
PPA winner Don Parker (l) and 7-time APA winner Bill Shelar
PPA
On a gorgeous late summer Sunday morning we played the second half of the back to back tournaments in Tyler. Don Parker finished with a 26 on Saturday to finish in the money and decided to start out on Sunday with another 26, good for the first round lead by 2 shots over John Kropinak and Matt Bellner, both with 28's. Don also shot the low round in the second round with a 28 and his 54 total extended his lead to three, over Matt Bellner, and by five over Jeffrey Smith, Saturday's winner, and the only other player under 60. Don left little doubt that this was his day as he shot 13 on the front nine and a 27 for a "about as low as you can go on this course" remarkable 81 and a seven shot win over local course PPA pro Tom Adair, who also shot a 27 for a 88. Lee Messinger had a final round 27 and tied Jeffrrey and Matt for third at 89. Jjohn Kropinak won his third spot and Matt Bellner and Rudy Cuellar picked up their first spots.
It is difficult to take a picture without Matt Bellner seeing the camera!!
APA
The members of the SWPT APA division are counting down the number of tournaments left (2 or 3) that Bill Shelar has left as a APA member. Although Gary Plain made it anything but easy,Bill played very consistent at a high level all day in route to winning his 7th SWPT event of the year. Bill led after the first round with a 28, one ahead of Greg Everly and two ahead of Gary. Bill shot another 13-15=28 the second round for a 56 but saw his lead cut to one as Gary shot a 27. no other player was better than n 61 after two rounds. Playing in the same group, Gary shot a solid 14 on the front nine but Bill did Gary three shots better with a 11 on the front. When Bill made the tricky 10th hole to go 8 under thru 10 holes it was just too much for Gary to catch, being down by five strokes with only 8 holes left. Gary did cut two shots off his lead and his 28, good for a 85, would have won the APA division in any other tournament in recent memory. Bill had a back nine 16 for a 27 and a 83 total. Saturday's winner, Mason Spradlin, made a spirited attempt to catch the leaders the last round with a 26 despite getting totally robbed on ace putts on three of the first four holes on the back nine. Mason ended up at 87. Greg Everly and Mike Huckaby ended up tied for fourth at a distant 92. The finals spots went to Gary Plain, his fourth, and to Scott Myers.
| SWPT—2016 | Tyler | SWPT-- 2016 | Tyler | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 11Sept | APA | 11Sept | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Don Parker | 26 | 28 | 27 | 81 | $130.00 | 1 | Bill Shelar | 28 | 28 | 27 | 83 | $26.00 | ||||
| 2 | Tom Adair | 29 | 32 | 27 | 88 | $75.00 | 2 | Gary Plain | 30 | 27 | 28 | 85 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Jeffrey Smith | 29 | 30 | 30 | 89 | $25.00 | 3 | Mason Spradlin | 31 | 30 | 26 | 87 | $13.00 | ||||
| 3 | Lee Messinger | 30 | 32 | 27 | 89 | $25.00 | 4 | Greg Everly | 29 | 32 | 31 | 92 | $13.00 | ||||
| 3 | Matt Bellner | 28 | 29 | 32 | 89 | $25.00 | 1 | 4 | Mike Huckaby | 31 | 31 | 30 | 92 | $13.00 | |||
| 6 | Jody Kimble | 30 | 31 | 29 | 90 | 6 | Ken Stanfill | 33 | 30 | 30 | 93 | ||||||
| 7 | Rudy Cuellar | 32 | 29 | 30 | 91 | 1 | 7 | Chris Conradi | 34 | 33 | 32 | 99 | |||||
| 8 | Brice Bergesen | 32 | 32 | 29 | 93 | 7 | Trevor Lewin | 33 | 34 | 32 | 99 | ||||||
| 8 | John Kropinak | 28 | 33 | 32 | 93 | 1 | 9 | Scott Myers | 36 | 36 | 31 | 103 | 1 |
10 September, 2016--Saturday-- Tyler Texas
Beautiful course one at Tyler, with an original loop the loop at the right center of the photo
The players always enjoy coming to Tyler for tournaments. Kathy and Tom Adair are wonderful hosts, we get to play on a course vuilt in 1959, and we get to play some hole designs that are not seen anywhere else, including the famous number three gator hole and a target hole on the other course.
Jeffrey Smith,, winner of many SWPT Tyler evernts over the years, and Mason Spradlin, winner of his first ever SWPT eent
PPA
Under a little windy and a little warm conditions, but really ideal for a SWPT tournament, Brice Bergesen took the first round lead with a 27. There were no 28's but four 29's, from Jody Kimble, Rudy Cuellar, tour leader Lee Messinger and defending tour champion Geoff Mosk. The story of the Saturday tournament was Jeffrey Smith, 2014 National Champion and recent open heart patient, who shot a weekend low 24 the second round, a 12 on the front nine is doable, but his 12 on the back nine was crazy good. Jeffrey was at 55 and two ahead of Brice and Geoff. Jeffrey failed to break 30 in the third and final round and Lee Messinger caught him with a super 25 and they were both at 85. Geoff Mosk missed a "tap-in" eighteen inch putt on the first hole and it cost him as he finished one shot back at 86. Don Parker went low, also with a 12 on the hard back nine for a 26 and a tie with Brice for fourth place at 88. In the 18-hole playoff between Jeffrey and Lee, Jeffrey held on for his third SWPT victory of the year and Lee was denied his fifth win. Tom Adair won his fourth spot, the stoke play spot, and in match play Jody Kimble won his fourth spot and John Kropinak won his second.
APA
Alan Sahmel and Mason Spradlin were the first round leaders with fine 29's in the APA. They had no room to breath easy because there were three players only one shot back at 30, local whiz player Gary Plain, Mike Huckably, back playing after missing a couple of months, and Ken Stanfill. No players broke 30 in the second round and Mason's 30 put him as the only player under 60 with his 59. Two shots back were Alan, Greg Everly and Gary at 61. When the dust had cleared after the third round there were two players at 89, both local Tyler players, the veteran Gary Plain and the hotshot young player Mason Spradlin. Alan was third place by himself at 91 In the fiercely contested playoff Mason was victorious for his first ever Southwest Putting Tour win. Gary Plain, Mike Huckaby and new APA player Scott Myers won stroke play spots and Jack Ramsey and Trevor Lewin each won match play spots, their fourth spots.
Beautiful course one at Tyler, with an original loop the loop at the right center of the photo
The players always enjoy coming to Tyler for tournaments. Kathy and Tom Adair are wonderful hosts, we get to play on a course vuilt in 1959, and we get to play some hole designs that are not seen anywhere else, including the famous number three gator hole and a target hole on the other course.
Jeffrey Smith,, winner of many SWPT Tyler evernts over the years, and Mason Spradlin, winner of his first ever SWPT eent PPA
Under a little windy and a little warm conditions, but really ideal for a SWPT tournament, Brice Bergesen took the first round lead with a 27. There were no 28's but four 29's, from Jody Kimble, Rudy Cuellar, tour leader Lee Messinger and defending tour champion Geoff Mosk. The story of the Saturday tournament was Jeffrey Smith, 2014 National Champion and recent open heart patient, who shot a weekend low 24 the second round, a 12 on the front nine is doable, but his 12 on the back nine was crazy good. Jeffrey was at 55 and two ahead of Brice and Geoff. Jeffrey failed to break 30 in the third and final round and Lee Messinger caught him with a super 25 and they were both at 85. Geoff Mosk missed a "tap-in" eighteen inch putt on the first hole and it cost him as he finished one shot back at 86. Don Parker went low, also with a 12 on the hard back nine for a 26 and a tie with Brice for fourth place at 88. In the 18-hole playoff between Jeffrey and Lee, Jeffrey held on for his third SWPT victory of the year and Lee was denied his fifth win. Tom Adair won his fourth spot, the stoke play spot, and in match play Jody Kimble won his fourth spot and John Kropinak won his second.
APA
Alan Sahmel and Mason Spradlin were the first round leaders with fine 29's in the APA. They had no room to breath easy because there were three players only one shot back at 30, local whiz player Gary Plain, Mike Huckably, back playing after missing a couple of months, and Ken Stanfill. No players broke 30 in the second round and Mason's 30 put him as the only player under 60 with his 59. Two shots back were Alan, Greg Everly and Gary at 61. When the dust had cleared after the third round there were two players at 89, both local Tyler players, the veteran Gary Plain and the hotshot young player Mason Spradlin. Alan was third place by himself at 91 In the fiercely contested playoff Mason was victorious for his first ever Southwest Putting Tour win. Gary Plain, Mike Huckaby and new APA player Scott Myers won stroke play spots and Jack Ramsey and Trevor Lewin each won match play spots, their fourth spots.
| SWPT—2016 | Tyler | SWPT-- 2016 | Tyler | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 10Sept | APA | 10Sept | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Jeffrey Smith | 31 | 24 | 30 | 85 | $130.00 | 1 | Mason Spradlin | 29 | 30 | 30 | 89 | $26.00 | ||||
| 2 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 31 | 25 | 85 | $85.00 | 2 | Gary Plain | 30 | 31 | 28 | 89 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Geoff Mosk | 29 | 28 | 29 | 86 | $50.00 | 3 | Alan Sahmel | 29 | 31 | 31 | 91 | $13.00 | ||||
| 4 | Brice Bergesen | 27 | 30 | 31 | 88 | $25.00 | 4 | Bill Shelar | 32 | 30 | 30 | 92 | $13.00 | ||||
| 4 | Don Parker | 30 | 32 | 26 | 88 | $25.00 | 5 | Greg Everly | 31 | 30 | 32 | 93 | $13.00 | ||||
| 6 | Tom Adair | 31 | 29 | 29 | 89 | $10.00 | 1 | 6 | Mike Huckaby | 30 | 34 | 30 | 94 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 7 | Jody Kimble | 29 | 32 | 30 | 91 | 1 | 7 | Adam Sahmel | 35 | 31 | 29 | 95 | |||||
| 7 | John Kropinak | 31 | 29 | 31 | 91 | 1 | 8 | Ken Stanfill | 30 | 33 | 33 | 96 | |||||
| 9 | Rudy Cuellar | 29 | 32 | 32 | 93 | 9 | Scott Myers | 33 | 32 | 35 | 100 | 1 | |||||
| 10 | Matt Bellner | 33 | 36 | 32 | 101 | 10 | Chris Conradi | 34 | 34 | 33 | 101 | ||||||
| 11 | Jack Ramsey | 35 | 34 | 35 | 104 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 12 | Trevor Lewin | 34 | 34 | 37 | 105 | 1 |
MIKE BALDOZA TEXAS OPEN
30-31 July-Sat and Sunday, Webster Texas
The Texas Open, starting in 2016, has been renamed the Mike Baldoza Texas Open, in honor of the iconic and legendary player from Ft Worth, who passed away on December 31, 2015. There will be a beautiful permanent trophy that the winner will get to keep until the next Mike Baldoza Texas Open the following year. Mike was truly one of the few legendary players in the history of the PPA, and the Southwest Putting Tour is honored to be naming the Texas Open after him.
Day one- Saturday, July 30 2016
Katie, Greg Roberts daughter, getting a putting lesson from Danny Tatum
The players were honored by a visit from Greg Roberts wife Edie and their 6-year old daughter Katie durng the tournament. Danny Tatum, alson a PGA teaching professional, gave Katie some putting tips and everyone enjoyed the visit. Greg passed away a little over four years ago when Katie was only two years old. She was his little girl for sure, and she is still just as cute as can be. Hopefully they will be able to come by whenever there is an event at Webster. The weather was very hot and humid, unfortunately normal for the Houston area at the end of July!!
PPA
There were thirteen players anxious to be the first player to win the Mike Baldoza Texas Open. Putt-Putt course owner from Lake Charles, Greg Simpson, was the first round leader with a 25, one ahead of Wade Sahmel. Wade made sure he would be the second round leader as he shot a 22 the second round for a 48 total and a 5-shot lead over Joe Lea. This was as close as anyone would get for the rest of the tournament. Wade kept the pedal to the medal in the third round with a 27 and a 75 total and a 5-shot lead over Geoff Mosk and 6 shots ahead of Brice Bergesen and Jody Kimble. Wade would increase the first day lead to 7 strokes with a fourth round 26 and a 72-hole total of 101. Geoff was in second place at 108 and Brice finished the day third at 110. Tom Adair was fourth at 111.
APA
Ken Stanfill started the day off with a 27, good for a two shot lead over Charles Cox and Adam Sahmel. Both Bill Shelar and Mason Spradlin shot second round 27's for 57 totals and a one shot lead over Ken and two shots over Adam. Bill continued his steady play in the third round with a 28 and a 85 total. Ken moved back into second place six shots back at 91, but Mason had a bad round and was at 92, tied for third place with Steven Yancey. Bill came back to earth a little with a fourth round 32 and a 117 total but no one could take advantage. Mason was second after the first day in the field of eleven players, seven shots back at 124, Ken Stanfill two more back at 126, along with Mickey DeLucca and Steven one more back at 127.
Day Two: Sunday, July 31, 2016
Because of the oppressive heat on Saturday, it was decided to move the tee off time from 10am to 9am on Sunday. Everyone thought that was a great idea.
APA Bill Shelar, left, and PPA Wade Sahmel both played awesom Geoff Mosk tied the course record in the 7th round
PPA
Unless Wade Sahmel stumbled on Sunday, it would take a tremendous effort to make up the 7-shot lead he had on the field. Wade played round five in 29 and increased his lead to 8 shots as Geoff Mosk shot a 30. The two previous National Champions, Joe Lea and Jeffrey Smith, shot the low rounds with 27's, not enough to make up a lot of ground on Wade. Joe followed his 27 with a 23 and was disappointed to see that he only picked up one shot on Wade, who had a 24 on his own. Joe was now in second place, 9 shots back. Joe shot a 27 in the seventh round but picked up no strokes on Wade (also 27) and lost second place as Geoff tied the course record (21 by Joe Shirey) as he missed only 6, easy number 8, and 15. Geoff's 21 put him 7 shots back with one round to play. Needing to get off to a good start the last round, Geoff found himself even par after 6 holes and Wade was cruising home. Geoff aced 9 of his last 12 to edge Joe for second (215 to 218), and Wade enjoyed his walk in the park, shooting a 29 for a 210 total and a five shot win. Wade afterwards said there was extra incentive to win because this was the first Texas Open in honor of Mike Baldoza, who Wade admired. Besides winning $350, a glass trophy, Wade will also be the first participant to have the permanent Mike Baldoza Texas Open award to keep for the next year. It will be presented to Wade at the awards ceremony in Arlington in October. Danny Tatum finished fiourth at 224 and Jeffrey Smith finished fifth at 227. The finals spots went to Wade Sahmel, Joe Lea and Danny Tatum.
APA
It looked from the start on Sunday that Bill Shelar would enjoy a walk in the part, like Wade Sahmel did in the PPA division, since Bill started the day with a 7-shot lead. Not only did it not turn out that way, we were provided with one of the best shootouts in the 25 year history of the Texas Open. In the fifth round Bill shot the low round of the tournament, a 26, only to have his playing companion Mason Spradlin shoot a 25, cutting Bill's lead to 6 shots. Mason and Bill both shot 29 the sixth round to keep the six shot lead. Third place was 16 strokes behind so this was very much a two player tournament with two rounds to go. Mason, a second year player out of Tyler who has impressed everyone in the Southwest Putting Tour with his poise and stroke, made a major move in the seventh round to catch Bill. On the front nine Mason missed holes two and four, shooting an 11 and cutting the lead to three strokes. Mason missed number 10, then aces up through hole 16, not only cutting the lead to one shot, but with two aces the last two holes will shoot a record tying 21. He went for number 17 and went down the back hill and missed the deuce, but came back and aced number 18 for a APA season low 23. Mason was now only two shots down going into the final round. Third place was now 17 shots back. In the final round Bill aced holes one and four to get a 4 shot lead and Mason could never get closer than three shots going in. Bill finished with a 26 and a 225 total. Mason, who tied Joe Lea for the low Sunday 72-hole score with 105, finished at 229. A very distant third place finish went to Ken Stanfill at 249, 24 strokes back. Charles Cox was fourth at 251. The finals spots went to Ken Stanfill, Charles Cox and Trevor Lewin.
30-31 July-Sat and Sunday, Webster Texas
The Texas Open, starting in 2016, has been renamed the Mike Baldoza Texas Open, in honor of the iconic and legendary player from Ft Worth, who passed away on December 31, 2015. There will be a beautiful permanent trophy that the winner will get to keep until the next Mike Baldoza Texas Open the following year. Mike was truly one of the few legendary players in the history of the PPA, and the Southwest Putting Tour is honored to be naming the Texas Open after him.
Day one- Saturday, July 30 2016
Katie, Greg Roberts daughter, getting a putting lesson from Danny Tatum
The players were honored by a visit from Greg Roberts wife Edie and their 6-year old daughter Katie durng the tournament. Danny Tatum, alson a PGA teaching professional, gave Katie some putting tips and everyone enjoyed the visit. Greg passed away a little over four years ago when Katie was only two years old. She was his little girl for sure, and she is still just as cute as can be. Hopefully they will be able to come by whenever there is an event at Webster. The weather was very hot and humid, unfortunately normal for the Houston area at the end of July!!
PPA
There were thirteen players anxious to be the first player to win the Mike Baldoza Texas Open. Putt-Putt course owner from Lake Charles, Greg Simpson, was the first round leader with a 25, one ahead of Wade Sahmel. Wade made sure he would be the second round leader as he shot a 22 the second round for a 48 total and a 5-shot lead over Joe Lea. This was as close as anyone would get for the rest of the tournament. Wade kept the pedal to the medal in the third round with a 27 and a 75 total and a 5-shot lead over Geoff Mosk and 6 shots ahead of Brice Bergesen and Jody Kimble. Wade would increase the first day lead to 7 strokes with a fourth round 26 and a 72-hole total of 101. Geoff was in second place at 108 and Brice finished the day third at 110. Tom Adair was fourth at 111.
APA
Ken Stanfill started the day off with a 27, good for a two shot lead over Charles Cox and Adam Sahmel. Both Bill Shelar and Mason Spradlin shot second round 27's for 57 totals and a one shot lead over Ken and two shots over Adam. Bill continued his steady play in the third round with a 28 and a 85 total. Ken moved back into second place six shots back at 91, but Mason had a bad round and was at 92, tied for third place with Steven Yancey. Bill came back to earth a little with a fourth round 32 and a 117 total but no one could take advantage. Mason was second after the first day in the field of eleven players, seven shots back at 124, Ken Stanfill two more back at 126, along with Mickey DeLucca and Steven one more back at 127.
Day Two: Sunday, July 31, 2016
Because of the oppressive heat on Saturday, it was decided to move the tee off time from 10am to 9am on Sunday. Everyone thought that was a great idea.
APA Bill Shelar, left, and PPA Wade Sahmel both played awesom Geoff Mosk tied the course record in the 7th round
PPA
Unless Wade Sahmel stumbled on Sunday, it would take a tremendous effort to make up the 7-shot lead he had on the field. Wade played round five in 29 and increased his lead to 8 shots as Geoff Mosk shot a 30. The two previous National Champions, Joe Lea and Jeffrey Smith, shot the low rounds with 27's, not enough to make up a lot of ground on Wade. Joe followed his 27 with a 23 and was disappointed to see that he only picked up one shot on Wade, who had a 24 on his own. Joe was now in second place, 9 shots back. Joe shot a 27 in the seventh round but picked up no strokes on Wade (also 27) and lost second place as Geoff tied the course record (21 by Joe Shirey) as he missed only 6, easy number 8, and 15. Geoff's 21 put him 7 shots back with one round to play. Needing to get off to a good start the last round, Geoff found himself even par after 6 holes and Wade was cruising home. Geoff aced 9 of his last 12 to edge Joe for second (215 to 218), and Wade enjoyed his walk in the park, shooting a 29 for a 210 total and a five shot win. Wade afterwards said there was extra incentive to win because this was the first Texas Open in honor of Mike Baldoza, who Wade admired. Besides winning $350, a glass trophy, Wade will also be the first participant to have the permanent Mike Baldoza Texas Open award to keep for the next year. It will be presented to Wade at the awards ceremony in Arlington in October. Danny Tatum finished fiourth at 224 and Jeffrey Smith finished fifth at 227. The finals spots went to Wade Sahmel, Joe Lea and Danny Tatum.
APA
It looked from the start on Sunday that Bill Shelar would enjoy a walk in the part, like Wade Sahmel did in the PPA division, since Bill started the day with a 7-shot lead. Not only did it not turn out that way, we were provided with one of the best shootouts in the 25 year history of the Texas Open. In the fifth round Bill shot the low round of the tournament, a 26, only to have his playing companion Mason Spradlin shoot a 25, cutting Bill's lead to 6 shots. Mason and Bill both shot 29 the sixth round to keep the six shot lead. Third place was 16 strokes behind so this was very much a two player tournament with two rounds to go. Mason, a second year player out of Tyler who has impressed everyone in the Southwest Putting Tour with his poise and stroke, made a major move in the seventh round to catch Bill. On the front nine Mason missed holes two and four, shooting an 11 and cutting the lead to three strokes. Mason missed number 10, then aces up through hole 16, not only cutting the lead to one shot, but with two aces the last two holes will shoot a record tying 21. He went for number 17 and went down the back hill and missed the deuce, but came back and aced number 18 for a APA season low 23. Mason was now only two shots down going into the final round. Third place was now 17 shots back. In the final round Bill aced holes one and four to get a 4 shot lead and Mason could never get closer than three shots going in. Bill finished with a 26 and a 225 total. Mason, who tied Joe Lea for the low Sunday 72-hole score with 105, finished at 229. A very distant third place finish went to Ken Stanfill at 249, 24 strokes back. Charles Cox was fourth at 251. The finals spots went to Ken Stanfill, Charles Cox and Trevor Lewin.
| SWPT—2016 | MB Tx Op | |||||||||||
| PPA | July 30-31 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Wade Samuel | 26 | 22 | 27 | 26 | 29 | 24 | 27 | 29 | 210 | $350.00 | 1 |
| 2 | Geoffrey Mosk | 26 | 28 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 29 | 21 | 27 | 215 | $210.00 | |
| 3 | Joe Lea | 27 | 26 | 30 | 30 | 27 | 23 | 27 | 28 | 218 | $140.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Danny Tatum | 33 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 30 | 28 | 26 | 27 | 224 | $100.00 | 1 |
| 5 | Jeffrey Smith | 30 | 31 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 26 | 32 | 227 | $75.00 | |
| 6 | Byron Kirby | 27 | 28 | 30 | 29 | 28 | 30 | 31 | 26 | 229 | $32.50 | |
| 6 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 26 | 29 | 229 | $32.50 | |
| 8 | Brice Bergesen | 27 | 29 | 25 | 29 | 30 | 33 | 25 | 32 | 230 | ||
| 9 | Tom Adair | 28 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 28 | 32 | 233 | ||
| 10 | Jody Kimble | 28 | 28 | 25 | 32 | 37 | 29 | 26 | 32 | 237 | ||
| 11 | Don Parker | 29 | 31 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 239 | ||
| 12 | Greg Simpson | 25 | 32 | 32 | 27 | 36 | 38 | 34 | 31 | 255 | ||
| 13 | Rainey Statum | 28 | 30 | 32 | 29 | 119 |
| SWPT-- 2016 | MB Tx Op | |||||||||||
| APA | July 30-31 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Bill Shelar | 30 | 27 | 28 | 32 | 26 | 29 | 27 | 26 | 225 | $52.00 | |
| 2 | Mason Spradlin | 30 | 27 | 35 | 32 | 25 | 29 | 23 | 28 | 229 | $26.00 | |
| 3 | Ken Stanfill | 27 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 30 | 32 | 28 | 33 | 249 | $26.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Charles Cox | 29 | 35 | 33 | 35 | 28 | 28 | 30 | 33 | 251 | $26.00 | 1 |
| 5 | Adam Sahmel | 29 | 30 | 35 | 34 | 32 | 34 | 33 | 30 | 257 | $17.34 | |
| 5 | Tervor Lewin | 37 | 32 | 27 | 32 | 34 | 34 | 30 | 31 | 257 | $17.33 | 1 |
| 5 | Mickey DeLucca | 36 | 32 | 30 | 28 | 34 | 32 | 33 | 32 | 257 | $17.33 | |
| 8 | Jack Ramsey | 36 | 33 | 33 | 34 | 34 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 258 | ||
| 9 | Steven Yancey | 31 | 30 | 31 | 35 | 32 | 33 | 35 | 36 | 263 | ||
| 10 | Allen Thomas | 37 | 31 | 30 | 38 | 29 | 35 | 38 | 33 | 271 |
18 June, 2016-Saturday noon, Abilene Texas
It was another hot and humid day for the Southwest Putting Tour players in Abilene on June 18th. Carol Zeni had the course in great shape, with new tee mats on each hole and the best drinking fountain on tour, and it was needed! We had four players come from Lubbock: PPA division got Gary Reed and Joel Woodall, APA division got Donnie Halpain, and Carey Bailey played and won the Open Division. There is a 42 day break before the next SWPT event, the Mike Baldoza Texas Open in Webster on July 30 and 31st. At a little more than half way through the season, in the PPA division Brice Bergesen is leading in Player of the Year points with 593.5 and Lee Messinger is second with 544.5. Brice is also the leading money winner so far, at $710.42, and Joe Lea is leading in the Adjusted Stroke Average with -1.14. In the APA it is still very close between Steve Tanton and Bill Shelar in Player of the Year points with Bill having 630 points to Steve'x 609.5. They both have and Adjusted Scoring Average of -1.93, but Bill has not played in enough tournaments to qualify. A player must play in more than 50% of the tournaments. Four PPA players have four spots already for the finals: Brice Bergesen, Geoff Mosk, Lee Messinger and Jeffrey Smith. Six APA players have four spots: Bill Shelar, Steve Tanton, Mickey DeLucca, Mason Spradlin, Greg Everly and Chris Conradi.
PPA winner Lee Messinger and APA winner Greg Everly The Lubbock gang: Joel Woodall, Donnie Halpain, Gary Reed and Carey Bailey
PPA
Abilene is not real close to any of the SWPT players, so everyone traveled at least 150 miles and most a lot more to play in the two events on Saturday, one at noon and the other at 3pm. The first round of the noon tournament saw three players tied for the lead at 29, defending champ Lee Messinger, Gary Reed and Brice Bergesen. Brice was nine under going into the last hole when his ball inexplicably went over the left bump board on the hill of the 18th hole. We have never seen it happen in five years in a tournament or in practice. Tom Adair managed to duplicate the OB shot in the second tournament. Brice held on to shoot another 29 the second round and was the leader at 58, one ahead of Lee and Gary. Sometimes it is hard to make aces on the back nine and both Brice and Lee suffered that fate in the last round, with Lee making just an ace on hole 17 and Brice not making an ace on the last seven holes and they tied at 89. In the playoff Brice was seven under and two up after hole 13 but played one over the last 5 holes and Lee drilled a perfect ace on hole 18 for the win. Stroke play spots went to Gary Reed, Tom Adair and Joel Woodall.
APA
In the APA Mickey DeLucca shot a fine 29 the first round to take a one shot lead over Greg Everly at 30. Mason Spradlin and Donnie Halpain were three back at 32. Steady Greg shot a second round 31, good for a 61 total and a two shot lead over Mickey and three over Mason. Danny Halpain tied the low round of the tournament with a final round of 29, good for a 94, but he only picked up one stroke on Greg, who shot a 30 for a winning score of 91. Third place was Mickey at 98. The stroke play spots went to Greg Everly, Donnie Halpain and Chris Conradi.,
It was another hot and humid day for the Southwest Putting Tour players in Abilene on June 18th. Carol Zeni had the course in great shape, with new tee mats on each hole and the best drinking fountain on tour, and it was needed! We had four players come from Lubbock: PPA division got Gary Reed and Joel Woodall, APA division got Donnie Halpain, and Carey Bailey played and won the Open Division. There is a 42 day break before the next SWPT event, the Mike Baldoza Texas Open in Webster on July 30 and 31st. At a little more than half way through the season, in the PPA division Brice Bergesen is leading in Player of the Year points with 593.5 and Lee Messinger is second with 544.5. Brice is also the leading money winner so far, at $710.42, and Joe Lea is leading in the Adjusted Stroke Average with -1.14. In the APA it is still very close between Steve Tanton and Bill Shelar in Player of the Year points with Bill having 630 points to Steve'x 609.5. They both have and Adjusted Scoring Average of -1.93, but Bill has not played in enough tournaments to qualify. A player must play in more than 50% of the tournaments. Four PPA players have four spots already for the finals: Brice Bergesen, Geoff Mosk, Lee Messinger and Jeffrey Smith. Six APA players have four spots: Bill Shelar, Steve Tanton, Mickey DeLucca, Mason Spradlin, Greg Everly and Chris Conradi.
PPA winner Lee Messinger and APA winner Greg Everly The Lubbock gang: Joel Woodall, Donnie Halpain, Gary Reed and Carey Bailey
PPA
Abilene is not real close to any of the SWPT players, so everyone traveled at least 150 miles and most a lot more to play in the two events on Saturday, one at noon and the other at 3pm. The first round of the noon tournament saw three players tied for the lead at 29, defending champ Lee Messinger, Gary Reed and Brice Bergesen. Brice was nine under going into the last hole when his ball inexplicably went over the left bump board on the hill of the 18th hole. We have never seen it happen in five years in a tournament or in practice. Tom Adair managed to duplicate the OB shot in the second tournament. Brice held on to shoot another 29 the second round and was the leader at 58, one ahead of Lee and Gary. Sometimes it is hard to make aces on the back nine and both Brice and Lee suffered that fate in the last round, with Lee making just an ace on hole 17 and Brice not making an ace on the last seven holes and they tied at 89. In the playoff Brice was seven under and two up after hole 13 but played one over the last 5 holes and Lee drilled a perfect ace on hole 18 for the win. Stroke play spots went to Gary Reed, Tom Adair and Joel Woodall.
APA
In the APA Mickey DeLucca shot a fine 29 the first round to take a one shot lead over Greg Everly at 30. Mason Spradlin and Donnie Halpain were three back at 32. Steady Greg shot a second round 31, good for a 61 total and a two shot lead over Mickey and three over Mason. Danny Halpain tied the low round of the tournament with a final round of 29, good for a 94, but he only picked up one stroke on Greg, who shot a 30 for a winning score of 91. Third place was Mickey at 98. The stroke play spots went to Greg Everly, Donnie Halpain and Chris Conradi.,
| SWPT—2016 | Abilene | SWPT-- 2016 | Abilene | ||||||||||||||
| PPA-noon | 18June | APA-noon | 18June | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 30 | 30 | 89 | $100.00 | 1 | Greg Everly | 30 | 31 | 30 | 91 | $26.00 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Brice Bergesen | 29 | 29 | 31 | 89 | $60.00 | 2 | Donnie Halpain | 32 | 33 | 29 | 94 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Gary Reed | 29 | 30 | 31 | 90 | $20.00 | 1 | 3 | Mickey DeLucca | 29 | 34 | 35 | 98 | $13.00 | |||
| 4 | Jeffrey Smith | 32 | 31 | 29 | 92 | 3 | Mason Spradlin | 32 | 32 | 34 | 98 | $13.00 | |||||
| 5 | Tom Adair | 34 | 32 | 32 | 98 | 1 | 5 | Bill Shelar | 34 | 31 | 37 | 102 | |||||
| 6 | Joel Woodall | 36 | 33 | 32 | 101 | 1 | 6 | Chris Conradi | 35 | 35 | 34 | 104 | 1 | ||||
| 6 | Trevor Lewin | 36 | 34 | 34 | 104 |
18 June, Saturday-3pm, Abilene Texas
Texa
APA winner Greg Everly (Chromax), PPA winner Lee Messinger (Calloway) Abilene course from behind the sixth hole
PPA
Not surprisingly, the second tournament of the day at Abilene was just as hot and humid, if not more so. Brice Bergesen and Gary Reed shot the day's low score, 28, to lead after one round. Third place was Lee Messinger at 31. After ten holles of the second round Brice had built a fice shot lead on the field, but it would not last as Brice only aced two more holes in the final 26 holes. Brice though was still the 36 hole leader at 59, with Lee at 60 and Gary at 61. Lee and Gary battled each other the whole third round but it was Lee who made some clutch back nine aces to post a 28 and a 88 total for the win. Gary was second at 90. Jeff Smith shot a fine last round 29 to edge out Brice for third place with a 92. The stroke play spots went to Gary Reed, Joel Woodall and Tom Adair.
APA
Greg Everly started strong with a APA low score of the day with a 28, but just one shot ahead of Donnie Halpain's 29. Mason Spradlin was just two shots back at 30. Greg shot a second round 29 to open up a four shot lead at 57. Donnie wasa in second place at 61 and no one else was within eight strokes of Greg. Even though Greg had his highest round of the day with a final round 33, good for a 90 total, Donnie could not take advantage and indeed he also shot a 33 which was still good for second place at 94. Chris Conradi finished third at 98. The stroke play spots went to Greg Everly (4th), Donnie Halpin, and Chris Conradi (4th).
Texa
APA winner Greg Everly (Chromax), PPA winner Lee Messinger (Calloway) Abilene course from behind the sixth hole
PPA
Not surprisingly, the second tournament of the day at Abilene was just as hot and humid, if not more so. Brice Bergesen and Gary Reed shot the day's low score, 28, to lead after one round. Third place was Lee Messinger at 31. After ten holles of the second round Brice had built a fice shot lead on the field, but it would not last as Brice only aced two more holes in the final 26 holes. Brice though was still the 36 hole leader at 59, with Lee at 60 and Gary at 61. Lee and Gary battled each other the whole third round but it was Lee who made some clutch back nine aces to post a 28 and a 88 total for the win. Gary was second at 90. Jeff Smith shot a fine last round 29 to edge out Brice for third place with a 92. The stroke play spots went to Gary Reed, Joel Woodall and Tom Adair.
APA
Greg Everly started strong with a APA low score of the day with a 28, but just one shot ahead of Donnie Halpain's 29. Mason Spradlin was just two shots back at 30. Greg shot a second round 29 to open up a four shot lead at 57. Donnie wasa in second place at 61 and no one else was within eight strokes of Greg. Even though Greg had his highest round of the day with a final round 33, good for a 90 total, Donnie could not take advantage and indeed he also shot a 33 which was still good for second place at 94. Chris Conradi finished third at 98. The stroke play spots went to Greg Everly (4th), Donnie Halpin, and Chris Conradi (4th).
| SWPT—2016 | Abilene | SWPT-- 2016 | Abilene | ||||||||||||||
| PPA-3 pm | 18June | APA-3pm | 18June | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Lee Messinger | 31 | 29 | 28 | 88 | $100.00 | 1 | Greg Everly | 28 | 29 | 33 | 90 | $26.00 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Gary Reed | 28 | 33 | 29 | 90 | $60.00 | 1 | 2 | Donnie Halpain | 29 | 32 | 33 | 94 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Jeffrey Smith | 34 | 29 | 29 | 92 | $20.00 | 3 | Chris Conradi | 33 | 33 | 32 | 98 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Brice Bergesen | 28 | 31 | 34 | 93 | 4 | Mason Spradlin | 30 | 35 | 34 | 99 | $13.00 | |||||
| 5 | Joel Woodall | 32 | 32 | 35 | 99 | 1 | 5 | Bill Shelar | 32 | 33 | 35 | 100 | |||||
| 6 | Tom Adair | 33 | 34 | 34 | 101 | 1 | 6 | Trevor Lewin | 38 | 35 | 32 | 105 |
4 June, 2016-Saturday 3pm, Waco Texas
Jeffrey Smith wins for the seond time in 2016 Bill Shelar, Steve Tanton and Chris Conradi in a 3-man playof, Tanton wins
PPA
After a disappointing finish in the noon tournament, Danny Tatum came out blazing in the 3pm tournament, shooting a PPA tying low round of the day 27. It was good for a two shot lead over Lee Messinger and Jeffrey Smith. No other players did better than 32 the first round. Jeffrey had the low second round score with a 28 and it gave his a 57 total, good for a 2-shot lead over Danny. Lee was only three back at 60. In the third round Jeffrey floundered a little on the very difficult Waco front nine with a 18, resulting in Lee and Danny being tied with nine holes to play with Jeffrey one shot back. Danny's back side 17 relegated him to a third place finish at 91 and Lee and Jeffrey ended up ;tied at 89. In the playoff Jeffrey beat Lee seven under to five under. The stroke play spots went to Danny Tatum, Don Parker and Tom Adair picked up his first spot.
APA players in the 3pm tournament under beautiful skies. Heavy rain forecast never happened!!
Allen Thomas and his Chromax ball, day's low round 26 Steve Tanton playing the difficult back door shot on number 18
APA
The round of the day, both PPA and APA, belonged to Allen Thomas in the first round of the 3pm event. Allen aced five of his last six holes to shoot a 26, good for a three shot lead over Chris Conradi. Bill Shelar, going for his fifth consecutive win, was at 30. Allen had bogey trouble on the front nine the second round and his 38 dropped him back into the pack. Chris Conradi was the leader after two rounds at 59, one slim shot ahead of Bill, and only two shots ahead of tour leader Steve Tanton. Of the top five leaders after two rounds, the best any could shoot the final round was a 33 rebound round by Allen and also a 33 by steady Steve. When the dust had cleared there was a three way tie for first between Steve, Bill and Chris. In the ensuing playoff it was very close until Chris missed the ace shot on easy number 15, which dropped him two shots off the lead. Bill and Steve, the top two ranked players in the SWPT APA division this season, were tied with two very difficult holes remaining. Steve struck first on the converted water jump 17th hole, hitting the back rail and coming back past the cup and up the hill, then rocking the ball off the hill into the cup for a one shot lead with hole 18 to play. Knowing how well Bill plays hole 18 Steve decided to play the dangerous back door ace attempt. Steve hit the ball perfectly, it got the correct kick off the back rail and the resulting ace closed Bill out and ended his amazing string of consecutive victories at four. It was Steve's third win of the season and the two players are neck and neck in the point total standings for the Player of the Year award. Stroke play spots went to Chris Conradi, Allen Thomas and Mason Spradiln won his fourth and final spot.
Jeffrey Smith wins for the seond time in 2016 Bill Shelar, Steve Tanton and Chris Conradi in a 3-man playof, Tanton wins
PPA
After a disappointing finish in the noon tournament, Danny Tatum came out blazing in the 3pm tournament, shooting a PPA tying low round of the day 27. It was good for a two shot lead over Lee Messinger and Jeffrey Smith. No other players did better than 32 the first round. Jeffrey had the low second round score with a 28 and it gave his a 57 total, good for a 2-shot lead over Danny. Lee was only three back at 60. In the third round Jeffrey floundered a little on the very difficult Waco front nine with a 18, resulting in Lee and Danny being tied with nine holes to play with Jeffrey one shot back. Danny's back side 17 relegated him to a third place finish at 91 and Lee and Jeffrey ended up ;tied at 89. In the playoff Jeffrey beat Lee seven under to five under. The stroke play spots went to Danny Tatum, Don Parker and Tom Adair picked up his first spot.
APA players in the 3pm tournament under beautiful skies. Heavy rain forecast never happened!!
Allen Thomas and his Chromax ball, day's low round 26 Steve Tanton playing the difficult back door shot on number 18
APA
The round of the day, both PPA and APA, belonged to Allen Thomas in the first round of the 3pm event. Allen aced five of his last six holes to shoot a 26, good for a three shot lead over Chris Conradi. Bill Shelar, going for his fifth consecutive win, was at 30. Allen had bogey trouble on the front nine the second round and his 38 dropped him back into the pack. Chris Conradi was the leader after two rounds at 59, one slim shot ahead of Bill, and only two shots ahead of tour leader Steve Tanton. Of the top five leaders after two rounds, the best any could shoot the final round was a 33 rebound round by Allen and also a 33 by steady Steve. When the dust had cleared there was a three way tie for first between Steve, Bill and Chris. In the ensuing playoff it was very close until Chris missed the ace shot on easy number 15, which dropped him two shots off the lead. Bill and Steve, the top two ranked players in the SWPT APA division this season, were tied with two very difficult holes remaining. Steve struck first on the converted water jump 17th hole, hitting the back rail and coming back past the cup and up the hill, then rocking the ball off the hill into the cup for a one shot lead with hole 18 to play. Knowing how well Bill plays hole 18 Steve decided to play the dangerous back door ace attempt. Steve hit the ball perfectly, it got the correct kick off the back rail and the resulting ace closed Bill out and ended his amazing string of consecutive victories at four. It was Steve's third win of the season and the two players are neck and neck in the point total standings for the Player of the Year award. Stroke play spots went to Chris Conradi, Allen Thomas and Mason Spradiln won his fourth and final spot.
| SWPT—2016 | Waco-3pm | SWPT-- 2016 | Waco-3pm | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 4June | APA | 4June | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Jeffrey Smith | 29 | 28 | 32 | 89 | $120.00 | 1 | Steve Tanton | 31 | 30 | 33 | 94 | $26.00 | ||||
| 2 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 31 | 29 | 89 | $70.00 | 2 | Bill Shelar | 30 | 30 | 34 | 94 | $13.00 | ||||
| 3 | Danny Tatum | 27 | 32 | 32 | 91 | $30.00 | 1 | 2 | Chris Conradi | 29 | 30 | 35 | 94 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 4 | Brice Bergesen | 33 | 31 | 29 | 93 | $6.67 | 4 | Allen Thomas | 26 | 38 | 33 | 97 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Don Parker | 32 | 30 | 31 | 93 | $6.67 | 1 | 5 | Mickey DeLucca | 33 | 29 | 36 | 98 | $13.00 | |||
| 4 | Tom Adair | 33 | 30 | 30 | 93 | $6.67 | 1 | 6 | Gary Plain | 31 | 34 | 34 | 99 | $13.00 | |||
| 7 | Joe Lea | 33 | 33 | 28 | 94 | 6 | Mason Spradlin | 36 | 33 | 30 | 99 | $13.00 | 1 | ||||
| 8 | Greg Everly | 35 | 36 | 34 | 105 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Trevor Lewin | 35 | 34 | 36 | 105 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | Steve Willmann | 34 | 36 | 36 | 106 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Ken Stanfill | 35 | 38 | 35 | 108 |
4 June, 2016-Saturday Noon, Waco Texas
Texas has been inundated with rain recently and the forecast for Saturday in Waco was more heavy rain showers, which caused a number of players to stay safely at home. There were still 20 brave putters that showed up to try and play and were rewarded with generally good weather. There was only a brief light shower in the middle of the first tournament and the weather turned beautiful for the late tournament. We even had a surprise visit from Chris Pruitt, a player from Wichita Falls Texas who started playing in the JPA in 1972 and played throughout the 1970's. Chris played quite well for a almost 40 year lay off and easily won the Open Division in both tournaments. Chris hopes to play again either at Abilene or Tyler later in the SWPT season.
Bill Shelar wins his fourth SWPT in a row, Joe Lea wins his second this season Chris Pruitt shows he still has a smooth stroke
PPA
National Champion Joe Lea ripped the Waco course last year in the Texas Open and he ripped it again this year in the noon tee off tournament. Joe shot a PPA low for the day score of 27 his opening round, giving him a two shot lead over Brice Bergesen at 29 and Don Parker at 30. Joe shot a second round 28 for a 55 and a three shot lead over Jeffrey Smith, the 2014 National Champion. Jeffrey's second round of 27 was fueled by the day's low nine with a back nine of 11! It was the front nine that gave the players problems and Joe shot 13-13-13 on the front, beating Lee Messinger by 6 shots and everyone else by at least 9 shots. So after Joe shot his third round 13 on the front nine he had a 8-shot lead with nine holes to go and Joe ended up at 82, Lee Messinger was second at 90 and Jeffrey Smith was third at 91. The three stoke play spots went to Joe, Jeffrey (his fourth) and Don Parker.
APA
While there were only seven PPA pros playing, 12 APA players braved the bad weather forecast, including defending SWPT APA champ Bill Shelar, who was looking for his fourth win in four starts. Bill shot a 31 his first round and was leading by one shot over Mickey DeLucca and Greg Everly. Mason Spradlin and current points leader Steve Tanton were at 33. Bill shot a 29 his second round and his 60 was good for a two shot lead over Steve, who matched Bill with a 29. Both Bill and Steve shot third round 32's so Bill won his fourth tournament in four starts with a 92. Steve was second at 94 and Greg and Ken Stanfill tied for third at 96. The stroke play spots went to Greg Everly, Mickey DeLucca (his fourth) and Ken Stanfill.
Texas has been inundated with rain recently and the forecast for Saturday in Waco was more heavy rain showers, which caused a number of players to stay safely at home. There were still 20 brave putters that showed up to try and play and were rewarded with generally good weather. There was only a brief light shower in the middle of the first tournament and the weather turned beautiful for the late tournament. We even had a surprise visit from Chris Pruitt, a player from Wichita Falls Texas who started playing in the JPA in 1972 and played throughout the 1970's. Chris played quite well for a almost 40 year lay off and easily won the Open Division in both tournaments. Chris hopes to play again either at Abilene or Tyler later in the SWPT season.
Bill Shelar wins his fourth SWPT in a row, Joe Lea wins his second this season Chris Pruitt shows he still has a smooth stroke
PPA
National Champion Joe Lea ripped the Waco course last year in the Texas Open and he ripped it again this year in the noon tee off tournament. Joe shot a PPA low for the day score of 27 his opening round, giving him a two shot lead over Brice Bergesen at 29 and Don Parker at 30. Joe shot a second round 28 for a 55 and a three shot lead over Jeffrey Smith, the 2014 National Champion. Jeffrey's second round of 27 was fueled by the day's low nine with a back nine of 11! It was the front nine that gave the players problems and Joe shot 13-13-13 on the front, beating Lee Messinger by 6 shots and everyone else by at least 9 shots. So after Joe shot his third round 13 on the front nine he had a 8-shot lead with nine holes to go and Joe ended up at 82, Lee Messinger was second at 90 and Jeffrey Smith was third at 91. The three stoke play spots went to Joe, Jeffrey (his fourth) and Don Parker.
APA
While there were only seven PPA pros playing, 12 APA players braved the bad weather forecast, including defending SWPT APA champ Bill Shelar, who was looking for his fourth win in four starts. Bill shot a 31 his first round and was leading by one shot over Mickey DeLucca and Greg Everly. Mason Spradlin and current points leader Steve Tanton were at 33. Bill shot a 29 his second round and his 60 was good for a two shot lead over Steve, who matched Bill with a 29. Both Bill and Steve shot third round 32's so Bill won his fourth tournament in four starts with a 92. Steve was second at 94 and Greg and Ken Stanfill tied for third at 96. The stroke play spots went to Greg Everly, Mickey DeLucca (his fourth) and Ken Stanfill.
| SWPT—2016 | Waco-noon | SWPT-- 2016 | Waco-noon | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 4June | APA | 4June | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Joe Lea | 27 | 28 | 27 | 82 | $120.00 | 1 | 1 | Bill Shelar | 31 | 29 | 32 | 92 | $26.00 | |||
| 2 | Lee Messinger | 31 | 29 | 30 | 90 | $70.00 | 2 | Steve Tanton | 33 | 29 | 32 | 94 | $13.00 | ||||
| 3 | Jeffrey Smith | 31 | 27 | 33 | 91 | $30.00 | 1 | 3 | Greg Everly | 32 | 34 | 30 | 96 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 4 | Brice Bergesen | 29 | 32 | 31 | 92 | $20.00 | 3 | Ken Stanfill | 34 | 29 | 33 | 96 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 5 | Don Parker | 30 | 34 | 30 | 94 | 1 | 5 | Mickey DeLucca | 32 | 31 | 38 | 101 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 6 | Tom Adair | 31 | 32 | 34 | 97 | 6 | Trevor Lewin | 36 | 33 | 33 | 102 | $13.00 | |||||
| 7 | Danny Tatum | 35 | 32 | 37 | 104 | 7 | Mike Huckaby | 34 | 36 | 33 | 103 | ||||||
| 8 | Gary Plain | 34 | 33 | 37 | 104 | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Allen Thomas | 40 | 33 | 32 | 105 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | Chris Conradi | 37 | 32 | 37 | 106 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Mason Spradlin | 33 | 37 | 38 | 108 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Steve Willmann | 38 | 34 | 43 | 115 |
22 May, 2016-Sunday, Longview Texas
It went to the 54th hole before Geoff Mosk (l) edged Brice Bergesen PPA winner Geoff Mosk and APA winner Charles Cox
PPA
Sunday was another perfect day for putting, a little overcast helped keep the players cool also. Both the PPA and the APA played better overall than on Saturday by about two strokes a person. Leading after one round in the PPA was Saturday winner Brice Bergesen and Gary Love, the two oldest players in the field by about 15 years. The Dallas Duo, Jeffrey Smith and Lee Messinger were only one shot behind at 29, and five players were at 30 or 31. In the second round Geoff Mosk shot the low nine of the weekend on the front with an 11, and despite a bogey on number 15 after charging the ace, Geoff still shot a 26, good for a 58 and a one shot lead over Brice, Gary and Lee. Two very dangerous players were lurking just two shots behind, Jeffrey Smith and Rainey Statum. So the third round looked like a shootout for sure, and it was, but only in the first threesome with Geoff and Brice. Leader Geoff shoots his second straight 11 on the front nine to shake everyone off except his playing partner Brice, who shot a 12 to stay within two shots with nine holes left. By the time they got to the dangerous hole fifteen they were tied. Both went for it in the second round with Brice lucky to make a two and Geoff making bogey. Brice laid up for a two and Geoff decided to charge the ace again and he made a great putt and aced the hole. They both made two of the last thee holes for weekend low rounds of 25. Geoff shot 83 and Brice 84. Lee was third after a 28 at 87 and Byron Kirby was the only other player under 90 with an 89. In the following match play Byron Kirby lost to Jody Kimble for one spot and Danny Tatum got his first spot of the season with a win over Gary Love. Lee Messinger won the stroke play spot, his fourth and final spot of the season, joining Geoff and Brice as four spotters.
Robert Cook (putting) in his match with Gary Plain. Robert won two spots in Longview
APA
With Bill Shelar (who had won all three of his 2016 SWPT stats) not playing on Sunday it was a wide open tournament and three of the top APA players were tied for first after the first round: Charles Cox, Mike Huckaby and Greg Everly, all at 29. Three other players were just two back at 31. Except for Robert Cook's low APA weekend round of 26 in the second round, most of the other players backed off somewhat from their first rounds. Charles Cox now had the solo lead at 60, with Greg and Alan Sahmel one shot back at 61. Mike Huckaby was in fourth place at 64. Charles shot a front nine 13 the last round to increase his lead to five shots and coasted in on the back nine with a 17 for a 30 and a total of 90 for the 54-holes. Mike was second at 93 and Greg was third at 94. Charles Cox won the stroke play spot and Alan Sahmel edged Mason Spradlin on the 18th hole to win a spot, while Robet Cook got his second spot of the weekend by easily beating Gary Plain.
It went to the 54th hole before Geoff Mosk (l) edged Brice Bergesen PPA winner Geoff Mosk and APA winner Charles Cox
PPA
Sunday was another perfect day for putting, a little overcast helped keep the players cool also. Both the PPA and the APA played better overall than on Saturday by about two strokes a person. Leading after one round in the PPA was Saturday winner Brice Bergesen and Gary Love, the two oldest players in the field by about 15 years. The Dallas Duo, Jeffrey Smith and Lee Messinger were only one shot behind at 29, and five players were at 30 or 31. In the second round Geoff Mosk shot the low nine of the weekend on the front with an 11, and despite a bogey on number 15 after charging the ace, Geoff still shot a 26, good for a 58 and a one shot lead over Brice, Gary and Lee. Two very dangerous players were lurking just two shots behind, Jeffrey Smith and Rainey Statum. So the third round looked like a shootout for sure, and it was, but only in the first threesome with Geoff and Brice. Leader Geoff shoots his second straight 11 on the front nine to shake everyone off except his playing partner Brice, who shot a 12 to stay within two shots with nine holes left. By the time they got to the dangerous hole fifteen they were tied. Both went for it in the second round with Brice lucky to make a two and Geoff making bogey. Brice laid up for a two and Geoff decided to charge the ace again and he made a great putt and aced the hole. They both made two of the last thee holes for weekend low rounds of 25. Geoff shot 83 and Brice 84. Lee was third after a 28 at 87 and Byron Kirby was the only other player under 90 with an 89. In the following match play Byron Kirby lost to Jody Kimble for one spot and Danny Tatum got his first spot of the season with a win over Gary Love. Lee Messinger won the stroke play spot, his fourth and final spot of the season, joining Geoff and Brice as four spotters.
Robert Cook (putting) in his match with Gary Plain. Robert won two spots in Longview
APA
With Bill Shelar (who had won all three of his 2016 SWPT stats) not playing on Sunday it was a wide open tournament and three of the top APA players were tied for first after the first round: Charles Cox, Mike Huckaby and Greg Everly, all at 29. Three other players were just two back at 31. Except for Robert Cook's low APA weekend round of 26 in the second round, most of the other players backed off somewhat from their first rounds. Charles Cox now had the solo lead at 60, with Greg and Alan Sahmel one shot back at 61. Mike Huckaby was in fourth place at 64. Charles shot a front nine 13 the last round to increase his lead to five shots and coasted in on the back nine with a 17 for a 30 and a total of 90 for the 54-holes. Mike was second at 93 and Greg was third at 94. Charles Cox won the stroke play spot and Alan Sahmel edged Mason Spradlin on the 18th hole to win a spot, while Robet Cook got his second spot of the weekend by easily beating Gary Plain.
| SWPT—2016 | Long | SWPT-- 2016 | Long | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 22 May | APA | 22May | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Geoff Mosk | 32 | 26 | 25 | 83 | $140.00 | 1 | Charles Cox | 29 | 31 | 30 | 90 | $26.00 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Brice Bergesen | 28 | 31 | 25 | 84 | $90.00 | 2 | Mike Huckaby | 29 | 34 | 30 | 93 | $13.00 | ||||
| 3 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 30 | 28 | 87 | $55.00 | 1 | 3 | Greg Everly | 29 | 32 | 33 | 94 | $13.00 | |||
| 4 | Byron Kirby | 31 | 30 | 28 | 89 | $30.00 | 4 | Robert Cook | 33 | 26 | 36 | 95 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 5 | Danny Tatum | 30 | 33 | 27 | 90 | $20.00 | 1 | 5 | Mickey DeLucca | 37 | 29 | 31 | 97 | $13.00 | |||
| 6 | Rainey Statum | 30 | 30 | 31 | 91 | $5.00 | 6 | Alan Sahmel | 31 | 30 | 38 | 99 | $5.00 | 1 | |||
| 6 | Gary Love | 28 | 31 | 32 | 91 | $5.00 | 7 | Ken Stanfill | 32 | 32 | 36 | 100 | |||||
| 8 | Jody Kimble | 30 | 32 | 31 | 93 | 1 | 8 | Adam Sahmel | 31 | 35 | 35 | 101 | |||||
| 9 | Jeffrey Smith | 29 | 31 | 34 | 94 | 8 | Gary Plain | 31 | 34 | 36 | 101 | ||||||
| 10 | Matt Bellner | 34 | 33 | 33 | 100 | 10 | Chris Conradi | 32 | 37 | 33 | 102 | ||||||
| 11 | Greg Simpson | 31 | 35 | 38 | 104 | 11 | Mason Spradlin | 38 | 33 | 34 | 105 |
21 May, 2016,-Saturday, Longview Texas
The Longview Putt-Putt is the course that most players on the Southwest Putting Tour think is the best tournament course that we play. Almost all the holes can be played straight and there is plenty of trouble for a mishit shot. There was 11 holes of newly laid carpet and seven holes of old carpet which added a challenge this year. The weather was great both days and we had 24 players on Saturday and 22 on Sunday.
PPA winner Brice Bergesen showing off his Chromax "Silver Bullet" ball, APA 3-time winner in 2016 Bill Shelar
PPA
2104 National Champion Jeffery Smith and Brice Bergesen shared the first round lead with solid 28's on a course they both have played well in the past. Former TV champion Gary Love was one back at 29 and no one else did better than 31. Brice added another very solid round, a 27 in the second round and was the leader at 55, four ahead of the only other player under 60, Jeffrey. Lee Messinger moved into third place at 60 and Jody Kimble and Rainey Statum were fourth at 61. In the third round Brice continued to improve, adding another solid round, this time a day's low 26 for a 81 total and a easy six shot win over Jeffery at 87. No one else broke 90 and shooting a 90 was Jody for third place. There was a three way tie for fourth place at 92 between Lee, Rainey and Byron Kirby. In match play Rainey beat Jody for one spot and Byron beat Lee for the other spot.
Most everyone went to Pizza King after the tournament, a tradition in Longview
APA
Except for a couple of APA players the course proved to be somewhat difficult with only four players managing to break 100 for the three rounds. Leading after the first round and going for his third win in as many starts was the defending champion and defending SWPT APA champion Bill Shelar with a 28. The 28 gave Bill a four shot lead over four players. Bill stumbled a little in the second round with a 32 for a 60 total but still was three up on Greg Everly, who was at 63. Tied for third place at 64 was Alan Sahmel and Robert Cook, making his first appearance in a SWPT event. Even though Greg shot a fine 29 his last round it was matched by Bill and Bill's 89 beat Greg by three shots. Robert held on for third at 95 and Alan was fourth at 98. In match play Mason Spradlin won his third spot in three SWPT events by beating Greg Everly in their final match. Robert Cook took out Alan Sahmel in the other half of the match play bracket. Bill's win gave him four spots, joining Steve Tanton as a early four spotter.
The Longview Putt-Putt is the course that most players on the Southwest Putting Tour think is the best tournament course that we play. Almost all the holes can be played straight and there is plenty of trouble for a mishit shot. There was 11 holes of newly laid carpet and seven holes of old carpet which added a challenge this year. The weather was great both days and we had 24 players on Saturday and 22 on Sunday.
PPA winner Brice Bergesen showing off his Chromax "Silver Bullet" ball, APA 3-time winner in 2016 Bill Shelar
PPA
2104 National Champion Jeffery Smith and Brice Bergesen shared the first round lead with solid 28's on a course they both have played well in the past. Former TV champion Gary Love was one back at 29 and no one else did better than 31. Brice added another very solid round, a 27 in the second round and was the leader at 55, four ahead of the only other player under 60, Jeffrey. Lee Messinger moved into third place at 60 and Jody Kimble and Rainey Statum were fourth at 61. In the third round Brice continued to improve, adding another solid round, this time a day's low 26 for a 81 total and a easy six shot win over Jeffery at 87. No one else broke 90 and shooting a 90 was Jody for third place. There was a three way tie for fourth place at 92 between Lee, Rainey and Byron Kirby. In match play Rainey beat Jody for one spot and Byron beat Lee for the other spot.
Most everyone went to Pizza King after the tournament, a tradition in Longview
APA
Except for a couple of APA players the course proved to be somewhat difficult with only four players managing to break 100 for the three rounds. Leading after the first round and going for his third win in as many starts was the defending champion and defending SWPT APA champion Bill Shelar with a 28. The 28 gave Bill a four shot lead over four players. Bill stumbled a little in the second round with a 32 for a 60 total but still was three up on Greg Everly, who was at 63. Tied for third place at 64 was Alan Sahmel and Robert Cook, making his first appearance in a SWPT event. Even though Greg shot a fine 29 his last round it was matched by Bill and Bill's 89 beat Greg by three shots. Robert held on for third at 95 and Alan was fourth at 98. In match play Mason Spradlin won his third spot in three SWPT events by beating Greg Everly in their final match. Robert Cook took out Alan Sahmel in the other half of the match play bracket. Bill's win gave him four spots, joining Steve Tanton as a early four spotter.
| SWPT—2016 | Long | SWPT-- 2016 | Long | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 21 May | APA | 21 May | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Brice Bergesen | 28 | 27 | 26 | 81 | $150.00 | 1 | Bill Shelar | 28 | 32 | 29 | 89 | $26.00 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Jeffrey Smith | 28 | 31 | 28 | 87 | $100.00 | 1 | 2 | Greg Everly | 32 | 31 | 29 | 92 | $13.00 | |||
| 3 | Jody Kimble | 31 | 30 | 29 | 90 | $60.00 | 3 | Robert Cook | 33 | 31 | 31 | 95 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Lee Messinger | 33 | 27 | 32 | 92 | $20.00 | 4 | Alan Sahmel | 32 | 32 | 34 | 98 | $13.00 | ||||
| 4 | Byron Kirby | 34 | 30 | 28 | 92 | $20.00 | 1 | 5 | Mason Spradlin | 32 | 35 | 33 | 100 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 4 | Rainey Statum | 31 | 30 | 31 | 92 | $20.00 | 1 | 5 | Chris Conradi | 34 | 33 | 33 | 100 | $13.00 | |||
| 7 | Danny Tatum | 32 | 32 | 29 | 93 | 7 | Charles Cox | 34 | 34 | 33 | 101 | ||||||
| 8 | Geoff Mosk | 31 | 32 | 33 | 96 | 8 | Adam Sahmel | 32 | 34 | 36 | 102 | ||||||
| 9 | Gary Love | 29 | 35 | 33 | 97 | 9 | Ken Stanfill | 33 | 35 | 36 | 104 | ||||||
| 9 | Tom Adair | 35 | 30 | 32 | 97 | 9 | Mickey DeLucca | 33 | 40 | 31 | 104 | ||||||
| 11 | Matt Bellner | 32 | 33 | 33 | 98 | 11 | Mike Huckaby | 34 | 35 | 36 | 105 | ||||||
| 12 | Greg Simpson | 35 | 34 | 35 | 104 | 12 | Gary Plain | 37 | 38 | 36 | 111 |
7 May 2016, Saturday-3pm, Arlington Texas
PPA winner Lee Messinger, APA winner Bill Shelar
PPA
While most of the field struggled with changing shots due to the recently pressure washed carpet, Lee Messinger certainly figured out the adjustments quite well as his tournament low 26 gave him a five shot lead after the first round. Tied for second at 31 were Cliff Matthews, Brice Bergesen and Geoffrey Mosk. Lee increased his lead to six shots after two rounds with a 29, good for a 55 total. Gary Love moved into second place after shooting a second round 28 and was at 61. Brice was eight shots back of Lee at 63. The final round was about as undramatic as there could be as no player broke 30 and Lee coasted in with a 33 and a 88 total. Gary Love got his second second place finish of the day at 92, and SWPT point leader Geoffrey Mosk moved into third place at 94. The course looked great after the carpet cleaning and should play a lot better when the SWPT returns in July to smoothed out carpet. The spots went to Lee, Gary and Brice.
APA
Mike Huckaby struggled in the first tournament but came out strong in the afternoon tournament with a first round 28, edging defending champ Bill Shelar by one shot. Mason Spradlin continued his fine play with a 30 and no other player did better than 33, Mike stumbled in the second round with a 35 but found himself only one stroke back after 36 holes to Mason and Bill, both at 62. Steve Tanton made a mild move with the low second round of 30 for 66, four shots back. With a fine final round of 29, Bill made it two wins in one day as his 91 clipped Spradlin (95) by four shots. Greg Everly rallied with a 29 to tie Mike for third place. In the playoff for the spot between Mike and Greg, Mike aced four of his last five holes on the front nine to go three up after nine holes. Greg made three of the first four on the back to cut the lead to one shot but when Greg made bogey on hole fourteen and Mike made the very difficult hole 15 it was over and Mike won the tour final spot. The other spots went to Bill and Mason.
PPA winner Lee Messinger, APA winner Bill Shelar
PPA
While most of the field struggled with changing shots due to the recently pressure washed carpet, Lee Messinger certainly figured out the adjustments quite well as his tournament low 26 gave him a five shot lead after the first round. Tied for second at 31 were Cliff Matthews, Brice Bergesen and Geoffrey Mosk. Lee increased his lead to six shots after two rounds with a 29, good for a 55 total. Gary Love moved into second place after shooting a second round 28 and was at 61. Brice was eight shots back of Lee at 63. The final round was about as undramatic as there could be as no player broke 30 and Lee coasted in with a 33 and a 88 total. Gary Love got his second second place finish of the day at 92, and SWPT point leader Geoffrey Mosk moved into third place at 94. The course looked great after the carpet cleaning and should play a lot better when the SWPT returns in July to smoothed out carpet. The spots went to Lee, Gary and Brice.
APA
Mike Huckaby struggled in the first tournament but came out strong in the afternoon tournament with a first round 28, edging defending champ Bill Shelar by one shot. Mason Spradlin continued his fine play with a 30 and no other player did better than 33, Mike stumbled in the second round with a 35 but found himself only one stroke back after 36 holes to Mason and Bill, both at 62. Steve Tanton made a mild move with the low second round of 30 for 66, four shots back. With a fine final round of 29, Bill made it two wins in one day as his 91 clipped Spradlin (95) by four shots. Greg Everly rallied with a 29 to tie Mike for third place. In the playoff for the spot between Mike and Greg, Mike aced four of his last five holes on the front nine to go three up after nine holes. Greg made three of the first four on the back to cut the lead to one shot but when Greg made bogey on hole fourteen and Mike made the very difficult hole 15 it was over and Mike won the tour final spot. The other spots went to Bill and Mason.
| SWPT—2016 | Arl-3pm | SWPT-- 2016 | Arl-3pm | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 7 May | APA | 7 May | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Lee Messinger | 26 | 29 | 33 | 88 | $120.00 | 1 | 1 | Bill Shelar | 29 | 33 | 29 | 91 | $26.00 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Gary Love | 33 | 28 | 31 | 92 | $80.00 | 1 | 2 | Mason Spradlin | 30 | 32 | 33 | 95 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Geoffrey Mosk | 31 | 33 | 30 | 94 | $40.00 | 3 | Greg Everly | 33 | 34 | 29 | 96 | $13.00 | ||||
| 4 | Brice Bergesen | 31 | 32 | 32 | 95 | $20.00 | 1 | 3 | Mike Huckaby | 28 | 35 | 33 | 96 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 5 | Cliff Matthews | 31 | 33 | 32 | 96 | 5 | Steve Tanton | 36 | 30 | 33 | 99 | $13.00 | |||||
| 6 | Joe Lea | 34 | 31 | 34 | 99 | 6 | Chris Conradi | 34 | 36 | 32 | 102 | $13.00 | |||||
| 7 | Matt Bellner | 34 | 34 | 35 | 103 | 7 | Ken Stanfill | 34 | 33 | 36 | 103 | $13.00 | |||||
| 8 | Don Parker | 33 | 34 | 38 | 105 | 8 | Steven Yancey | 36 | 37 | 31 | 104 | ||||||
| 9 | Trevor Lewin | 34 | 36 | 36 | 106 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | Mickey DeLucca | 39 | 35 | 33 | 107 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Greg Cole | 38 | 37 | 33 | 108 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Jack Ramsey | 40 | 34 | 37 | 111 | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Allen Thomas | 35 | 38 | 40 | 113 |
7 May 2016, Saturday-noon, Arlington Texas
Because Sunday was Mother's Day, the SWPT had two tournaments on Saturday, one at noon and the other started just after 3pm. Windy but not too warm weather and adjusting to the newly pressure washed carpets meant the players were having to adjust their shots all day. Most players did not adjust very well as the scores were significantly higher in the afternoon tournament, just under two strokes per round higher for the PPA. The APA scoring was about the same in both tournaments. Everyone agreed it was a hard and full day of putting.
PPA winner Joe Lea Runner Ups Mason Spradlin and Greg Everly, and on the right winner Bill Shelar
PPA
Defending champion and pre tournament favorite Lee Messinger started off on his home course with a 28 to tie for the first round lead with Brice Bergesen and Don Parker. National Champion Joe Lea was only one shot back with a 29. For a wide variety of reasons several of the top PPA pros in the SWPT were not able to make Arlington on Saturday, but we did have two time National Champion and soon to be inducted into the PPA Hall of Fame player Cliff Matthews making his first putting appearance of the year. He started off with a 33 the first game but came back with the tournament low round of 26 in his second to pull into contention at 59. Joe Lea took the 36-hole lead at 57 as Lee slipped to a 32 and a 60 total. Tied with Cliff in second place were Brice and Gary Love, who shot a strong 12 on the hard back nine. Joe was the only player to break 30 in the last round as the shots were starting to change because of the washed carpet and his 86 total won by three shots over Cliff, Gary and Brice. The stroke play spots went to Joe, Cliff and Gary.
APA
While the PPA field was only seven players, the APA had 13 players. Leading after the first round was Mickey DeLucca with a 29, which put him one up on Greg Everly and Mason Spradlin, who was making his first start in a tournament outside the Tyler/Longview area. Bill Shelar, the 2015 SWPT Champion, Ken Stanfill and Steven Yancey were tied for fourth at 31. Chris Conradi shot a 28 his second round to move into a tie with Greg Everly at 61, one shot ahead of Mickey and Mason. Steve Tanton, the 2016 APA leader in point total, with a 28 of his own, and Bill were tied at 63, only two shots back. The final round came down to who could make the shots on the final holes and when the dust had cleared there was a four-way tie for first place between Bill, Mason, Greg and Mickey. Instead of having a 18-hole playoff which would have seriously cut into the players lunch/rest period before the second tournament, the decision was made to have the players first round of the second tournament also count as the playoff. So, in that "playoff", Bill squeaked by Mason 29 to 30. The spots went to Bill, Mason and Greg.
Because Sunday was Mother's Day, the SWPT had two tournaments on Saturday, one at noon and the other started just after 3pm. Windy but not too warm weather and adjusting to the newly pressure washed carpets meant the players were having to adjust their shots all day. Most players did not adjust very well as the scores were significantly higher in the afternoon tournament, just under two strokes per round higher for the PPA. The APA scoring was about the same in both tournaments. Everyone agreed it was a hard and full day of putting.
PPA winner Joe Lea Runner Ups Mason Spradlin and Greg Everly, and on the right winner Bill Shelar
PPA
Defending champion and pre tournament favorite Lee Messinger started off on his home course with a 28 to tie for the first round lead with Brice Bergesen and Don Parker. National Champion Joe Lea was only one shot back with a 29. For a wide variety of reasons several of the top PPA pros in the SWPT were not able to make Arlington on Saturday, but we did have two time National Champion and soon to be inducted into the PPA Hall of Fame player Cliff Matthews making his first putting appearance of the year. He started off with a 33 the first game but came back with the tournament low round of 26 in his second to pull into contention at 59. Joe Lea took the 36-hole lead at 57 as Lee slipped to a 32 and a 60 total. Tied with Cliff in second place were Brice and Gary Love, who shot a strong 12 on the hard back nine. Joe was the only player to break 30 in the last round as the shots were starting to change because of the washed carpet and his 86 total won by three shots over Cliff, Gary and Brice. The stroke play spots went to Joe, Cliff and Gary.
APA
While the PPA field was only seven players, the APA had 13 players. Leading after the first round was Mickey DeLucca with a 29, which put him one up on Greg Everly and Mason Spradlin, who was making his first start in a tournament outside the Tyler/Longview area. Bill Shelar, the 2015 SWPT Champion, Ken Stanfill and Steven Yancey were tied for fourth at 31. Chris Conradi shot a 28 his second round to move into a tie with Greg Everly at 61, one shot ahead of Mickey and Mason. Steve Tanton, the 2016 APA leader in point total, with a 28 of his own, and Bill were tied at 63, only two shots back. The final round came down to who could make the shots on the final holes and when the dust had cleared there was a four-way tie for first place between Bill, Mason, Greg and Mickey. Instead of having a 18-hole playoff which would have seriously cut into the players lunch/rest period before the second tournament, the decision was made to have the players first round of the second tournament also count as the playoff. So, in that "playoff", Bill squeaked by Mason 29 to 30. The spots went to Bill, Mason and Greg.
| SWPT—2016 | Arl-Noon | SWPT-- 2016 | Arl-noon | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 7 May | APA | 7 May | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Joe Lea | 29 | 28 | 29 | 86 | $120.00 | 1 | 1 | Bill Shelar | 31 | 32 | 30 | 93 | $26.00 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Brice Bergesen | 28 | 31 | 30 | 89 | $40.00 | 2 | Mason Spradlin | 30 | 32 | 31 | 93 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Cliff Matthews | 33 | 26 | 30 | 89 | $40.00 | 1 | 2 | Mickey DeLucca | 29 | 33 | 31 | 93 | $13.00 | |||
| 2 | Gary Love | 30 | 29 | 30 | 89 | $40.00 | 1 | 2 | Greg Everly | 30 | 31 | 32 | 93 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 5 | Lee Messinger | 28 | 32 | 30 | 90 | 5 | Ken Stanfill | 31 | 33 | 31 | 95 | $13.00 | |||||
| 6 | Don Parker | 28 | 34 | 33 | 95 | 6 | Chris Conradi | 33 | 28 | 35 | 96 | $13.00 | |||||
| 7 | Geoffrey Mosk | 32 | 36 | 33 | 101 | 6 | Steve Tanton | 35 | 28 | 33 | 96 | $13.00 | |||||
| 8 | Trevor Lewin | 34 | 34 | 30 | 98 | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Steven Yancey | 31 | 39 | 35 | 105 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | Mike Huckaby | 39 | 34 | 34 | 107 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Jack Ramsey | 36 | 35 | 37 | 108 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Greg Cole | 38 | 35 | 44 | 117 | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Allen Thomas | 41 | 39 | 38 | 118 |
10 April, 2016, Sunday, Lake Charles Louisiana
Jeffrey Smith won his 76th all-time SWPT event on Sunday
PPA
Don Parker came storming out of the gate on Sunday morning with a sparkling 23 to take the first round lead over National Champ Joe Lea who had a 25, At 26 were Lee Messinger, Byron Kirby and course owner Greg Simpson. Sometimes a player can win a tournament with one really great 18, and ever so often a player can win a tournament with a great nine holes. Such was the case in the second round on Sunday. The average score on the back nine the second round for the other 10 players was 14.4. Jeffrey Smith shot a "9" in the wind on several very inconsistent holes, beating the other players by 5 1/2 strokes in just that nine holes! Jeffrey shot a 22, low round of the weekend and was in a tie with Joe Lea after two rounds at 52. Close behind were Byron Kirby at 53 and Don and Brice Bergesen at 54. Jjoe Lea had the lead with nine holes left to play but for the second straight day could not get aces to fall on the final nine holes. Joe shot a 16 on the back while Jeffrey was shooting a 12 (for a 26) and Jeffrey's 78 won by three shots over four players at 81. Joe, Brice, Lee Messinger and Don. Don was the only one of the four to ace the fairly easy but new carpeted 18th hole. This was Jeffrey's umpteenth victory at Lake Charles, including of course the National Seniors and National Championships in 2014. Match play spots went to David McCollister and Brice Bergesen.
Adam Sahmel's 11th all time win gives the Sahmel family 50 SWPT wins, Alan has 7, Wade 32 (28PPA, 4 APA)
APA
The scoring greatly improved in the APA on Sunday. After the field averaged 32.5 on Saturday, the average score on Sunday was 30.4. There were only three rounds under 30 on Saturday and there were five in the first round alone on Sunday. Leading the was were three players with 28's, defending champ Charles Cox, Trevor Lewin and Adam Sahmel. Adam continued to play well and had another 28 in the second round to build a two shot lead over Charles at 58 and three shots over Ken Stanfill and Mickey DeLucca, who finished his second round with an 11 on the back nine for a 27,, low APA nine an 18 total for the weekend. Charles came back charging in the last round with another 28 and a 86 total. Adam was smelling victory and was seven under going into the final hole where a two would give Adam his 11th career SWPT victory. With the new slow carpet Adam wanted to make sure he got the ball up the hill but he overdid it and it came back down, leaving Adam a 15 foot putt up the hill for victory. No problem, stroked it right in to cut Charles by one shot. In third place a distant six shots back was Trevor and Mike Huckaby. Winning match play spots were Ken Stanfill and Mickey DeLucca, his third spot already.
Jeffrey Smith won his 76th all-time SWPT event on Sunday
PPA
Don Parker came storming out of the gate on Sunday morning with a sparkling 23 to take the first round lead over National Champ Joe Lea who had a 25, At 26 were Lee Messinger, Byron Kirby and course owner Greg Simpson. Sometimes a player can win a tournament with one really great 18, and ever so often a player can win a tournament with a great nine holes. Such was the case in the second round on Sunday. The average score on the back nine the second round for the other 10 players was 14.4. Jeffrey Smith shot a "9" in the wind on several very inconsistent holes, beating the other players by 5 1/2 strokes in just that nine holes! Jeffrey shot a 22, low round of the weekend and was in a tie with Joe Lea after two rounds at 52. Close behind were Byron Kirby at 53 and Don and Brice Bergesen at 54. Jjoe Lea had the lead with nine holes left to play but for the second straight day could not get aces to fall on the final nine holes. Joe shot a 16 on the back while Jeffrey was shooting a 12 (for a 26) and Jeffrey's 78 won by three shots over four players at 81. Joe, Brice, Lee Messinger and Don. Don was the only one of the four to ace the fairly easy but new carpeted 18th hole. This was Jeffrey's umpteenth victory at Lake Charles, including of course the National Seniors and National Championships in 2014. Match play spots went to David McCollister and Brice Bergesen.
Adam Sahmel's 11th all time win gives the Sahmel family 50 SWPT wins, Alan has 7, Wade 32 (28PPA, 4 APA)
APA
The scoring greatly improved in the APA on Sunday. After the field averaged 32.5 on Saturday, the average score on Sunday was 30.4. There were only three rounds under 30 on Saturday and there were five in the first round alone on Sunday. Leading the was were three players with 28's, defending champ Charles Cox, Trevor Lewin and Adam Sahmel. Adam continued to play well and had another 28 in the second round to build a two shot lead over Charles at 58 and three shots over Ken Stanfill and Mickey DeLucca, who finished his second round with an 11 on the back nine for a 27,, low APA nine an 18 total for the weekend. Charles came back charging in the last round with another 28 and a 86 total. Adam was smelling victory and was seven under going into the final hole where a two would give Adam his 11th career SWPT victory. With the new slow carpet Adam wanted to make sure he got the ball up the hill but he overdid it and it came back down, leaving Adam a 15 foot putt up the hill for victory. No problem, stroked it right in to cut Charles by one shot. In third place a distant six shots back was Trevor and Mike Huckaby. Winning match play spots were Ken Stanfill and Mickey DeLucca, his third spot already.
| SWPT—2016 | LC | SWPT-- 2016 | LC | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 10 Apr | APA | 10 Apr | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Jeffrey Smith | 30 | 22 | 26 | 78 | $140.00 | 1 | 1 | Adam Sahmel | 28 | 28 | 29 | 85 | $26.00 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Brice Bergesen | 27 | 27 | 27 | 81 | $48.75 | 1 | 2 | Charles Cox | 28 | 30 | 28 | 86 | $13.00 | |||
| 2 | Joe Lea | 25 | 27 | 29 | 81 | $48.75 | 3 | Mike Huckaby | 31 | 29 | 31 | 91 | $13.00 | ||||
| 2 | Lee Messinger | 26 | 29 | 26 | 81 | $48.75 | 3 | Trevor Lewin | 28 | 32 | 31 | 91 | $13.00 | ||||
| 2 | Don Parker | 23 | 31 | 27 | 81 | $48.75 | 5 | Jack Ramsey | 29 | 34 | 29 | 92 | $5.00 | ||||
| 6 | Byron Kirby | 26 | 27 | 29 | 82 | $10.00 | 6 | Mickey DeLucca | 32 | 27 | 34 | 93 | 1 | ||||
| 7 | Geoffrey Mosk | 31 | 27 | 25 | 83 | 6 | Charles Tarbell | 31 | 34 | 28 | 93 | ||||||
| 8 | Danny Tatum | 31 | 27 | 27 | 85 | 6 | Ken Stanfill | 29 | 30 | 34 | 93 | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Wade Samuel | 31 | 28 | 29 | 88 | 9 | Chris Conradi | 32 | 34 | 30 | 96 | ||||||
| 10 | Greg Simpson | 26 | 30 | 33 | 89 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | David McCollister | 29 | 29 | 32 | 90 | 1 |
9 April 2016. Saturday, Lake Charles Louisiana
The 20 players who showed up in Lake Charles for the April 9th and 10th tournaments were blessed to have beautiful, if very windy, weather for both days. The wind did not seem to bother most players as there were lots of low scores. Six holes had new, which means slow, carpet and a couple of holes played harder and a couple of holes played easier. Holes five and six have new carpet and hole seven does not, and the players had to make sure not to hit the ball too hard on number seven with the tail wind or they would find themselves back by the big blue boot. Greg Simpson and Danny Tatum again did a great job in making the players feel special.
2015 Southwest Putting Tour PPA champ Geoffrey Mosk and 2014 Southwest Putting Tour APA champ Charles Cox
Both winners on Saturday
PPA
It did not take long to see if the wind would keep scores up as defending SWPT champion Geoffrey Mosk and current National Champ Joe Lea both came out firing 12-under 24's for the first round lead by three shots. Joe slipped to a second round 28 and Geoffrey's 25 put him at 49, good for a three shot lead over Joe and a five shot lead over David McCollister and Brice Bergesen, both at 54. If Geoffrey thought it would be a walk in the park the last round he forgot about Jeffrey Smith, who won the National Championship on this course in 2014. Jeffrey started the last round six shots back and was only one under after five holes. then Jeffrey made eight aces in a row and and 11 of his last 13 holes for a 24 and a 79 total. Playing in the same group they were tied going into the 53rd hole, the very fickle number 17. Geoffrey made it and Jeffrey missed, they both made number 18 so Geoffrey's 78 cut Jeffrey by one. Joe Lea had a great chance to win, but played the final seven holes only one under to finish third at 80. The match play spots went to David McCollister and Lee Messinger.
Course one in Lake Charles
APA
Charles Cox has been the dominating APA player in Lake Charles for a long time and he quickly took charge by shooting a first round 28 for a one shot lead over Mike Huckaby Charles slipped to a second round 31 but saw his lead grow to two strokes over Trevor Lewin, 59 to 61. Charles Tarbell and Mickey DeLucca were both hanging close at 62. When Charles shot a final round 30, good for a 89, it seemed he opened the door for another player to take the title, but no other APA player broke 30 in the last round and Charles 89 ended up winning by five shots over Mike's 94.. Mickey was third at 95. This was a strange tournament for the APA players as they averaged 32.5 per round on a course they usually shoot quite a bit better on. The match play spots went to Mike Huckaby and Mickey DeLucca
The 20 players who showed up in Lake Charles for the April 9th and 10th tournaments were blessed to have beautiful, if very windy, weather for both days. The wind did not seem to bother most players as there were lots of low scores. Six holes had new, which means slow, carpet and a couple of holes played harder and a couple of holes played easier. Holes five and six have new carpet and hole seven does not, and the players had to make sure not to hit the ball too hard on number seven with the tail wind or they would find themselves back by the big blue boot. Greg Simpson and Danny Tatum again did a great job in making the players feel special.
2015 Southwest Putting Tour PPA champ Geoffrey Mosk and 2014 Southwest Putting Tour APA champ Charles Cox
Both winners on Saturday
PPA
It did not take long to see if the wind would keep scores up as defending SWPT champion Geoffrey Mosk and current National Champ Joe Lea both came out firing 12-under 24's for the first round lead by three shots. Joe slipped to a second round 28 and Geoffrey's 25 put him at 49, good for a three shot lead over Joe and a five shot lead over David McCollister and Brice Bergesen, both at 54. If Geoffrey thought it would be a walk in the park the last round he forgot about Jeffrey Smith, who won the National Championship on this course in 2014. Jeffrey started the last round six shots back and was only one under after five holes. then Jeffrey made eight aces in a row and and 11 of his last 13 holes for a 24 and a 79 total. Playing in the same group they were tied going into the 53rd hole, the very fickle number 17. Geoffrey made it and Jeffrey missed, they both made number 18 so Geoffrey's 78 cut Jeffrey by one. Joe Lea had a great chance to win, but played the final seven holes only one under to finish third at 80. The match play spots went to David McCollister and Lee Messinger.
Course one in Lake Charles
APA
Charles Cox has been the dominating APA player in Lake Charles for a long time and he quickly took charge by shooting a first round 28 for a one shot lead over Mike Huckaby Charles slipped to a second round 31 but saw his lead grow to two strokes over Trevor Lewin, 59 to 61. Charles Tarbell and Mickey DeLucca were both hanging close at 62. When Charles shot a final round 30, good for a 89, it seemed he opened the door for another player to take the title, but no other APA player broke 30 in the last round and Charles 89 ended up winning by five shots over Mike's 94.. Mickey was third at 95. This was a strange tournament for the APA players as they averaged 32.5 per round on a course they usually shoot quite a bit better on. The match play spots went to Mike Huckaby and Mickey DeLucca
| SWPT—2016 | LC | SWPT-- 2016 | LC | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 9 Apr | APA | 9 Apr | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Geoffrey Mosk | 24 | 25 | 29 | 78 | $140.00 | 1 | Charles Cox | 28 | 31 | 30 | 89 | $26.00 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Jeffrey Smith | 29 | 26 | 24 | 79 | $90.00 | 1 | 2 | Mike Huckaby | 29 | 35 | 30 | 94 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Joe Lea | 24 | 28 | 28 | 80 | $55.00 | 3 | Mickey DeLucca | 30 | 32 | 33 | 95 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Brice Bergesen | 28 | 26 | 28 | 82 | $30.00 | 4 | Trevor Lewin | 31 | 30 | 35 | 96 | $13.00 | ||||
| 5 | David McCollister | 27 | 27 | 29 | 83 | $20.00 | 1 | 5 | Charles Tarbell | 31 | 31 | 35 | 97 | $5.00 | |||
| 6 | Byron Kirby | 27 | 29 | 28 | 84 | $10.00 | 6 | Adam Sahmel | 36 | 29 | 35 | 100 | |||||
| 7 | Lee Messinger | 27 | 28 | 30 | 85 | 1 | 7 | Jack Ramsey | 34 | 32 | 35 | 101 | |||||
| 8 | Wade Samuel | 29 | 26 | 31 | 86 | 8 | Chris Conradi | 35 | 31 | 36 | 102 | ||||||
| 9 | Danny Tatum | 30 | 29 | 28 | 87 | 8 | Ken Stanfill | 30 | 38 | 34 | 102 | ||||||
| 10 | Don Parker | 31 | 28 | 31 | 90 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Greg Simpson | 31 | 29 | 32 | 92 |
12 March 2016, Saturday noon, Victoria Texas
Even though we had sunny skies and warm weather all day, it was still a Rainey day!! The first time ever scheduling two events on one day instead of one on Saturday and one on Sunday proved to be a big hit. There are three more Saturday's with two events instead of one event on Saturday and one event on Sunday. They are: Arlington Parks on May 7th, Waco on June 4th and Abilene on June 18th.
APA winner again Steve Tanton PPA winner Rainey Statum
The players at Victoria, plus the wonderful manager Sue, and Lola, one of the SWPT official pets
PPA
When you get a player of Rainey Statum's stature that gets into "the zone" it is pretty much all over for the other players. Rainey said after the tournament that everything went according to his game plan, get off to a good start and make no bogies. Rainey said he played about as good as he could play. In the Saturday noon tournament two players in the PPA broke 90, National Champion Joe Lea shot a 84 and Rainey shot a amazing 79. Rainey got off to good starts all three rounds and also played the back nine better than anyone else. Rainey and Don Parker were tied after 18 holes at 26 with Joe and Wade Sahmel two back at 28. Rainey's second round 27 put him at 53, only one up on Joe, but when Rainey shot another 26 the last round he won by five shots, and Don Parker was third at 90. The top three scores earned spots in the tour finals to be held October 9th at Arlington Parks.
The official pets of the SWPT, Rocky, held by Emma Tatum, and Lola, held by Brice Bergesen
APA
Steve Tanton played in only one tournament in 2015, at Victoria, and he won so he was back to defend his title, And that he did. Even with missing the very easy hole number four the first two rounds Steve was still at 56 (30-26) and held a commanding six shot lead over Mickey DeLucca and seven shots over Alan Sahmel. Steve backed off his last round a little with a 33, but no could break 30 so Steve ended up at 89 with a five shot win over Alan Sahmel (94) and six shots over Mickey DeLucca (95) All three players earned tour final spots.
Even though we had sunny skies and warm weather all day, it was still a Rainey day!! The first time ever scheduling two events on one day instead of one on Saturday and one on Sunday proved to be a big hit. There are three more Saturday's with two events instead of one event on Saturday and one event on Sunday. They are: Arlington Parks on May 7th, Waco on June 4th and Abilene on June 18th.
APA winner again Steve Tanton PPA winner Rainey Statum
The players at Victoria, plus the wonderful manager Sue, and Lola, one of the SWPT official pets
PPA
When you get a player of Rainey Statum's stature that gets into "the zone" it is pretty much all over for the other players. Rainey said after the tournament that everything went according to his game plan, get off to a good start and make no bogies. Rainey said he played about as good as he could play. In the Saturday noon tournament two players in the PPA broke 90, National Champion Joe Lea shot a 84 and Rainey shot a amazing 79. Rainey got off to good starts all three rounds and also played the back nine better than anyone else. Rainey and Don Parker were tied after 18 holes at 26 with Joe and Wade Sahmel two back at 28. Rainey's second round 27 put him at 53, only one up on Joe, but when Rainey shot another 26 the last round he won by five shots, and Don Parker was third at 90. The top three scores earned spots in the tour finals to be held October 9th at Arlington Parks.
The official pets of the SWPT, Rocky, held by Emma Tatum, and Lola, held by Brice Bergesen
APA
Steve Tanton played in only one tournament in 2015, at Victoria, and he won so he was back to defend his title, And that he did. Even with missing the very easy hole number four the first two rounds Steve was still at 56 (30-26) and held a commanding six shot lead over Mickey DeLucca and seven shots over Alan Sahmel. Steve backed off his last round a little with a 33, but no could break 30 so Steve ended up at 89 with a five shot win over Alan Sahmel (94) and six shots over Mickey DeLucca (95) All three players earned tour final spots.
| SWPT—2016 | Vic-noon | SWPT-- 2016 | Vic-noon | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 12 Mar | APA | 12 Mar | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Rainey Statum | 26 | 27 | 26 | 79 | $140.00 | 1 | 1 | Steve Tanton | 30 | 26 | 33 | 89 | $26.00 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Joe Lea | 28 | 26 | 30 | 84 | $90.00 | 1 | 2 | Alan Sahmel | 33 | 30 | 31 | 94 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Don Parker | 26 | 32 | 32 | 90 | $55.00 | 1 | 3 | Mickey DeLucca | 32 | 30 | 33 | 95 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 4 | Wade Samuel | 28 | 32 | 32 | 92 | $25.00 | 4 | Dwain Willett | 34 | 34 | 30 | 98 | $13.00 | ||||
| 4 | Geoffrey Mosk | 29 | 31 | 32 | 92 | $25.00 | 5 | Ken Stanfill | 32 | 33 | 36 | 101 | $13.00 | ||||
| 6 | Brice Bergesen | 31 | 29 | 33 | 93 | $10.00 | 6 | Trevor Lewin | 34 | 31 | 38 | 103 | |||||
| 7 | Byron Kirby | 31 | 33 | 32 | 96 | 7 | Adam Sahmel | 41 | 32 | 32 | 105 | ||||||
| 7 | Lee Messinger | 31 | 31 | 34 | 96 | 8 | Jack Ramsey | 36 | 35 | 35 | 106 | ||||||
| 9 | Danny Tatum | 31 | 33 | 35 | 99 | 9 | Chris Conradi | 37 | 33 | 37 | 107 | ||||||
| 9 | Matt Bellner | 32 | 34 | 33 | 99 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Greg Simpson | 34 | 35 | 31 | 100 |
12 March 2016, Saturday, 3pm, Victoria Texas
The beautiful and traditional Putt-Putt in Victoria is a favorite of the SWPT players
PPA winner Rainey Statum APA winner Chris Conradi
PPA
After stunning everyone with his 79 in the noon tournament, Rainey Statum started off the 3pm tournament by acing his first 7 holes and shooting a opening nine of 10. The front nine is almost two shots easier than the back nine, and it seems like it is 4 or 5 shots easier, which makes for a interesting course. After the front nine are the four hardest holes to ace on the course, numbers 10-13, then finishes with hard but ace-able holes 14-18. Rainey cooled off on the back with a 16 for a 26, putting him a tie with Lee Messinger. Brice Bergesen was in third place with a 28. Rainey blitzes the front nine again starting the second round with an 11, cools off with another 16 on the back but finishes the round with a 27 and 53 total, four ahead of Lee and steady Geoffrey Mosk, both at 57. Rainey coasts in the final round with his worse round of the day with a 29 and a 82 total. Rainey was the only player bogey free for the day. Geoffrey shot 28 his third round good for second place at 85. Fighting for the third tour final spot were Wade, Lee and Brice. Going into hole 13 Lee had Wade by 3 shots and Brice by one. Wade aced the last 6 holes, for the day's best score of 25, and Brice made 4 of the last 5 to each cut Lee by one shot, 87 to 88. Heartbreak on the SWPT trail.
Trendsetters in their blue striped shirts and brown plaid shorts, Jack Ramsey and Joe Lea!!
APA
No players broke 30 in the afternoon tournament, and Mickey DeLucca and Chris Conradi both shot 30 the first round to tie for the lead, but only one ahead of Steve Tanton, trying for his third straight Victoria win. Mickey and Chris were still tied for the lead after two rounds at 62, but several players were close behind, including Steve at 63, Alan Sahmel and Dwain Willett at 64, and Jack Ramsey at 65. Mickey and Steve cooled off and finished tied at 96, and the focus was on the last twosome, the players who finished last in the noon tournament. They were neck and neck until Jack's deuce putt on hole sixteen took a nasty left turn and missed, which allowed last place finisher in the early tournament, Chris to win with his 94, one better than Jack's 95. In the playoff between Steve and Mickey, Steve went three up after three holes and ended up winning the third spot.
The beautiful and traditional Putt-Putt in Victoria is a favorite of the SWPT players
PPA winner Rainey Statum APA winner Chris Conradi
PPA
After stunning everyone with his 79 in the noon tournament, Rainey Statum started off the 3pm tournament by acing his first 7 holes and shooting a opening nine of 10. The front nine is almost two shots easier than the back nine, and it seems like it is 4 or 5 shots easier, which makes for a interesting course. After the front nine are the four hardest holes to ace on the course, numbers 10-13, then finishes with hard but ace-able holes 14-18. Rainey cooled off on the back with a 16 for a 26, putting him a tie with Lee Messinger. Brice Bergesen was in third place with a 28. Rainey blitzes the front nine again starting the second round with an 11, cools off with another 16 on the back but finishes the round with a 27 and 53 total, four ahead of Lee and steady Geoffrey Mosk, both at 57. Rainey coasts in the final round with his worse round of the day with a 29 and a 82 total. Rainey was the only player bogey free for the day. Geoffrey shot 28 his third round good for second place at 85. Fighting for the third tour final spot were Wade, Lee and Brice. Going into hole 13 Lee had Wade by 3 shots and Brice by one. Wade aced the last 6 holes, for the day's best score of 25, and Brice made 4 of the last 5 to each cut Lee by one shot, 87 to 88. Heartbreak on the SWPT trail.
Trendsetters in their blue striped shirts and brown plaid shorts, Jack Ramsey and Joe Lea!!
APA
No players broke 30 in the afternoon tournament, and Mickey DeLucca and Chris Conradi both shot 30 the first round to tie for the lead, but only one ahead of Steve Tanton, trying for his third straight Victoria win. Mickey and Chris were still tied for the lead after two rounds at 62, but several players were close behind, including Steve at 63, Alan Sahmel and Dwain Willett at 64, and Jack Ramsey at 65. Mickey and Steve cooled off and finished tied at 96, and the focus was on the last twosome, the players who finished last in the noon tournament. They were neck and neck until Jack's deuce putt on hole sixteen took a nasty left turn and missed, which allowed last place finisher in the early tournament, Chris to win with his 94, one better than Jack's 95. In the playoff between Steve and Mickey, Steve went three up after three holes and ended up winning the third spot.
| SWPT—2016 | Vic-3pm | SWPT-- 2016 | Vic-3pm | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 12 Mar | APA | 12 Mar | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Rainey Statum | 26 | 27 | 29 | 82 | $150.00 | 1 | 1 | Chris Conradi | 30 | 32 | 32 | 94 | $26.00 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Geoffrey Mosk | 29 | 28 | 28 | 85 | $100.00 | 1 | 2 | Jack Ramsey | 33 | 32 | 30 | 95 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Brice Bergesen | 28 | 33 | 26 | 87 | $45.00 | 1 | 3 | Steve Tanton | 31 | 32 | 33 | 96 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Wade Samuel | 31 | 31 | 25 | 87 | $45.00 | 3 | Mickey DeLucca | 30 | 32 | 34 | 96 | $13.00 | ||||
| 5 | Lee Messinger | 26 | 31 | 31 | 88 | $20.00 | 5 | Dwain Willett | 34 | 30 | 33 | 97 | $6.50 | ||||
| 6 | Joe Lea | 30 | 29 | 30 | 89 | $15.00 | 5 | Trevor Lewin | 36 | 31 | 30 | 97 | $6.50 | ||||
| 7 | Danny Tatum | 29 | 31 | 30 | 90 | $10.00 | 7 | Alan Sahmel | 33 | 31 | 34 | 98 | |||||
| 8 | Don Parker | 31 | 33 | 28 | 92 | 8 | Ken Stanfill | 32 | 35 | 34 | 101 | ||||||
| 9 | Byron Kirby | 29 | 31 | 33 | 93 | 9 | Adam Sahmel | 34 | 36 | 33 | 103 | ||||||
| 10 | Matt Bellner | 35 | 31 | 31 | 97 | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Greg Simpson | 31 | 36 | 39 | 106 |
27 February 2016. Saturday, Webster Texas
Webster Texas was again proud to hold the first PPA tournaments of the year. As Adam Sahmel said, "My three favorite days of the year are Christmas, my birthday and opening day of the Putt-Putt season". The 25 players that were at Webster to start the Southwest Putting Tour season agreed, and having beautiful spring weather was a bonus.
PPA winner Brice Bergesen, APA winner Steve Tanton
The players in the first PPA tournament of 2016 at Webster Texas on 27 February 2016
PPA
In the PPA division three players, Brice Bergesen, Don Parker and defending champion Byron Kirby tied for the lead at 26, two shots ahead of current SWPT champ Geoffrey Mosk. In the second round National Champion Joe Lea shot a 25 and was tied for the lead at 54 with Brice, with Byron just two shots back. Both Brice and Joe started off slowly the final round, both making early bogies. Meanwhile, as he did last year in the final round, Wade Sahmel aced 8 of his first ten to pull within one shot of Brice. But as the back nine does at Webster so much of the time, when you really need aces they are hard to come by and Wade cooled off,but still shot 25 for a 85, which put him in a tie in the clubhouse with 2014 SWPT champ Lee Messinger and Joe. Brice did not make any mistakes coming in and his 29 gave him a 83 and a two shot win. Match play spots went to Lee Messinger and Geoffrey Mosk.
APA
There were 13 APA payers and one open player in the APA division. Mike Huckaby, the 2014 SWPT player of the year got things off to a hot start with an opening 26, good for a one shot lead over Steve Tanton. The only other players under 30 were rookie Tommy Phillips of Lake Charles and Charles Cox, the 2014 SWPT APA champion. Mike slipped to a 31 his second round and Mickey DeLucca shot a 27 and they were tied at 57 for the lead, with Steve and Tommy just one shot back at 58 and 2015 APA TPC champion Alan Sahmel just two shots back at 59. It was looking like a old fashioned shoot out for the last round. The shoot out did not happen because Steve took firm charge, beating all the other contenders by at least 5 shots on the front nine with a tournament low 11. Steve only ended up winning by two shots because he made bogies on two of his last three holes. His 87 beat Mickey and Tommy by two shots and Mike ended up fourth at 90. Match play spots went to Mike Huckaby and Dwain Willett.
Webster Texas was again proud to hold the first PPA tournaments of the year. As Adam Sahmel said, "My three favorite days of the year are Christmas, my birthday and opening day of the Putt-Putt season". The 25 players that were at Webster to start the Southwest Putting Tour season agreed, and having beautiful spring weather was a bonus.
PPA winner Brice Bergesen, APA winner Steve Tanton
The players in the first PPA tournament of 2016 at Webster Texas on 27 February 2016
PPA
In the PPA division three players, Brice Bergesen, Don Parker and defending champion Byron Kirby tied for the lead at 26, two shots ahead of current SWPT champ Geoffrey Mosk. In the second round National Champion Joe Lea shot a 25 and was tied for the lead at 54 with Brice, with Byron just two shots back. Both Brice and Joe started off slowly the final round, both making early bogies. Meanwhile, as he did last year in the final round, Wade Sahmel aced 8 of his first ten to pull within one shot of Brice. But as the back nine does at Webster so much of the time, when you really need aces they are hard to come by and Wade cooled off,but still shot 25 for a 85, which put him in a tie in the clubhouse with 2014 SWPT champ Lee Messinger and Joe. Brice did not make any mistakes coming in and his 29 gave him a 83 and a two shot win. Match play spots went to Lee Messinger and Geoffrey Mosk.
APA
There were 13 APA payers and one open player in the APA division. Mike Huckaby, the 2014 SWPT player of the year got things off to a hot start with an opening 26, good for a one shot lead over Steve Tanton. The only other players under 30 were rookie Tommy Phillips of Lake Charles and Charles Cox, the 2014 SWPT APA champion. Mike slipped to a 31 his second round and Mickey DeLucca shot a 27 and they were tied at 57 for the lead, with Steve and Tommy just one shot back at 58 and 2015 APA TPC champion Alan Sahmel just two shots back at 59. It was looking like a old fashioned shoot out for the last round. The shoot out did not happen because Steve took firm charge, beating all the other contenders by at least 5 shots on the front nine with a tournament low 11. Steve only ended up winning by two shots because he made bogies on two of his last three holes. His 87 beat Mickey and Tommy by two shots and Mike ended up fourth at 90. Match play spots went to Mike Huckaby and Dwain Willett.
| SWPT—2016 | Web | SWPT-- 2016 | Web | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 27 Feb | APA | 27 Feb | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Brice Bergesen | 26 | 28 | 29 | 83 | $140.00 | 1 | 1 | Steve Tanton | 27 | 31 | 29 | 87 | $26.00 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Wade Samuel | 29 | 31 | 25 | 85 | $58.33 | 2 | Mickey DeLucca | 30 | 27 | 32 | 89 | $13.00 | ||||
| 2 | Joe Lea | 29 | 25 | 31 | 85 | $58.33 | 2 | Tommy Phillips | 29 | 29 | 31 | 89 | $13.00 | ||||
| 2 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 30 | 26 | 85 | $58.33 | 1 | 4 | Mike Huckaby | 26 | 31 | 33 | 90 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 5 | Don Parker | 26 | 32 | 28 | 86 | $15.00 | 5 | Jason Sheffield | 33 | 32 | 28 | 93 | $13.00 | ||||
| 5 | Geoffrey Mosk | 28 | 31 | 27 | 86 | $15.00 | 1 | 6 | Ken Stanfill | 32 | 30 | 32 | 94 | ||||
| 7 | Byron Kirby | 26 | 30 | 31 | 87 | 6 | Alan Sahmel | 30 | 29 | 35 | 94 | ||||||
| 7 | Greg Simpson | 30 | 27 | 30 | 87 | 8 | Charles Cox | 29 | 35 | 31 | 95 | ||||||
| 9 | Jeffrey Smith | 29 | 31 | 31 | 91 | 9 | Jack Ramsey | 35 | 30 | 32 | 97 | ||||||
| 10 | David McCollister | 33 | 29 | 31 | 93 | 9 | Dwain Willett | 34 | 34 | 29 | 97 | 1 | |||||
| 11 | Danny Tatum | 30 | 33 | 31 | 94 | 11 | Chris Conradi | 33 | 32 | 33 | 98 | ||||||
| 11 | Adam Sahmel | 33 | 36 | 29 | 98 | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Charles Tarbell | 35 | 34 | 38 | 107 |
28 February 2016, Sunday, Webster Texas
Wade and Alan Sahmel, winners in PPA and APA, also son and father
PPA
Wade Sahmel, who won on Sunday a year ago starting with a 35, did better this year, started with a 27 and the first round lead by two over David McCollister and Geoffrey Mosk, both at 28. Saturday winner Brice Bergesen was the only other player under thirst, with a 29. Wade shot a steady 28 the second round for a 55 and a tie with Geoffrey, who shot a 27, but it got closer as three other players shot 27 the second round. A 27 put Brice just one shot back at 56, Lee Messinger's 27 put him two back at 57. Only three shots out were David, Byron Kirby and Danny Tatum. Another shootout coming. Alas, there were no fireworks in the last round. Don Parker had the low score, a 26, but he started the round in last place. Brice had an excellent chance to win again, but played the last five holes in one over for a 30 and a 86, good for third. Geoffrey was steady with his 29 for a 84, and playing behind Wade knew what he needed to do on hole 18, and he aced it for a 28 and a winning total of 83. The players will return to Webster in July for the first Mike Baldoza Texas Open, a name change to honor a great putter and even better friend to all who passed away the last day of 2015. Match play spots went to Geoffrey Mosk (his third already, he won an automatic spot for being the 2015 SWPT champ) and Byron Kirby.
Jim and Carol Saxe have great landscaping skills which makes Webster a beautiful course
APA
Steve Tanton has not lost in two years. In 2015 he only played one event, in Victoria, and he won easily. On Saturday at Webster he won easily. Steve made it hard on himself by opening with a 33, putting him seven shots off the lead score of 26 shot by Alan Sahmel. Mickey DeLucca continued his strong comeback year by being in second place with a 28, along with Ken Stanfill. Ken caught Alan after 36 holes, both at 57,one shot ahead of Dwain Willett, but the low second round went to charging Steve Tanton with a 26 and at 59 was only two shots out, along with steady Adam Sahmel, Alan's son, who shot 30-29. The third round was a real dogfight as Steve posted a 87 early, then Ken and Dwain came in with 88's, one shot back. Alan had a front nine 17 but rallied for a back nine 13 to tie Steve at 87. In the 18-hole playoff sweeping the weekend was not to be for Steve as Alan out dueled Steve for the win. On Sunday last year Alan came through with a win after his son Wade had won the PPA division, and they did it again this year!! Adam sahmel was in the hunt but ended up in a tie for firth, very strong family showing. Steve Tanton came back in match play to win his second spot in two days and Ken Stanfill won his first.
| SWPT—2016 | Web | SWPT-- 2016 | Web | ||||||||||||||
| PPA | 28 Feb | APA | 28 Feb | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Wade Samuel | 27 | 28 | 28 | 83 | $130.00 | 1 | 1 | Alan Sahmel | 26 | 31 | 30 | 87 | $26.00 | 1 | ||
| 2 | Geoffrey Mosk | 28 | 27 | 29 | 84 | $85.00 | 1 | 2 | Steve Tanton | 33 | 26 | 28 | 87 | $13.00 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Brice Bergesen | 29 | 27 | 30 | 86 | $50.00 | 3 | Ken Stanfill | 28 | 29 | 31 | 88 | $13.00 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Byron Kirby | 30 | 28 | 29 | 87 | $30.00 | 1 | 3 | Dwain Willett | 29 | 29 | 30 | 88 | $13.00 | |||
| 5 | Don Parker | 32 | 30 | 26 | 88 | $20.00 | 5 | Mickey DeLucca | 28 | 33 | 30 | 91 | $6.50 | ||||
| 6 | Lee Messinger | 30 | 27 | 32 | 89 | 5 | Adam Sahmel | 30 | 29 | 32 | 91 | $6.50 | |||||
| 6 | Jeffrey Smith | 34 | 27 | 28 | 89 | 7 | Charles Cox | 32 | 31 | 30 | 93 | ||||||
| 8 | David McCollister | 28 | 30 | 32 | 90 | 8 | Mike Huckaby | 34 | 29 | 31 | 94 | ||||||
| 8 | Danny Tatum | 30 | 28 | 32 | 90 | 9 | Tommy Phillips | 32 | 33 | 30 | 95 | ||||||
| 10 | Greg Simpson | 31 | 30 | 30 | 91 | 9 | Jack Ramsey | 36 | 30 | 29 | 95 | ||||||
| 9 | Chris Conradi | 34 | 28 | 33 | 95 | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Charles Tarbell | 33 | 30 | 32 | 95 |
2015 Tournament stories
21-25 September 2015 -- National Championship week
Joe Lea acing his 144th hole in route to being the PPA 2015 National Champion
The Southwest Putting Tour had a banner week in Fernandina Beach Florida, wining several tournaments and having a lot of players finish in the money. Following Jeffrey Smith's win in Lake Charles in 2014, Joe Lea kept the National Champion in Texas with a strong performance, shooting 100 on Thursday and 97 on Friday for a 197 total and a four shot win over Brian Johnson. Joe won $10,000 for the win. Tied with Joe going into Friday was his longtime friend and fellow Gulf Freeway putter Rainey Statum. Rainey was in second place starting the last round but took a 4 on hole five. He rallied back from that mishap to finish third and win $3,500. Wade Sahmel was another player who first started playing at the Gulf Freeway course in southeast Houston. Had he not gotten off to a bad start with a first round 30 he might have challenged Joe, however he did play great for the next seven rounds and ended in a tie for fourth place and won $2,000. Other PPA pros from the Southwest Putting Tour that cashed were Byron Kirby who tied for 14th and won $1,000. Defending champion Jeffrey Smith never got any momentum and finished in a tie for 30th. Newly crowned SWPT champion Geoffrey Mosk tied for 37th, and Jody Kimble, Lee Messinger, Jeff McDonald and Danny Tatum all tied for 40th place one shot back at 216. Brice Bergesen would have been in that group but he bogeyed the final hole and ended in a tie for 48th place. Greg Simpson missed the money by one shot, but he can say he tied Greg Ward in the tournament!! The win for Joe was greeted with great enthusiasm by the other players from around the country as Joe, along with Rainey, have been considered the best players without a major win.
Playing hole 13 the last round with playing partners Ed Haggerty Rainey Statum about to play the 13th hole, Joe Lea putting on the 12th
and Greg Newport watching, both former National Champions
In the APA division SWPT champ Bill Shelar battled all the way to the end but came up two shots short of being in a playoff for the APA National Championship. Bill shot 215, two shots short of winner Roby Fuller and runner-up Jim Last. Two other SWPT players cracked the top ten with TPC champion Alan Sahmel shooting 222 for 8th place and Adam Sahmel shooting 232 for 10th place.
TPC Championship, 23rd September 2015
The SWPT had two PPA players finish in the top five in the TPC. Defending National Champion Jeffrey Smith shot 99, tying Randy Reeves and Kevin Lacy for second, but two shots back of Mike Flavin, who won with a 97. Tying for fifth was Joe Lea at 100 along with Mike Johnson and Nate Nichols,
Alan Sahmel with his TPC award
In the APA division Alan Sahmel won his first National tournament, shooting a scorching 100 and defeating fellow SWPT player Bill Shelar by four shots. Chris Conradi shot 114 and tied for 11th place.
Seniors Championship
Danny Tatum had the round of the week in the PPA Seniors championship. He was well back of the pack after three rounds at 79 when Danny got hot and shot the weeks low round 21 his final round for a 100 score and a one shot win over Greg Ward. Joe Lea tied for third, Jeffrey Smith was 14th and Byron Kirby tied for 15th place.
Danny Tatum with his Senior Championship award
The best finish for a SWPT player in the APA Senior Championship was Bill Shelar with a fourth place finish and a score of 108. Alan Sahmel and Jack Ramsey tied for seventh and Charles Cox tied for 10th place.
Doubles Championship
The best SWPT finish in the PPA doubles were the teams of Lee Messinger/ Geoffrey Mosk and Jeffrey Smith/ Wade Sahmel who tied for fourth place at 102.
It was the same result in the APA Doubles as the best a SWPT team could do was a tie for fouth. That was the defending champion team of Charles Cox and Alan Sahmel who shot 112.
Joe Lea acing his 144th hole in route to being the PPA 2015 National Champion
The Southwest Putting Tour had a banner week in Fernandina Beach Florida, wining several tournaments and having a lot of players finish in the money. Following Jeffrey Smith's win in Lake Charles in 2014, Joe Lea kept the National Champion in Texas with a strong performance, shooting 100 on Thursday and 97 on Friday for a 197 total and a four shot win over Brian Johnson. Joe won $10,000 for the win. Tied with Joe going into Friday was his longtime friend and fellow Gulf Freeway putter Rainey Statum. Rainey was in second place starting the last round but took a 4 on hole five. He rallied back from that mishap to finish third and win $3,500. Wade Sahmel was another player who first started playing at the Gulf Freeway course in southeast Houston. Had he not gotten off to a bad start with a first round 30 he might have challenged Joe, however he did play great for the next seven rounds and ended in a tie for fourth place and won $2,000. Other PPA pros from the Southwest Putting Tour that cashed were Byron Kirby who tied for 14th and won $1,000. Defending champion Jeffrey Smith never got any momentum and finished in a tie for 30th. Newly crowned SWPT champion Geoffrey Mosk tied for 37th, and Jody Kimble, Lee Messinger, Jeff McDonald and Danny Tatum all tied for 40th place one shot back at 216. Brice Bergesen would have been in that group but he bogeyed the final hole and ended in a tie for 48th place. Greg Simpson missed the money by one shot, but he can say he tied Greg Ward in the tournament!! The win for Joe was greeted with great enthusiasm by the other players from around the country as Joe, along with Rainey, have been considered the best players without a major win.
Playing hole 13 the last round with playing partners Ed Haggerty Rainey Statum about to play the 13th hole, Joe Lea putting on the 12th
and Greg Newport watching, both former National Champions
In the APA division SWPT champ Bill Shelar battled all the way to the end but came up two shots short of being in a playoff for the APA National Championship. Bill shot 215, two shots short of winner Roby Fuller and runner-up Jim Last. Two other SWPT players cracked the top ten with TPC champion Alan Sahmel shooting 222 for 8th place and Adam Sahmel shooting 232 for 10th place.
TPC Championship, 23rd September 2015
The SWPT had two PPA players finish in the top five in the TPC. Defending National Champion Jeffrey Smith shot 99, tying Randy Reeves and Kevin Lacy for second, but two shots back of Mike Flavin, who won with a 97. Tying for fifth was Joe Lea at 100 along with Mike Johnson and Nate Nichols,
Alan Sahmel with his TPC award
In the APA division Alan Sahmel won his first National tournament, shooting a scorching 100 and defeating fellow SWPT player Bill Shelar by four shots. Chris Conradi shot 114 and tied for 11th place.
Seniors Championship
Danny Tatum had the round of the week in the PPA Seniors championship. He was well back of the pack after three rounds at 79 when Danny got hot and shot the weeks low round 21 his final round for a 100 score and a one shot win over Greg Ward. Joe Lea tied for third, Jeffrey Smith was 14th and Byron Kirby tied for 15th place.
Danny Tatum with his Senior Championship award
The best finish for a SWPT player in the APA Senior Championship was Bill Shelar with a fourth place finish and a score of 108. Alan Sahmel and Jack Ramsey tied for seventh and Charles Cox tied for 10th place.
Doubles Championship
The best SWPT finish in the PPA doubles were the teams of Lee Messinger/ Geoffrey Mosk and Jeffrey Smith/ Wade Sahmel who tied for fourth place at 102.
It was the same result in the APA Doubles as the best a SWPT team could do was a tie for fouth. That was the defending champion team of Charles Cox and Alan Sahmel who shot 112.
The best-ball shooting of 2015 was the second day at the LSC by Joe Lea and Jeffrey Smith. A 72-hole score of 82!!
In the final threesome in the Louisiana State Championship on Sunday was the eventual winner Jeffrey Smith and the runner-up by one shot, Joe Lea. Brice Bergesen was the third member but he faded into a tie for fourth. The best ball between Jeffrey and Joe in their fantastic battle on Sunday needs to be reported. In round five (first round on Sunday) they shot a best ball of 9-10=19, missing only hole 10.. The second round they shot 12-10=22. The third round they shot 9-10=19, missing only hole 13. The last round they shot 10-12=22 for a four round best ball total of 82. Joe shot 97 on his own ball and Jeffrey shot 100. They could have gone lower but they only made hole one once and hole ten once.
In the final threesome in the Louisiana State Championship on Sunday was the eventual winner Jeffrey Smith and the runner-up by one shot, Joe Lea. Brice Bergesen was the third member but he faded into a tie for fourth. The best ball between Jeffrey and Joe in their fantastic battle on Sunday needs to be reported. In round five (first round on Sunday) they shot a best ball of 9-10=19, missing only hole 10.. The second round they shot 12-10=22. The third round they shot 9-10=19, missing only hole 13. The last round they shot 10-12=22 for a four round best ball total of 82. Joe shot 97 on his own ball and Jeffrey shot 100. They could have gone lower but they only made hole one once and hole ten once.
13 September 2015 - Sunday - Tyler, Texas
SWPT FINALS
2015 SWPT PPA winner Geoffrey Mosk in the middle, runner up Chance Marett on the left, tournament director Danny Tatum on the right
PPA
There were 17 players who qualified for the PPA division Southwest Putting Tour finals. All matches are scheduled for 36 holes. There were three first round matches with the most interesting being the Jon Drexler-Greg Simpson match-up. Jon is just getting over some health problems and did not play at all on Saturday, in fact, he did not even bring his putter as he was just going to visit and watch. Jon did borrow a putter and actually won his first round match against Greg. He then forfeited his second round match against Greg. In the second round Greg Simpson won via forfeit against Drexler, Pat Simpson eliminated Matt Bellner. Everyone left was playing in the round of 16 and eight four spotters were eliminated, including Hall of Famer and two time tour champ Mike Baldoza and three time tour champ Brice Bergesen. The only close match in the round of 16 was Joe Lea's 1 up win over Don Parker. In the round of 8 Chance Marett and Danny Tatum had fairly easy wins over Jody Kimble and Jeffey Smith respectively. The other two matches went down to the last putt. Even, going into hole four, their last hole, Wade Sahmel aces and Lee Messinger gets a 90 degree lip out. Not only did that knock out the 2014 SWPT champ, but by not advancing it cost Lee the 2015 Player of the Year award, which went to Jeffrey Smith. In the other match Joe Lea never trailed for 34 holes, but Geoffrey Mosk won the 35th hole and the match, 1 up. In the semi-finals Chance Marett eliminated Danny Tatum by another 1 up margin. The other semi final match, between Wade Sahmel and Geoffrey Mosk, was a classic and one of the best matches in the tour history. Geoffrey shot 22 his first 18 holes, producing a 5-up margin over Wade. Wade came chipping back and when he made the difficult 9th and 10th holes back to back it looked like all the momentum had shifted back to his side. Then Geoffrey topped Wade on the tenth hole, slowing down the momentum. Wade kept getting closer and was only one down going to the 35th hole, number three, the famous "gator" hole. The hole plays downhill but incredibly enough both players lagged the hole. Wade then made the much harder fourth hole and it was looking like sudden death but Geoffrey, playing a two bank backdoor shot, got a good kick off the back rain and lipped in the putt for the win. In the final match Geoffrey got off to a early lead and Chance never could get any momentum to catch up and Geoffrey won his first SWPT championship by a 3 and 2 margin.
2015 SWPT APA winner Bill Shelar in the middle, runner-up Mason Spradlin on the left, tournaemnt director Danny Tatum on the right
APA
There were 12 players with four spots so there was only one first round match and that was between Scott Myers and Steven Yancey, which Scott Myers won. They played again in the second round, the round of 32 and Steven Yancey won this time, eliminating Scott. The other match in the round of 32 was Jason Sheffield eliminating Chris Walker. All players were playing in the round of 16. There were several "upsets" as Mike Huckaby, Chris Conradi and Alan Sahmel all went down. All were multiple winners on the SWPT this season. Defending champion Charles Cox stayed alive with a 3 and 1 victory over Adam Sahmel and the leading player for Player of the Year, Bill Shelar, escaped with a 1 up win over Charles Tarbell. In the round of 8, or quarterfinals to some, Charles Cox reign was over as Mason Spradlin easily won 5 and 4. Bill Shelar had another tough battle as he barely edged Jason Sheffield 1 up. Another extremely close match saw Ken Stanfill beat Jack Ramsey,also 1 up, and co favorite along with Bill, Greg Everly beat Bryan Gentry 2 and 1. The semi finals saw Bill Shelar finally have a breather type match by overwhelming Ken Stanfill 8 and 7. Mason Spradlin played an almost flawless match in defeating Greg Everly 3 and 1. The finals match between Bill and Mason was very exciting, lots of good putts and the score was close all the way. They started on hole 10, and through 34 holes were dead even. Bill managed to ace the tricky eighth hole for a big one up advantage going into the rarely aced ninth hole. After Bill made his two Mason gave it a valiant effort but failed to ace the ninth hole and Bill Shelar won his first SWPT APA championship. It was a coming out party for Mason, who had only played in two previous SWPT events going into this weekend.
SWPT FINALS
2015 SWPT PPA winner Geoffrey Mosk in the middle, runner up Chance Marett on the left, tournament director Danny Tatum on the right PPA
There were 17 players who qualified for the PPA division Southwest Putting Tour finals. All matches are scheduled for 36 holes. There were three first round matches with the most interesting being the Jon Drexler-Greg Simpson match-up. Jon is just getting over some health problems and did not play at all on Saturday, in fact, he did not even bring his putter as he was just going to visit and watch. Jon did borrow a putter and actually won his first round match against Greg. He then forfeited his second round match against Greg. In the second round Greg Simpson won via forfeit against Drexler, Pat Simpson eliminated Matt Bellner. Everyone left was playing in the round of 16 and eight four spotters were eliminated, including Hall of Famer and two time tour champ Mike Baldoza and three time tour champ Brice Bergesen. The only close match in the round of 16 was Joe Lea's 1 up win over Don Parker. In the round of 8 Chance Marett and Danny Tatum had fairly easy wins over Jody Kimble and Jeffey Smith respectively. The other two matches went down to the last putt. Even, going into hole four, their last hole, Wade Sahmel aces and Lee Messinger gets a 90 degree lip out. Not only did that knock out the 2014 SWPT champ, but by not advancing it cost Lee the 2015 Player of the Year award, which went to Jeffrey Smith. In the other match Joe Lea never trailed for 34 holes, but Geoffrey Mosk won the 35th hole and the match, 1 up. In the semi-finals Chance Marett eliminated Danny Tatum by another 1 up margin. The other semi final match, between Wade Sahmel and Geoffrey Mosk, was a classic and one of the best matches in the tour history. Geoffrey shot 22 his first 18 holes, producing a 5-up margin over Wade. Wade came chipping back and when he made the difficult 9th and 10th holes back to back it looked like all the momentum had shifted back to his side. Then Geoffrey topped Wade on the tenth hole, slowing down the momentum. Wade kept getting closer and was only one down going to the 35th hole, number three, the famous "gator" hole. The hole plays downhill but incredibly enough both players lagged the hole. Wade then made the much harder fourth hole and it was looking like sudden death but Geoffrey, playing a two bank backdoor shot, got a good kick off the back rain and lipped in the putt for the win. In the final match Geoffrey got off to a early lead and Chance never could get any momentum to catch up and Geoffrey won his first SWPT championship by a 3 and 2 margin.
2015 SWPT APA winner Bill Shelar in the middle, runner-up Mason Spradlin on the left, tournaemnt director Danny Tatum on the right
APA
There were 12 players with four spots so there was only one first round match and that was between Scott Myers and Steven Yancey, which Scott Myers won. They played again in the second round, the round of 32 and Steven Yancey won this time, eliminating Scott. The other match in the round of 32 was Jason Sheffield eliminating Chris Walker. All players were playing in the round of 16. There were several "upsets" as Mike Huckaby, Chris Conradi and Alan Sahmel all went down. All were multiple winners on the SWPT this season. Defending champion Charles Cox stayed alive with a 3 and 1 victory over Adam Sahmel and the leading player for Player of the Year, Bill Shelar, escaped with a 1 up win over Charles Tarbell. In the round of 8, or quarterfinals to some, Charles Cox reign was over as Mason Spradlin easily won 5 and 4. Bill Shelar had another tough battle as he barely edged Jason Sheffield 1 up. Another extremely close match saw Ken Stanfill beat Jack Ramsey,also 1 up, and co favorite along with Bill, Greg Everly beat Bryan Gentry 2 and 1. The semi finals saw Bill Shelar finally have a breather type match by overwhelming Ken Stanfill 8 and 7. Mason Spradlin played an almost flawless match in defeating Greg Everly 3 and 1. The finals match between Bill and Mason was very exciting, lots of good putts and the score was close all the way. They started on hole 10, and through 34 holes were dead even. Bill managed to ace the tricky eighth hole for a big one up advantage going into the rarely aced ninth hole. After Bill made his two Mason gave it a valiant effort but failed to ace the ninth hole and Bill Shelar won his first SWPT APA championship. It was a coming out party for Mason, who had only played in two previous SWPT events going into this weekend.
| PPA Playoff 2015 | SWPT- Tyler Texas | |
| 13 September 2015 | ||
| Round of 64: | Jon Drexler d Greg Simpson | 6 and 5 |
| Chance Marett d Jody Kimble | 1 up | |
| Pat Simpson d Matt Bellner | 37 holes | |
| Round of 32: | Greg Simpson d Jon Drexler | Default |
| Jody Kimble d Pat Simpson | 3 and 1 | |
| Pat Simpson d Matt Bellner | 4 and 3 | |
| Round of 16: | Chance Marett d Greg Simpson | 3 and 2 |
| Jody Kimble d Pat Simpson | 5 and 4 | |
| Jeffrey Smith d Rudy Cuellar | 7 and 6 | |
| Danny Tatum d Brice Bergesen | 3 and 2 | |
| Lee Messinger d Mike Baldoza | 9 and 8 | |
| Wade Sahmel d Byron Kirby | 8 and 7 | |
| Joe Lea d Don Parker | 1 up | |
| Geoffrey Mosk d Tom Adair | 2 and 1 | |
| Round of 8: | Chance Marett d Jody Kimble | 5 and 4 |
| Danny Tatum d Jeffrey Smith | 3 and 2 | |
| Wade Sahmel d Lee Messinger | 1 up | |
| Geoffrey Mosk d Joe Lea | 1 up | |
| Semi-Finals: | Chance Marett d Danny Tatum | 1 up |
| Geoffrey Mosk d Wade Sahmel | 1 up | |
| Finals: | Geoffrey Mosk d Chance Marett | 3 and 2 |
| APA playoffs 2015 | SWPT- Tyler Texas | |
| 13 September 2015 | ||
| Round of 64: | Scott Myers d Steven Yancey | 8 and 7 |
| Round of 32: | Jason Sheffield d Chris Walker | 1 up |
| Steven Yancey d Scott Myers | 37 holes | |
| Round of 16: | Bill Shelar d Charles Tarbell | 1 up |
| Jason Sheffield d Steven Yancey | 2 and 1 | |
| Jack Ramsey d Mike Huckaby | 3 and 2 | |
| Ken Stanfill d Chris Conradi | 2 and 1 | |
| Greg Everly d Mickey DeLucca | 3 and 1 | |
| Bryan Gentry d Alan Sahmel | 3 and 2 | |
| Charles Cox d Adam Sahmel | 3 and 1 | |
| Mason Spradlin d Gary Plain | 3 and 1 | |
| Round of 8: | Bill Shelar d Jason Sheffield | 1 up |
| Ken Stanfill d Jack Ramsey | 1 up | |
| Greg Everly d Bryan Gentry | 2 and 1 | |
| Mason Spradlin d Charles Cox | 5 and 4 | |
| Semi-Finals: | Bill Shelar d Ken Stanfill | 8 and 7 |
| Mason Spradlin d Greg Everly | 3 and 1 | |
| Finals: | Bill Shelar d Mason Spradlin | 1 up |
12 September, 2015 - Saturday - Tyler, Texas
FINALS WEEKEND
The first cool front of the fall season came through on Friday, resulting in complete perfect conditions at the Kat and Tom Adair course in beautiful Tyler Texas. The number of players was down a little for 2015, but not the excitement or fun for the 38 players who played at one time or another over the weekend. Defending PPA champion Lee Messinger and 2014 APA Player of the Year Mike Huckaby went for a lunch break on Saturday and Lee's car was rear ended just up the street from the Putt-Putt course. The car was totaled but thank goodness Lee and Mike were just a little sore and somehow made it back to the course for the afternoon Pro-Am.
Saturday
PPA
In the Saturday morning final 54-hole tournament of the 2015 season there was a three way tie for first place after the first round between Jody Kimble, Don Parker and Brice Bergesen. All were at 27 and held a slim one stroke lead over 2014 National Champion Jeffrey Smith and Wade Sahmel, who were at 28. Jody continued to play well the second round, adding a 28 for a 55 hole total and a one shot lead over Don, Brice and Wade. Playing in the same threesome, Brice and Wade went head to head the last round, and even with Wade chipping the ball over the rail on hole thirteen, a shot he made three times in four tries on Saturday, Brice held a two shot lead going into the hard 16th and 18th holes. Brice barely misses the back door ace on number 16 and Wade aces it. Both make number 17 and Wade makes number 18 and Brice's ball does a 90 degree lip out and they tie at 82, both shooting the day's low round of 26. In the 18-hole playoff they both remained hot. Brie shot another 26, but Wade was not to be denied and his 25 clipped Brice and gave him his fourth win of the season. Don Parker and Jeffrey tied for third at 86. The final three spots for the Sunday playoffs went to Jody Kimble, Chance Marett and Matt Bellner.
Greg Everly, left, won his 5th tournament of 2015 and Wade Sahmel won his 4th tournament of 2015 in the finale at Tyler
APA
The first round leader was Greg Everly with a 27, good for a one shot lead over Jason Sheffield at 28 and two shots ahead of the local Tyler players Gary Plain and Mason Spradlin, at 29. Greg cooled off to a second round 30 but still held onto a one shot lead. His 57 put him one up on both Gary and Mason, while Jason dropped to fourth at 59. Steady Greg shot another 30 in his last round but none of his chasers could break 30 and Greg prevailed with a 87. Gary finished just one shot back at 88 and Charles Cox rallied to catch Mason for third at 90. There were several spots to be given out in the last tournament and they went to Gary Plain, Mason Spradlin, Jason Sheffield, Scott Myers, Chris Walker and Steven Yancey
The Codgers, minus Wade Sahmel. APA player Mike Huckaby, Jeffrey Smith and Lee Messinger
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
In conjunction with the final 54-hole tournament, the team championship was also held. Teams were four players each and each team was required to have at least one APA or amateur player on the team. The Codgers, winners of the team event almost every year since the late 90's, was loaded again as usual. Besides defending champ Lee Messinger and National Champion Jeffrey Smith, they added Wade Sahmel. And the APA player is the 2014 Player of the Year Mike Huckaby. There were seven other teams ready to challenge the Codgers and Mostly Hacks, with only one pro, Jody Kimble, and three APA players, Bryan Gentry, Greg Everly and Bill Shelar, led after the first round 84 to the Coders 85. The Codgers took the lead after two rounds but it was still close, the Codgers were at 174 and moving into a tie with Mostly Hacks was the team Gulf Freeway Lives, with four players who started their Putt-Putt at the Gulf Freeway course in Houston. The members are Brice Bergesen (1964), Joe Lea (1974), Geoffrey Mosk (1986) and APA player Alan Sahmel (1987). The final round found the Codgers shooting a 83 good for a 257 total and a four shot win over Gulf Freeway Lives, with Team A.L.A.B.A.M.A. edging Mostly Hacks for third place. The Team A.L.A.B.A.M.A. is actually four players from Lake Charles, Danny Tatum, Byron Kirby, Greg Simpson and APA player Charles Cox.
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Pro-Am winners Joe Lea (left) and Bill Shelar. They each also won the 2015 Low Stroke Average Awards
PRO-AM
The most fun event of the season is the afternoon Pro-Am after the grueling morning tournament and before the Sunday final matches. Everyone has a good time and friends usually pair up with each other. There were 19 teams playing this year, including the Lee Messinger/Mike Huckaby team that was in a bad car accident less than an hour earlier. Scoring usually goes crazy low in the Pro-Am, but only a 25 was leading after the first round and last place was 29, so every team still had a chance. Shooting the 25's were Jody Kimble/Bryan Gentry, Don Parker/Chris Conradi and Joe Lea/Bill Shelar. After trwo rounds the Lea/Shelar team was the only one under 50 and they were at 49. There were three teams though at 50, Danny Tatum/Charles Cox, Messinger/Huckaby and Wade Sahmel/Adam Sahmel. Several other teams were within striking distance of a win with a low final round. Then the Lea/Shelar team shot a back nine 10 that set them up for a 24 and a 73, good enough for a two shot win over the Parker/Conradi twosome. Tied for third place at 76 were the Sahmel brothers and the Messinger/Huckaby team. The day's low round was shot in the last round by one of the favored teams, Jeffrey Smith/Greg Everly, a 23. That was good enough to earn them a tie for last place money at 79.
The generosity of the Rudy Cuellar family insured a fun time for all on Saturday night at the spot pick and awards presentation
SPOT PICK
The players finished just before 5pm and had just enough time to clean up for the 6pm catered meal that was provided by Rudy Cuellar and his family. For an hour the players stuffed themselves and relaxed and visited with each other. At 7pm tour director Brice Bergesen passed out the winnings from the day's tournaments. Then Danny Tatum presented Brice with a beautiful refurbished PPA Pro Classic putter for his dedication in running the events throughout the year. Tournament Director Danny Tatum and National Champion Jeffery Smith then handed out the awards to the winners of the 21 tournaments held in 2015 on the SWPT. It was determined after the mornings play that the PPA Low Stroke Average was won by Joe Lea. Both Jeffrey Smith and Lee Messinger tied for second, less than one tenth of a stroke back. In the APA Bill Shelar easily won the Low Stroke Average award, but only because both Alan Sahmel and Greg Everly did not play in over 50% of the tournaments. All three were very close. Finally we got around to doing the spot picks to see who plays who on Sunday. After that was done it was time to get some rest, especially those who had 8am matches the next morning.
12 September 2015, Saturday, Tyler Texas
FINALS WEEKEND
The first cool front of the fall season came through on Friday, resulting in complete perfect conditions at the Kat and Tom Adair course in beautiful Tyler Texas. The number of players was down a little for 2015, but not the excitement or fun for the 38 players who played at one time or another over the weekend. Defending PPA champion Lee Messinger and 2014 APA Player of the Year Mike Huckaby went for a lunch break on Saturday and Lee's car was rear ended just up the street from the Putt-Putt course. The car was totaled but thank goodness Lee and Mike were just a little sore and somehow made it back to the course for the afternoon Pro-Am.
Saturday
PPA
In the Saturday morning final 54-hole tournament of the 2015 season there was a three way tie for first place after the first round between Jody Kimble, Don Parker and Brice Bergesen. All were at 27 and held a slim one stroke lead over 2014 National Champion Jeffrey Smith and Wade Sahmel, who were at 28. Jody continued to play well the second round, adding a 28 for a 55 hole total and a one shot lead over Don, Brice and Wade. Playing in the same threesome, Brice and Wade went head to head the last round, and even with Wade chipping the ball over the rail on hole thirteen, a shot he made three times in four tries on Saturday, Brice held a two shot lead going into the hard 16th and 18th holes. Brice barely misses the back door ace on number 16 and Wade aces it. Both make number 17 and Wade makes number 18 and Brice's ball does a 90 degree lip out and they tie at 82, both shooting the day's low round of 26. In the 18-hole playoff they both remained hot. Brie shot another 26, but Wade was not to be denied and his 25 clipped Brice and gave him his fourth win of the season. Don Parker and Jeffrey tied for third at 86. The final three spots for the Sunday playoffs went to Jody Kimble, Chance Marett and Matt Bellner.
Greg Everly, left, won his 5th tournament of 2015 and Wade Sahmel won his 4th tournament of 2015 in the finale at Tyler
APA
The first round leader was Greg Everly with a 27, good for a one shot lead over Jason Sheffield at 28 and two shots ahead of the local Tyler players Gary Plain and Mason Spradlin, at 29. Greg cooled off to a second round 30 but still held onto a one shot lead. His 57 put him one up on both Gary and Mason, while Jason dropped to fourth at 59. Steady Greg shot another 30 in his last round but none of his chasers could break 30 and Greg prevailed with a 87. Gary finished just one shot back at 88 and Charles Cox rallied to catch Mason for third at 90. There were several spots to be given out in the last tournament and they went to Gary Plain, Mason Spradlin, Jason Sheffield, Scott Myers, Chris Walker and Steven Yancey
The Codgers, minus Wade Sahmel. APA player Mike Huckaby, Jeffrey Smith and Lee Messinger
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
In conjunction with the final 54-hole tournament, the team championship was also held. Teams were four players each and each team was required to have at least one APA or amateur player on the team. The Codgers, winners of the team event almost every year since the late 90's, was loaded again as usual. Besides defending champ Lee Messinger and National Champion Jeffrey Smith, they added Wade Sahmel. And the APA player is the 2014 Player of the Year Mike Huckaby. There were seven other teams ready to challenge the Codgers and Mostly Hacks, with only one pro, Jody Kimble, and three APA players, Bryan Gentry, Greg Everly and Bill Shelar, led after the first round 84 to the Coders 85. The Codgers took the lead after two rounds but it was still close, the Codgers were at 174 and moving into a tie with Mostly Hacks was the team Gulf Freeway Lives, with four players who started their Putt-Putt at the Gulf Freeway course in Houston. The members are Brice Bergesen (1964), Joe Lea (1974), Geoffrey Mosk (1986) and APA player Alan Sahmel (1987). The final round found the Codgers shooting a 83 good for a 257 total and a four shot win over Gulf Freeway Lives, with Team A.L.A.B.A.M.A. edging Mostly Hacks for third place. The Team A.L.A.B.A.M.A. is actually four players from Lake Charles, Danny Tatum, Byron Kirby, Greg Simpson and APA player Charles Cox.
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Pro-Am winners Joe Lea (left) and Bill Shelar. They each also won the 2015 Low Stroke Average Awards
PRO-AM
The most fun event of the season is the afternoon Pro-Am after the grueling morning tournament and before the Sunday final matches. Everyone has a good time and friends usually pair up with each other. There were 19 teams playing this year, including the Lee Messinger/Mike Huckaby team that was in a bad car accident less than an hour earlier. Scoring usually goes crazy low in the Pro-Am, but only a 25 was leading after the first round and last place was 29, so every team still had a chance. Shooting the 25's were Jody Kimble/Bryan Gentry, Don Parker/Chris Conradi and Joe Lea/Bill Shelar. After trwo rounds the Lea/Shelar team was the only one under 50 and they were at 49. There were three teams though at 50, Danny Tatum/Charles Cox, Messinger/Huckaby and Wade Sahmel/Adam Sahmel. Several other teams were within striking distance of a win with a low final round. Then the Lea/Shelar team shot a back nine 10 that set them up for a 24 and a 73, good enough for a two shot win over the Parker/Conradi twosome. Tied for third place at 76 were the Sahmel brothers and the Messinger/Huckaby team. The day's low round was shot in the last round by one of the favored teams, Jeffrey Smith/Greg Everly, a 23. That was good enough to earn them a tie for last place money at 79.
The generosity of the Rudy Cuellar family insured a fun time for all on Saturday night at the spot pick and awards presentation SPOT PICK
The players finished just before 5pm and had just enough time to clean up for the 6pm catered meal that was provided by Rudy Cuellar and his family. For an hour the players stuffed themselves and relaxed and visited with each other. At 7pm tour director Brice Bergesen passed out the winnings from the day's tournaments. Then Danny Tatum presented Brice with a beautiful refurbished PPA Pro Classic putter for his dedication in running the events throughout the year. Tournament Director Danny Tatum and National Champion Jeffery Smith then handed out the awards to the winners of the 21 tournaments held in 2015 on the SWPT. It was determined after the mornings play that the PPA Low Stroke Average was won by Joe Lea. Both Jeffrey Smith and Lee Messinger tied for second, less than one tenth of a stroke back. In the APA Bill Shelar easily won the Low Stroke Average award, but only because both Alan Sahmel and Greg Everly did not play in over 50% of the tournaments. All three were very close. Finally we got around to doing the spot picks to see who plays who on Sunday. After that was done it was time to get some rest, especially those who had 8am matches the next morning.
12 September 2015, Saturday, Tyler Texas
| SWPT—2015 | Tyler | ||||||
| PPA | 12 Sept | ||||||
| 1 | Wade Samuel | 28 | 28 | 26 | 82 | $170.00 | |
| 2 | Brice Bergesen | 27 | 29 | 26 | 82 | $110.00 | |
| 3 | Jeffrey Smith | 28 | 31 | 27 | 86 | $67.50 | |
| 3 | Don Parker | 27 | 29 | 30 | 86 | $67.50 | |
| 5 | Danny Tatum | 30 | 31 | 27 | 88 | $35.00 | |
| 5 | Byron Kirby | 30 | 29 | 29 | 88 | $35.00 | |
| 7 | Joe Lea | 32 | 31 | 26 | 89 | $10.00 | |
| 7 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 30 | 30 | 89 | $10.00 | |
| 7 | Jody Kimble | 27 | 28 | 34 | 89 | $10.00 | 1 |
| 10 | Tom Adair | 30 | 31 | 29 | 90 | ||
| 11 | Chance Marett | 29 | 32 | 30 | 91 | 1 | |
| 12 | Geoffrey Mosk | 30 | 28 | 34 | 92 | ||
| 13 | Matt Bellner | 30 | 29 | 35 | 94 | 1 | |
| 14 | Rudy Cuellar | 33 | 34 | 31 | 98 | ||
| 15 | Greg Simpson | 35 | 31 | 34 | 100 | ||
| 16 | Mike Baldoza | 33 | 33 | 36 | 102 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Tyler | ||||||
| APA | 12 Sept | ||||||
| 1 | Greg Everly | 27 | 30 | 30 | 87 | $13.00 | |
| 2 | Gary Plain | 29 | 29 | 30 | 88 | $13.00 | 2 |
| 3 | Charles Cox | 32 | 29 | 29 | 90 | $13.00 | |
| 3 | Mason Spradlin | 29 | 29 | 32 | 90 | $13.00 | 2 |
| 5 | Bill Shelar | 30 | 34 | 28 | 92 | $6.50 | |
| 5 | Jason Sheffield | 28 | 31 | 33 | 92 | $6.50 | 1 |
| 7 | Mickey DeLucca | 35 | 28 | 30 | 93 | ||
| 8 | Ken Stanfill | 34 | 30 | 30 | 94 | ||
| 9 | Alan Sahmel | 32 | 30 | 33 | 95 | ||
| 10 | Chris Conradi | 31 | 34 | 32 | 97 | ||
| 10 | Charles Tarbell | 33 | 30 | 34 | 97 | ||
| 12 | Jack Ramsey | 35 | 32 | 32 | 99 | ||
| 12 | Mike Huckaby | 32 | 31 | 36 | 99 | ||
| 14 | Bryan Gentry | 30 | 36 | 34 | 100 | ||
| 15 | Scott Myers | 30 | 33 | 39 | 102 | 1 | |
| 16 | Chris Walker | 34 | 33 | 36 | 103 | 1 | |
| 17 | Steven Yancey | 40 | 30 | 37 | 107 | 1 |
30 August, 2015 - Sunday - Webster, Texas
Byron Kirby, PPA winner on Sunday Jack Ramsey, APA winner with Webster host Jim Saxe (right)
PPA
The tables flipped on Sunday. Players who did real good on Saturday faltered and players who almost finished last on Saturday won Sunday's tournaments!! You just never know what is going to happen until you play the game out. None of the top three finishers on Saturday broke 30 until the third round. In fact only three players broke 30 the first round, the most notable being Joe Lea who shot the weekend's low round with a 23 which was good for a four shot lead over Don Parker at 27 and five shots over Byron Kirby at 28. Joe followed his 23 with a 27 and a two round leading 50, though his lead was cut to two shots by Byron who shot 24 his second round and was at 52. Don dropped to third place well off the pace at 56. Byron, who managed to beat only one player in Saturday's tournament and never made it through the six blocks on hole 13 Saturday, followed his second round 24 with a third round 25 and a 77 total after shooting 95 the day before. Joe could not keep up with Byron's pace and his final round 30 gave him 80 for second place. Don finished six strokes back of Byron at 83 and Jeffrey Smith rallied from a opening round 5 on hole 8 to finish fourth at 85. Byron won his fourth finals spot, as did Tom Adair and Greg Simpson won his third.
APA
The same flip flop happened in the APA on Sunday. In the first round Saturday winner Alan Sahmel shot a 34, runner up Charles Cox shot a 33 and third place finisher Mickey DeLucca shot a 34. Saturday's fourth place finisher Bill Shelar was the first round co leader with Jack Ramsey, who shot 98 on Saturday in beating only two players. While Bill slipped to a second round 32, Jack added a 28 for a 57 and a two round lead of two shots over Chris Conradi at 59. Chris continued the flip flop on Sunday as he shot 100 on Saturday. Alan shot the day's low round with a 26 and was in third place at 60. In the final round Bill charged back with a 27 but it was not good enough as Jack smelled the finish line and finished strong with a back nine 13 and another 28, good for 85, 13 shots better than Saturday. Bill ended up in second with a 88 and Chris bounced back nicely from Saturday and finished third at 91. Charles finished fourth at 93 and Adam Sahmel edged his dad for fifth place with a 93. Finals spots went to Charles Tarbell, his fourth, and Jason Sheffield.
Byron Kirby, PPA winner on Sunday Jack Ramsey, APA winner with Webster host Jim Saxe (right)
PPA
The tables flipped on Sunday. Players who did real good on Saturday faltered and players who almost finished last on Saturday won Sunday's tournaments!! You just never know what is going to happen until you play the game out. None of the top three finishers on Saturday broke 30 until the third round. In fact only three players broke 30 the first round, the most notable being Joe Lea who shot the weekend's low round with a 23 which was good for a four shot lead over Don Parker at 27 and five shots over Byron Kirby at 28. Joe followed his 23 with a 27 and a two round leading 50, though his lead was cut to two shots by Byron who shot 24 his second round and was at 52. Don dropped to third place well off the pace at 56. Byron, who managed to beat only one player in Saturday's tournament and never made it through the six blocks on hole 13 Saturday, followed his second round 24 with a third round 25 and a 77 total after shooting 95 the day before. Joe could not keep up with Byron's pace and his final round 30 gave him 80 for second place. Don finished six strokes back of Byron at 83 and Jeffrey Smith rallied from a opening round 5 on hole 8 to finish fourth at 85. Byron won his fourth finals spot, as did Tom Adair and Greg Simpson won his third.
APA
The same flip flop happened in the APA on Sunday. In the first round Saturday winner Alan Sahmel shot a 34, runner up Charles Cox shot a 33 and third place finisher Mickey DeLucca shot a 34. Saturday's fourth place finisher Bill Shelar was the first round co leader with Jack Ramsey, who shot 98 on Saturday in beating only two players. While Bill slipped to a second round 32, Jack added a 28 for a 57 and a two round lead of two shots over Chris Conradi at 59. Chris continued the flip flop on Sunday as he shot 100 on Saturday. Alan shot the day's low round with a 26 and was in third place at 60. In the final round Bill charged back with a 27 but it was not good enough as Jack smelled the finish line and finished strong with a back nine 13 and another 28, good for 85, 13 shots better than Saturday. Bill ended up in second with a 88 and Chris bounced back nicely from Saturday and finished third at 91. Charles finished fourth at 93 and Adam Sahmel edged his dad for fifth place with a 93. Finals spots went to Charles Tarbell, his fourth, and Jason Sheffield.
| SWPT—2015 | Web | ||||||
| PPA | 30 Aug | ||||||
| 1 | Byron Kirby | 28 | 24 | 25 | 77 | $150.00 | 1 |
| 2 | Joe Lea | 23 | 27 | 30 | 80 | $100.00 | |
| 3 | Don Parker | 27 | 29 | 27 | 83 | $60.00 | |
| 4 | Jeffrey Smith | 32 | 27 | 26 | 85 | $40.00 | |
| 5 | Rudy Cuellar | 30 | 27 | 30 | 87 | $20.00 | |
| 6 | Brice Bergesen | 31 | 32 | 27 | 90 | $2.50 | |
| 6 | Geoffrey Mosk | 30 | 31 | 29 | 90 | $2.50 | |
| 6 | Lee Messinger | 33 | 30 | 27 | 90 | $2.50 | |
| 6 | Wade Samuel | 30 | 31 | 29 | 90 | $2.50 | |
| 10 | Danny Tatum | 30 | 33 | 28 | 91 | ||
| 11 | Tom Adair | 30 | 31 | 31 | 92 | 1 | |
| 12 | Greg Simpson | 35 | 31 | 30 | 96 | 1 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Web | ||||||
| APA | 30 Aug | ||||||
| 1 | Jack Ramsey | 29 | 28 | 28 | 85 | $13.00 | |
| 2 | Bill Shelar | 29 | 32 | 27 | 88 | $13.00 | |
| 3 | Chris Conradi | 31 | 28 | 32 | 91 | $13.00 | |
| 4 | Charles Cox | 33 | 28 | 31 | 92 | $13.00 | |
| 5 | Adam Sahmel | 34 | 29 | 30 | 93 | $13.00 | |
| 6 | Alan Sahmel | 34 | 26 | 35 | 95 | ||
| 7 | Mickey DeLucca | 34 | 32 | 30 | 96 | ||
| 7 | Charles Tarbell | 34 | 31 | 31 | 96 | 1 | |
| 9 | Ken Stanfill | 32 | 32 | 34 | 98 | ||
| 10 | Jason Sheffield | 35 | 32 | 32 | 99 | 1 |
29 August, 2015 - Saturday - Webster, Texas
Wade Sahmel, PPA, and Alan Sahmel, APA both repeated as winners at Webster on Saturday, August 29th
PPA
The final full weekend found 22 players ready to tackle the beautiful Jim and Carol Saxe course in Webster. The weather was fine and Jim had the carpets pressure washed earlier in the week so they looked fantastic. Lee Messinger shot a 25 in the opening round to show the course was ready for scoring. He was closely followed by Don Parker and defending champ Wade Sahmel, both at 26. Geoffrey Mosk was at 27, only two shots back. Even though Lee shot a fine 26 his second round for a 51 total, he lost the lead to Wade who came in with a 24 and a 50 total. Playing in Wade's group, Danny Tatum also shot a 24 in the second round, with a 10 on the back nine. Danny was in third place at 53. In the third round Wade shot a 12 on the front nine to stretch his lead to three over Lee and Wade cruised home with a 26, good for a 76. Lee shot 79, good enough to win most years at Webster. Danny held on for third place with a 81 total and Joe Lea and Geoffrey tied for fourth at 82. The tour final spots went to Tom Adair, Greg Simpson and Byron Kirby.
APA
Defending champ Alan Sahmel came out of the blocks strong in the first round with a 28 and a one shot lead over his son Adam Sahmel, at 29. Charles Cox was third at 30. Another 30 by Charles got him a little closer to Alan after two rounds. Alan had a 31 and his 59 was just one better than Charles's 60. Moving into a tie for third and still in the hunt were Ken Stanfill and Mickey DeLucca at 63. Perhaps being inspired by his son Wade defending his title successfully in the PPA division, Alan came through with a final round 29 and a 88 total, good enough for a two shot win over Charles, who shot his third 30 for a 90 and second place. Mickey held on for third at 94 and Bill Shelar came from next to last place to fourth with a tournament low final round 27 and a 95 total. The finals spot went to Charles Tarbell, his third.
Wade Sahmel, PPA, and Alan Sahmel, APA both repeated as winners at Webster on Saturday, August 29th
PPA
The final full weekend found 22 players ready to tackle the beautiful Jim and Carol Saxe course in Webster. The weather was fine and Jim had the carpets pressure washed earlier in the week so they looked fantastic. Lee Messinger shot a 25 in the opening round to show the course was ready for scoring. He was closely followed by Don Parker and defending champ Wade Sahmel, both at 26. Geoffrey Mosk was at 27, only two shots back. Even though Lee shot a fine 26 his second round for a 51 total, he lost the lead to Wade who came in with a 24 and a 50 total. Playing in Wade's group, Danny Tatum also shot a 24 in the second round, with a 10 on the back nine. Danny was in third place at 53. In the third round Wade shot a 12 on the front nine to stretch his lead to three over Lee and Wade cruised home with a 26, good for a 76. Lee shot 79, good enough to win most years at Webster. Danny held on for third place with a 81 total and Joe Lea and Geoffrey tied for fourth at 82. The tour final spots went to Tom Adair, Greg Simpson and Byron Kirby.
APA
Defending champ Alan Sahmel came out of the blocks strong in the first round with a 28 and a one shot lead over his son Adam Sahmel, at 29. Charles Cox was third at 30. Another 30 by Charles got him a little closer to Alan after two rounds. Alan had a 31 and his 59 was just one better than Charles's 60. Moving into a tie for third and still in the hunt were Ken Stanfill and Mickey DeLucca at 63. Perhaps being inspired by his son Wade defending his title successfully in the PPA division, Alan came through with a final round 29 and a 88 total, good enough for a two shot win over Charles, who shot his third 30 for a 90 and second place. Mickey held on for third at 94 and Bill Shelar came from next to last place to fourth with a tournament low final round 27 and a 95 total. The finals spot went to Charles Tarbell, his third.
| SWPT—2015 | Web | ||||||
| PPA | 29 Aug | ||||||
| 1 | Wade Samuel | 26 | 24 | 26 | 76 | $150.00 | |
| 2 | Lee Messinger | 25 | 26 | 28 | 79 | $100.00 | |
| 3 | Danny Tatum | 29 | 24 | 28 | 81 | $60.00 | |
| 4 | Joe Lea | 28 | 27 | 27 | 82 | $30.00 | |
| 4 | Geoffrey Mosk | 27 | 29 | 26 | 82 | $30.00 | |
| 6 | Jeffrey Smith | 29 | 27 | 27 | 83 | $10.00 | |
| 7 | Don Parker | 26 | 31 | 28 | 85 | ||
| 8 | Brice Bergesen | 29 | 28 | 29 | 86 | ||
| 9 | Tom Adair | 32 | 32 | 29 | 93 | 1 | |
| 10 | Greg Simpson | 32 | 33 | 29 | 94 | 1 | |
| 11 | Byron Kirby | 33 | 35 | 27 | 95 | ||
| 12 | Rudy Cuellar | 30 | 35 | 33 | 98 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Web | ||||||
| APA | 29 Aug | ||||||
| 1 | Alan Sahmel | 28 | 31 | 29 | 88 | $13.00 | |
| 2 | Charles Cox | 30 | 30 | 30 | 90 | $13.00 | |
| 3 | Mickey DeLucca | 32 | 31 | 31 | 94 | $13.00 | |
| 4 | Bill Shelar | 33 | 35 | 27 | 95 | $13.00 | |
| 5 | Ken Stanfill | 32 | 31 | 33 | 96 | ||
| 6 | Adam Sahmel | 29 | 35 | 33 | 97 | ||
| 7 | Jack Ramsey | 32 | 33 | 33 | 98 | ||
| 8 | Chris Conradi | 34 | 33 | 33 | 100 | ||
| 9 | Charles Tarbell | 39 | 33 | 34 | 106 | 1 |
15, 16 August 2015, Saturday and Sunday-Louisiana State Championship, Lake Charles LA
The weather was hot but not too insufferable, about what one would expect in Lake Charles in the middle of August. Greg Simpson and his crew did a great job of having two water stations with tents on the course which helped immensely to keep everyone cool. The putting was about as hot as the weather, especially in the PPA battle between Joe Lea and Jeffrey Smith. While not shooting quite the scores of the PPA, the APA had a eight round battle between Adam Sahmel and Charles Cox. After play on Saturday, most all the players went to Darrell's for some sports watching and their world famous sandwiches.
Almost the whole field partying at Darrell's Chromax golf ball fans Bryon Kirby and Brice Bergesen
DAY ONE
PPA
Jeffrey Smith won the 2014 National Championship on the Lake Charles course and he let it be know that winning the Louisiana State Championship was high on his agenda. He started out like he finished at last year's Nationals by shooting a 23 which gave him a two shot lead over defending champ Joe Lea and Hall of Famer Mike Baldoza, both at 25. With a second round 24, co course record holder with a 19, Baldoza took the second round lead at 49, with Jeff at 50. Joe Lea would have been their also instead of at 52, but he made a 5 on the super easy hole number 3. Jeffrey shot the low round of the day in round three, a 22, to be at 72 and open a 7-shot lead over Joe at 79. Wade Sahmel and Brice Bergesen were another stroke back at 80. It is hard to go super low every round and when Jeffrey finished the day with a 27 he was at 99, four shots ahead of Joe at 103. Brice was staying in touch at 105 and Lee Messinger was at 108 There was a bonus spot for the finals given to the low 72-hole score on Saturday and Mike Baldoza, with a 111, edged Wade for the spot.
APA
Defending champion Charles Cox came out of the gate strong with a first round 27, but Adam Sahmel did him one better, with a 26, which would tie for the low round of the day. No other players broke 30 in the first round. Adam suffered his worst round of the tournament in the second round, a 33, which dropped him to fourth place at 59 as Jack Ramsey also shot a 26 and was at 56. Bill Shelar shot a 27 and was at 58, and Charles shot a 26 and was cruising at 53. Just as it looked like the players were warming up in the third round there were only three scores under 30, Charles with another 27 and a 80 total, which was matched by Adam to put him back in second place at 86. Jack and Bill were another two back at 88. In the fourth round Charles again shoots under thirty, this time only a 29, but his 109 total is five ahead of Jack's 114, after his second 26 of the day. Adam was at 115 and Alan Sahmel was next at 121. Mickey DeLucca had the most interesting day, both days actually. In 72 holes he only had 22 twos, only 9 on the front nine in 36 holes. Mickey made enough aces to almost be leading after the first day, 33 aces. Mickey unfortunately had a case of the yips on his short putts and had 26 bogey strokes. Most all of us have had the yips (if you see a older player putting crosshanded for sure he has had the yips) Luckily it will be a temporary problem for Mickey and he was a great sport while he was missing those two and three foot putts. The second day Mickey actually had more bogey strokes, 28, to go along with 30 aces and 26 twos. Mickey will be making all the little ones the rest of the season is my prediction! His brother-in-law is a PGA pro and will give him a putting lesson, I hope! The special spot for the tour finals went to Charles Tarbell.
Repeat APA champ Charles Cox, PPA champ Jeffrey Smith New APA player Charles Tarbell won 2 spots
DAY TWO
PPA
The leaders, Jeffrey Smith and Joe Lea started out by both shooting a 10 on the front nine, dampening the hopes of third place Brice Bergesen and fourth place Lee Messinger of picking up some strokes. Jeffrey finished with another 22 and was at 121, Joe shot a 24 and was at 127. Brice was at 132, eleven back and never got any closer as the tournament had turned into a two man match. Jeffrey almost put the tournament away in the sixth round by shooting a 23 for a 144 total, nine shots ahead of Joe. You never know when your lead is safe! Joe was determined to try and repeat as champion and he played like a champion in the seventh round, shooting a perfect 9 on the front nine, then adding three more aces before not getting a good kick off the back rail on number 13. Joe's only other miss was a 80 degree lip out on number 15. He shoots a 20. Jeffrey did not get great kicks and maybe feeling the relentless pressure Joe was applying, missed several holes he normally makes, shoots a 30 and his nine shot lead was now a one shot deficit! Jeffrey did not get to be the National Player of the Year in 2014 by wilting up and going away, Joe knew it and they went to battle in the eighth round. Hole three bit Joe again as his putt did not rock in and once Jeffrey got the tee box he aced out on the front nine for an 11 to Joe's 15 and a three shot lead with nine holes to play. Joe picked up a little ground and found himself two down with the hard 17th and the easy 18th holes left. Joe hit a perfect clutch putt on 17 to cut the lead to one stroke. Joe then aced hole 18 for a even 200 score, and everyone watched as Jeffrey followed with an ace and a 199 score for the win as he dedicated the ace to his 104 year old grandmother-in-law, who passed away an hour after the win. Brice had third place clinched until he played the first seven holes his last round four over par. He made 8 of his last 11 but still got cut by Byron Kirby by one stroke 215 to 216. Lee shot a last round 24 to tie Brice for fourth place. The spot winners for the tour finals next month in Tyler were Byron Kirby, Wade Sahmel, Mike Baldoza and in an 18-hole playoff Tom Adair edged Greg Simpson for the fourth spot.
APA
With a five shot lead Charles Cox just needed to play steady and a repeat victory would be his, is what most players figured Charles waas thinking. He was steady the fifth round, shooting a 29 to increase his lead to six strokes over Adam Sahmel, who matched Charles's 29. Second place after 144 holes, Jack Ramsey got off to a real bad start with a 22 on the front nine and never did regroup enough to be a factor on Sunday. The sixth round Charles shot a steady 30 for a 168 total and Adam picked up one shot and was at 173. The big move in the sixth round was Alan Sahmel who shot a 25 and moved into third place at 175. Charles shot another steady 30 in the seventh round, and just like Jeffrey Smith in the PPA division in the seventh round, say his lead turn into a one shot deficit as Adam shot the weekend's low round with a 24, good for a 197 to Charles' 198. Alan continued to charge, shooting a 26 to be at 201 and only four behind Adam. In the eighth round Adam's front nine 14 increased his lead to two shots over Charles, while Alan suffered an 18 on the front to fall out of contention. Bill Shelar was charging all day Sunday but starting 13 strokes out of the lead was just too much to catch up but his 110 total for Sunday did get him third place, cutting Alan by one shot. Adam's lead had been cut to one stroke going into hole 15 and when Adam made a 3 it opened up a chance for Charles to reclaim the lead and he did with an ace. Charles clinched victory with a ace on hole 17, always a hard hole to ace. Charles finished at 226, and Adam at 228, Bill at 232 and Alan at 233 Chris Conradi used three 28's on Sunday to climb into fifth place. The only spot given out went to Charles Tarbell again on Sunday. All the other APA players already had four spots.
The weather was hot but not too insufferable, about what one would expect in Lake Charles in the middle of August. Greg Simpson and his crew did a great job of having two water stations with tents on the course which helped immensely to keep everyone cool. The putting was about as hot as the weather, especially in the PPA battle between Joe Lea and Jeffrey Smith. While not shooting quite the scores of the PPA, the APA had a eight round battle between Adam Sahmel and Charles Cox. After play on Saturday, most all the players went to Darrell's for some sports watching and their world famous sandwiches.
Almost the whole field partying at Darrell's Chromax golf ball fans Bryon Kirby and Brice Bergesen
DAY ONE
PPA
Jeffrey Smith won the 2014 National Championship on the Lake Charles course and he let it be know that winning the Louisiana State Championship was high on his agenda. He started out like he finished at last year's Nationals by shooting a 23 which gave him a two shot lead over defending champ Joe Lea and Hall of Famer Mike Baldoza, both at 25. With a second round 24, co course record holder with a 19, Baldoza took the second round lead at 49, with Jeff at 50. Joe Lea would have been their also instead of at 52, but he made a 5 on the super easy hole number 3. Jeffrey shot the low round of the day in round three, a 22, to be at 72 and open a 7-shot lead over Joe at 79. Wade Sahmel and Brice Bergesen were another stroke back at 80. It is hard to go super low every round and when Jeffrey finished the day with a 27 he was at 99, four shots ahead of Joe at 103. Brice was staying in touch at 105 and Lee Messinger was at 108 There was a bonus spot for the finals given to the low 72-hole score on Saturday and Mike Baldoza, with a 111, edged Wade for the spot.
APA
Defending champion Charles Cox came out of the gate strong with a first round 27, but Adam Sahmel did him one better, with a 26, which would tie for the low round of the day. No other players broke 30 in the first round. Adam suffered his worst round of the tournament in the second round, a 33, which dropped him to fourth place at 59 as Jack Ramsey also shot a 26 and was at 56. Bill Shelar shot a 27 and was at 58, and Charles shot a 26 and was cruising at 53. Just as it looked like the players were warming up in the third round there were only three scores under 30, Charles with another 27 and a 80 total, which was matched by Adam to put him back in second place at 86. Jack and Bill were another two back at 88. In the fourth round Charles again shoots under thirty, this time only a 29, but his 109 total is five ahead of Jack's 114, after his second 26 of the day. Adam was at 115 and Alan Sahmel was next at 121. Mickey DeLucca had the most interesting day, both days actually. In 72 holes he only had 22 twos, only 9 on the front nine in 36 holes. Mickey made enough aces to almost be leading after the first day, 33 aces. Mickey unfortunately had a case of the yips on his short putts and had 26 bogey strokes. Most all of us have had the yips (if you see a older player putting crosshanded for sure he has had the yips) Luckily it will be a temporary problem for Mickey and he was a great sport while he was missing those two and three foot putts. The second day Mickey actually had more bogey strokes, 28, to go along with 30 aces and 26 twos. Mickey will be making all the little ones the rest of the season is my prediction! His brother-in-law is a PGA pro and will give him a putting lesson, I hope! The special spot for the tour finals went to Charles Tarbell.
Repeat APA champ Charles Cox, PPA champ Jeffrey Smith New APA player Charles Tarbell won 2 spots
DAY TWO
PPA
The leaders, Jeffrey Smith and Joe Lea started out by both shooting a 10 on the front nine, dampening the hopes of third place Brice Bergesen and fourth place Lee Messinger of picking up some strokes. Jeffrey finished with another 22 and was at 121, Joe shot a 24 and was at 127. Brice was at 132, eleven back and never got any closer as the tournament had turned into a two man match. Jeffrey almost put the tournament away in the sixth round by shooting a 23 for a 144 total, nine shots ahead of Joe. You never know when your lead is safe! Joe was determined to try and repeat as champion and he played like a champion in the seventh round, shooting a perfect 9 on the front nine, then adding three more aces before not getting a good kick off the back rail on number 13. Joe's only other miss was a 80 degree lip out on number 15. He shoots a 20. Jeffrey did not get great kicks and maybe feeling the relentless pressure Joe was applying, missed several holes he normally makes, shoots a 30 and his nine shot lead was now a one shot deficit! Jeffrey did not get to be the National Player of the Year in 2014 by wilting up and going away, Joe knew it and they went to battle in the eighth round. Hole three bit Joe again as his putt did not rock in and once Jeffrey got the tee box he aced out on the front nine for an 11 to Joe's 15 and a three shot lead with nine holes to play. Joe picked up a little ground and found himself two down with the hard 17th and the easy 18th holes left. Joe hit a perfect clutch putt on 17 to cut the lead to one stroke. Joe then aced hole 18 for a even 200 score, and everyone watched as Jeffrey followed with an ace and a 199 score for the win as he dedicated the ace to his 104 year old grandmother-in-law, who passed away an hour after the win. Brice had third place clinched until he played the first seven holes his last round four over par. He made 8 of his last 11 but still got cut by Byron Kirby by one stroke 215 to 216. Lee shot a last round 24 to tie Brice for fourth place. The spot winners for the tour finals next month in Tyler were Byron Kirby, Wade Sahmel, Mike Baldoza and in an 18-hole playoff Tom Adair edged Greg Simpson for the fourth spot.
APA
With a five shot lead Charles Cox just needed to play steady and a repeat victory would be his, is what most players figured Charles waas thinking. He was steady the fifth round, shooting a 29 to increase his lead to six strokes over Adam Sahmel, who matched Charles's 29. Second place after 144 holes, Jack Ramsey got off to a real bad start with a 22 on the front nine and never did regroup enough to be a factor on Sunday. The sixth round Charles shot a steady 30 for a 168 total and Adam picked up one shot and was at 173. The big move in the sixth round was Alan Sahmel who shot a 25 and moved into third place at 175. Charles shot another steady 30 in the seventh round, and just like Jeffrey Smith in the PPA division in the seventh round, say his lead turn into a one shot deficit as Adam shot the weekend's low round with a 24, good for a 197 to Charles' 198. Alan continued to charge, shooting a 26 to be at 201 and only four behind Adam. In the eighth round Adam's front nine 14 increased his lead to two shots over Charles, while Alan suffered an 18 on the front to fall out of contention. Bill Shelar was charging all day Sunday but starting 13 strokes out of the lead was just too much to catch up but his 110 total for Sunday did get him third place, cutting Alan by one shot. Adam's lead had been cut to one stroke going into hole 15 and when Adam made a 3 it opened up a chance for Charles to reclaim the lead and he did with an ace. Charles clinched victory with a ace on hole 17, always a hard hole to ace. Charles finished at 226, and Adam at 228, Bill at 232 and Alan at 233 Chris Conradi used three 28's on Sunday to climb into fifth place. The only spot given out went to Charles Tarbell again on Sunday. All the other APA players already had four spots.
| SWPT—2015 | LSC | |||||||||||
| PPA | Aug 15-16 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Jeffrey Smith | 23 | 27 | 22 | 27 | 22 | 23 | 30 | 25 | 199 | $300.00 | |
| 2 | Joe Lea | 25 | 27 | 27 | 24 | 24 | 26 | 20 | 27 | 200 | $200.00 | |
| 3 | Byron Kirby | 31 | 28 | 25 | 29 | 26 | 24 | 24 | 28 | 215 | $140.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Brice Bergesen | 28 | 25 | 27 | 25 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 32 | 216 | $65.00 | |
| 4 | Lee Messinger | 27 | 25 | 32 | 24 | 28 | 28 | 24 | 28 | 216 | $65.00 | |
| 6 | Wade Samuel | 26 | 28 | 26 | 32 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 25 | 219 | $30.00 | 1 |
| 7 | Danny Tatum | 32 | 24 | 27 | 32 | 28 | 23 | 27 | 31 | 224 | $15.00 | |
| 8 | Geoffrey Mosk | 27 | 27 | 32 | 26 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 31 | 228 | ||
| 9 | Mike Baldoza | 25 | 24 | 33 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 33 | 28 | 234 | 2 | |
| 10 | Greg Simpson | 32 | 31 | 27 | 32 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 27 | 239 | ||
| 10 | Tom Adair | 29 | 28 | 33 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 26 | 32 | 239 | 1 | |
| 12 | Rudy Cuellar | 28 | 28 | 31 | 35 | 31 | 27 | 30 | 31 | 241 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | LSC | |||||||||||
| APA | Aug 15-16 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Charles Cox | 27 | 26 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 28 | 226 | $26.00 | |
| 2 | Adam Sahmel | 26 | 33 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 24 | 31 | 228 | $26.00 | |
| 3 | Bill Shelar | 31 | 27 | 30 | 34 | 28 | 28 | 25 | 29 | 232 | $26.00 | |
| 4 | Alan Sahmel | 31 | 29 | 29 | 32 | 29 | 25 | 26 | 32 | 233 | $26.00 | |
| 5 | Chris Conradi | 31 | 30 | 31 | 30 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 32 | 238 | $13.00 | |
| 6 | Jack Ramsey | 30 | 26 | 32 | 26 | 35 | 35 | 29 | 34 | 247 | ||
| 7 | Bryan Gentry | 36 | 32 | 34 | 30 | 33 | 29 | 29 | 33 | 256 | ||
| 8 | Charles Tarbell | 36 | 38 | 36 | 36 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 29 | 274 | 2 | |
| 9 | Mickey DeLucca | 34 | 35 | 35 | 33 | 41 | 35 | 35 | 31 | 279 |
2 August 2015, Sunday - Longview Texas
PPA winner Wade Sahmel with his 23 scorecard, repeat APA winner Bill Shelar Four spotter Adam Sahmel playing hole 8
PPA
As hot as it was in Longview on Sunday, August 2nd, it was not nearly as hot as Wade Sahmel in the third round of the 54-hole tournament. Saturday's winner, Don Parker, was the first round leader with a 28, closely followed by defending champ Lee Messinger and Wade at 29 and four others at 30. The logjam tightened after 36 hols as there was a three way tie for first between Lee, Danny Tatum and Joe Lea, all at 58, with Chance Marett being only one back at 59. Geoffrey Mosk was in fifth place at 60, Brice Bergesen in sixth place at 61, and Wade in seventh place at 62. Wade then proceeded to stage the second biggest comeback in SWPT history! The first being Wade at Webster in March when he came from 9th place after two rounds, made 12 of his first 14 holes in the last round and shot a 23 and won. He almost exactly duplicated that feat at Longview. Again, he made 12 of his first 14 shots, bogeys hole 15, then makes 16 and 18 for another 23 and this time a one shot win over hard luck loser Lee, the only player in the field to break 30 all three rounds. The most remarkable thing about Wade's round is that even with a bogey on hole 15 he was 5 shots better than any other round at Longview on Sunday. Six other players shot 28. Wade ended with 85, the same score as his great comeback in Webster and Lee was at 86. Joe Lea, using a modified putter most of the tournament was third at 88 and Brice and Geoffrey tied for fourth at 89. Wade and Chance won the stroke play spots and Matt Bellner beat Tom Adair for the match play spot.
APA
Defending champion Bill Shelar and back to back winner Chris Conradi were the first round leaders at Longview with 31's. Gary Plain was at 32 and Charles Cox was fourth at 33. Bill and Chris again shared the 36-hole lead as both shot 32 their second rounds for a 63 total. Gary and Charles dropped off a bit as both were tied for third three shots back at 66. With nine holes to go Bill and Chris were still tied, each shooting a 15 on the front nine. Bill shot a 16 on the back nine for a 31 and a 94 total while Chris ran into bogey trouble and had a 19 on the back for a 34 and a 97 total, which still looked like a tie for second with Charles Cox, but the last player in the field, Gary, shoots the low round of the day his final 18 holes, a 29, and almost catches Bill. Gary's rally put him at 95, just one shot shy of Bill. The spots went to Adam Sahmel, his fourth, Jack Ramsey, also his fourth, and Gary won his second spot in two days.
PPA winner Wade Sahmel with his 23 scorecard, repeat APA winner Bill Shelar Four spotter Adam Sahmel playing hole 8
PPA
As hot as it was in Longview on Sunday, August 2nd, it was not nearly as hot as Wade Sahmel in the third round of the 54-hole tournament. Saturday's winner, Don Parker, was the first round leader with a 28, closely followed by defending champ Lee Messinger and Wade at 29 and four others at 30. The logjam tightened after 36 hols as there was a three way tie for first between Lee, Danny Tatum and Joe Lea, all at 58, with Chance Marett being only one back at 59. Geoffrey Mosk was in fifth place at 60, Brice Bergesen in sixth place at 61, and Wade in seventh place at 62. Wade then proceeded to stage the second biggest comeback in SWPT history! The first being Wade at Webster in March when he came from 9th place after two rounds, made 12 of his first 14 holes in the last round and shot a 23 and won. He almost exactly duplicated that feat at Longview. Again, he made 12 of his first 14 shots, bogeys hole 15, then makes 16 and 18 for another 23 and this time a one shot win over hard luck loser Lee, the only player in the field to break 30 all three rounds. The most remarkable thing about Wade's round is that even with a bogey on hole 15 he was 5 shots better than any other round at Longview on Sunday. Six other players shot 28. Wade ended with 85, the same score as his great comeback in Webster and Lee was at 86. Joe Lea, using a modified putter most of the tournament was third at 88 and Brice and Geoffrey tied for fourth at 89. Wade and Chance won the stroke play spots and Matt Bellner beat Tom Adair for the match play spot.
APA
Defending champion Bill Shelar and back to back winner Chris Conradi were the first round leaders at Longview with 31's. Gary Plain was at 32 and Charles Cox was fourth at 33. Bill and Chris again shared the 36-hole lead as both shot 32 their second rounds for a 63 total. Gary and Charles dropped off a bit as both were tied for third three shots back at 66. With nine holes to go Bill and Chris were still tied, each shooting a 15 on the front nine. Bill shot a 16 on the back nine for a 31 and a 94 total while Chris ran into bogey trouble and had a 19 on the back for a 34 and a 97 total, which still looked like a tie for second with Charles Cox, but the last player in the field, Gary, shoots the low round of the day his final 18 holes, a 29, and almost catches Bill. Gary's rally put him at 95, just one shot shy of Bill. The spots went to Adam Sahmel, his fourth, Jack Ramsey, also his fourth, and Gary won his second spot in two days.
| SWPT—2015 | Longview | |||||
| PPA | 2 Aug | |||||
| Wade Samuel | 29 | 33 | 23 | 85 | $140.00 | 1 |
| Lee Messinger | 29 | 29 | 28 | 86 | $90.00 | |
| Joe Lea | 30 | 28 | 30 | 88 | $55.00 | |
| Geoffrey Mosk | 30 | 30 | 29 | 89 | $22.50 | |
| Brice Bergesen | 31 | 30 | 28 | 89 | $22.50 | |
| Danny Tatum | 30 | 28 | 33 | 91 | $10.00 | |
| Chance Marett | 30 | 29 | 33 | 92 | 1 | |
| Don Parker | 28 | 37 | 33 | 98 | ||
| Rudy Cuellar | 37 | 33 | 28 | 98 | ||
| Matt Bellner | 37 | 32 | 29 | 98 | 1 | |
| Tom Adair | 37 | 34 | 32 | 103 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Longview | ||||||
| APA | 2 August | ||||||
| 1 | Bill Shelar | 31 | 32 | 31 | 94 | $13.00 | |
| 2 | Gary Plain | 32 | 34 | 29 | 95 | $13.00 | 1 |
| 3 | Chris Conradi | 31 | 32 | 34 | 97 | $13.00 | |
| 3 | Charles Cox | 33 | 33 | 31 | 97 | $13.00 | |
| 5 | Jack Ramsey | 37 | 30 | 33 | 100 | 1 | |
| 6 | Adam Sahmel | 37 | 36 | 31 | 104 | 1 | |
| 7 | Ken Stanfill | 36 | 40 | 42 | 118 | ||
| 7 | Mickey DeLucca | 41 | 39 | 38 | 118 |
1 August 2015, Saturday - Tyler Texas
PPA winner Don Parker, back-to-back APA winner Chris Conradi Tyler dominates the spots!! Gary Plain, Chris Walker and Mason Spradlin won all three spots at Tyer.
PPA
It was a hot but not terribly humid day at Tyler as 22 players gathered for a tune up for the SWPT finals which will be held at the number one Tyler course on September 13th.A characteristic of the Tyler course is almost always close tournaments with several players being in the hunt going into the final nine holes. That would be the case again in both the PPA and the APA. Jody Kimble had the first round lead with a 28, with seven players within 3 shots of Jody, the closest being Don Parker's 29. The second round showed a little separation as the twosome of Don and Wade Sahmel ended at 56, a 27 for Don and a tournament low round of 26 for Wade. Three players were three shots back at 59, Danny Tatum, Lee Messinger and Geoffrey Mosk, and two more players at 60. No one really made much of a move in the third and last round, and Don shot a 30 for a 86 total. Wade dropped off with a 32 for a 88 and a second place tie with Geoffrey. First round leader Jody ended in a tie with the current SWPT champion Lee at 89. In match play Tom Adair edged out Wade Sahmel.
APA
In the APA it was also a close tournament. The first round leaders were defending champion Greg Everly and Ken Stanfill at 30, one ahead of Chris Conradi who is looking for his second win in a row. Ken shot a 32 his second round for a 62 but was still the leader as Greg shot a 36 second round which dropped him into a tie for 5th place. Only one shot back of Ken was Chris at 63 and Bill Shelar and Gary Plain were just two shots back at 64. In the final round Ken had some front nine troubles and shot a 18 while Chris was shooting a 13 which gave Chris a 4-shot lead with nine holes to play. Ken made a charge on the back nine with a 13 for a 31 but Chris had just enough to hole Ken off with his back nine 16 good for a tournament low 29 and a one shot win over Ken, 92 to 93. Gary Plain was third at 95 and Bill Shelar was fourth at 96. Gary Plain won the first spot and Mason Spradlin and Chris Walker won the match play spots, all three spots going to Tyler local players.
PPA winner Don Parker, back-to-back APA winner Chris Conradi Tyler dominates the spots!! Gary Plain, Chris Walker and Mason Spradlin won all three spots at Tyer.
PPA
It was a hot but not terribly humid day at Tyler as 22 players gathered for a tune up for the SWPT finals which will be held at the number one Tyler course on September 13th.A characteristic of the Tyler course is almost always close tournaments with several players being in the hunt going into the final nine holes. That would be the case again in both the PPA and the APA. Jody Kimble had the first round lead with a 28, with seven players within 3 shots of Jody, the closest being Don Parker's 29. The second round showed a little separation as the twosome of Don and Wade Sahmel ended at 56, a 27 for Don and a tournament low round of 26 for Wade. Three players were three shots back at 59, Danny Tatum, Lee Messinger and Geoffrey Mosk, and two more players at 60. No one really made much of a move in the third and last round, and Don shot a 30 for a 86 total. Wade dropped off with a 32 for a 88 and a second place tie with Geoffrey. First round leader Jody ended in a tie with the current SWPT champion Lee at 89. In match play Tom Adair edged out Wade Sahmel.
APA
In the APA it was also a close tournament. The first round leaders were defending champion Greg Everly and Ken Stanfill at 30, one ahead of Chris Conradi who is looking for his second win in a row. Ken shot a 32 his second round for a 62 but was still the leader as Greg shot a 36 second round which dropped him into a tie for 5th place. Only one shot back of Ken was Chris at 63 and Bill Shelar and Gary Plain were just two shots back at 64. In the final round Ken had some front nine troubles and shot a 18 while Chris was shooting a 13 which gave Chris a 4-shot lead with nine holes to play. Ken made a charge on the back nine with a 13 for a 31 but Chris had just enough to hole Ken off with his back nine 16 good for a tournament low 29 and a one shot win over Ken, 92 to 93. Gary Plain was third at 95 and Bill Shelar was fourth at 96. Gary Plain won the first spot and Mason Spradlin and Chris Walker won the match play spots, all three spots going to Tyler local players.
| SWPT—2015 | Tyler | ||||||
| PPA | 1 Aug | ||||||
| 1 | Don Parker | 29 | 27 | 30 | 86 | $140.00 | 1 |
| 2 | Geoffrey Mosk | 31 | 28 | 29 | 88 | $72.50 | |
| 2 | Wade Samuel | 30 | 26 | 32 | 88 | $72.50 | |
| 4 | Lee Messinger | 31 | 28 | 30 | 89 | $22.50 | |
| 4 | Jody Kimble | 28 | 32 | 29 | 89 | $22.50 | |
| 6 | Rudy Cuellar | 32 | 29 | 30 | 91 | $5.00 | |
| 6 | Chance Marett | 30 | 30 | 31 | 91 | $5.00 | 1 |
| 8 | Brice Bergesen | 32 | 32 | 29 | 93 | ||
| 8 | Danny Tatum | 30 | 29 | 34 | 93 | ||
| 10 | Joe Lea | 35 | 33 | 27 | 95 | ||
| 11 | Tom Adair | 31 | 33 | 33 | 97 | 1 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Tyler | ||||||
| APA | 1 August | ||||||
| 1 | Chris Conradi | 31 | 32 | 29 | 92 | $13.00 | |
| 2 | Ken Stanfill | 30 | 32 | 31 | 93 | $13.00 | |
| 3 | Gary Plain | 32 | 32 | 31 | 95 | $13.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Bill Shelar | 33 | 31 | 32 | 96 | $13.00 | |
| 5 | Adam Sahmel | 32 | 34 | 32 | 98 | $4.34 | |
| 5 | Charles Cox | 34 | 33 | 31 | 98 | $4.33 | |
| 5 | Chris Walker | 35 | 31 | 32 | 98 | $4.33 | 1 |
| 8 | Greg Everly | 30 | 36 | 33 | 99 | ||
| 9 | Mickey DeLucca | 36 | 33 | 32 | 101 | ||
| 10 | Mason Spradlin | 37 | 31 | 34 | 102 | 1 | |
| 10 | Jack Ramsey | 35 | 34 | 33 | 102 |
12 July 2015, Sunday - Arlington Texas
Geoffrey Mosk barely missing hole 12 APA winner Chris Conradi and PPA winner Lee Messinger
PPA
The already small field got smaller when Mike Baldoza could not play Sunday because of the heat, Matt Bellner had baseball games to play in Longview and Pat Simpson needed to take care of his sick dog. But Tom Adair showed up and tried to play without hitting any practice shots at all. That did not work out too good for Tom but he did have a low third game. Geoffrey Mosk set the pace in the first round with a 28, one shot ahead of Saturday's winner Jeffrey Smith, 2014 SWPT champion Lee Messinger, and Danny Tatum, all at 29. As he did on Saturday, Brice Bergesen jumped into contention with a strong second round, this time a 25 for 56. Lee immediately followed with a 26 of his own for 55. The only other player under 60 was Jeffrey at 58. Geoffrey quickly made it a four man tournament with a sparkling 11 on the front nine in his third round. With nine holes to go Lee led Geoffrey by one shot and Brice and Jeffrey by two shots. Brice made a big putt on hole 15, playing a Z bank, but Lee topped him on it. After Jeffrey and Brice missed hole 18, Lee and Geoffrey were tied with only hole 18 to play. Both missed and so there was a 18-hole playoff. Like the 18-hole playoff between Geoffrey and Lee on the Parks course in late April, Lee came out victorious 29-33. Jody Kimble won the stroke play spot for the tour finals and instead of match play for the other two spots, since all three players vying for the two spots all shot 99, they played 18 holes. Rudy Cuellar had the low score with a 32 and got a spot, his fourth. Tom Adair was one up on Don Parker going into the 18th hole, but Tom hit a pipe and made a three and Don calmly aced hole 18 to flip and win one up.
The APA had a tournament where all seven players were in contention almost to the end. The first round found Greg Everly at 30 in first place and Mike Huckaby was in last place with a 33. Wide open tournament! Greg shot another 30 and was at 60, but Chris Conradi shot a 28 and was tied with Greg. Ken Stanfill was at 62 and Steven Yancey was at 63, both still very much in it. Greg posted his third 30 in the last round for a solid 90 an waited to see what Chris was doing behind him. Chris also shot a 30 for a 90 so there was a playoff also in the APA division. Chris won this time over Greg 29-32. Ken Stanfill earned his fourth and final spot and Steven Yancey his second for the tour finals to e held in Tyler on September 13th.
Geoffrey Mosk barely missing hole 12 APA winner Chris Conradi and PPA winner Lee Messinger
PPA
The already small field got smaller when Mike Baldoza could not play Sunday because of the heat, Matt Bellner had baseball games to play in Longview and Pat Simpson needed to take care of his sick dog. But Tom Adair showed up and tried to play without hitting any practice shots at all. That did not work out too good for Tom but he did have a low third game. Geoffrey Mosk set the pace in the first round with a 28, one shot ahead of Saturday's winner Jeffrey Smith, 2014 SWPT champion Lee Messinger, and Danny Tatum, all at 29. As he did on Saturday, Brice Bergesen jumped into contention with a strong second round, this time a 25 for 56. Lee immediately followed with a 26 of his own for 55. The only other player under 60 was Jeffrey at 58. Geoffrey quickly made it a four man tournament with a sparkling 11 on the front nine in his third round. With nine holes to go Lee led Geoffrey by one shot and Brice and Jeffrey by two shots. Brice made a big putt on hole 15, playing a Z bank, but Lee topped him on it. After Jeffrey and Brice missed hole 18, Lee and Geoffrey were tied with only hole 18 to play. Both missed and so there was a 18-hole playoff. Like the 18-hole playoff between Geoffrey and Lee on the Parks course in late April, Lee came out victorious 29-33. Jody Kimble won the stroke play spot for the tour finals and instead of match play for the other two spots, since all three players vying for the two spots all shot 99, they played 18 holes. Rudy Cuellar had the low score with a 32 and got a spot, his fourth. Tom Adair was one up on Don Parker going into the 18th hole, but Tom hit a pipe and made a three and Don calmly aced hole 18 to flip and win one up.
The APA had a tournament where all seven players were in contention almost to the end. The first round found Greg Everly at 30 in first place and Mike Huckaby was in last place with a 33. Wide open tournament! Greg shot another 30 and was at 60, but Chris Conradi shot a 28 and was tied with Greg. Ken Stanfill was at 62 and Steven Yancey was at 63, both still very much in it. Greg posted his third 30 in the last round for a solid 90 an waited to see what Chris was doing behind him. Chris also shot a 30 for a 90 so there was a playoff also in the APA division. Chris won this time over Greg 29-32. Ken Stanfill earned his fourth and final spot and Steven Yancey his second for the tour finals to e held in Tyler on September 13th.
| SWPT—2015 | Parks | ||||||
| PPA | 12 July | ||||||
| 1 | Lee Messinger | 29 | 26 | 30 | 85 | $130.00 | |
| 2 | Geoffrey Mosk | 28 | 32 | 25 | 85 | $75.00 | |
| 3 | Brice Bergesen | 31 | 25 | 30 | 86 | $45.00 | |
| 4 | Jeffrey Smith | 29 | 29 | 29 | 87 | $20.00 | |
| 5 | Danny Tatum | 29 | 31 | 30 | 90 | $10.00 | |
| 6 | Jody Kimble | 31 | 30 | 31 | 92 | 1 | |
| 7 | Don Parker | 32 | 34 | 33 | 99 | 1 | |
| 7 | Rudy Cuellar | 33 | 35 | 31 | 99 | 1 | |
| 7 | Tom Adair | 34 | 37 | 28 | 99 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Parks | ||||||
| APA | 12 July | ||||||
| 1 | Chris Conradi | 32 | 28 | 30 | 90 | $13.00 | |
| 2 | Greg Everly | 30 | 30 | 30 | 90 | $13.00 | |
| 3 | Ken Stanfill | 32 | 30 | 30 | 92 | $13.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Bill Shelar | 31 | 35 | 28 | 94 | ||
| 5 | Trevor Lewin | 32 | 32 | 33 | 97 | ||
| 5 | Steven Yancey | 31 | 32 | 34 | 97 | 1 | |
| 7 | Mike Huckaby | 33 | 33 | 33 | 99 |
11 July 2015, Saturday - Arlington Texas
PPA winner Jeffrey Smith, APA winner Greg Everly Jeffrey passing Brice for good after hole six the last round
PPA
Thank goodness the Arlington Parks course has a lot of shade, as the Saturday SWPT event was played on the hottest day of the year so far, with the temperature about 101 degrees. Since there is plenty of shade most players survived with no problem, however the heat bothered Mike Baldoza and while he finished on Saturday he decided not to go back into the heat on Sunday. Pat Simpson was the first round leader with a 28. Jeffrey Smith, the current National Champion, was nine under through 13 holes but back to back bogies on 14 and 15 put him in second place at 29. Brice Bergesen made the second round move by shooting a 26 which put him into a tie with Jeffrey after 36-holes at 57. Next closest were Geoffrey Mosk and defending champ Lee Messinger at 61. Lee had the hot hand in the third round, barely missing hole 18 but still ending with a day's best 25 and a 86 total. Jeffrey and Brice were in the last group and knew what they needed to shoot to catch Lee. Jeffrey got to nine under through 13 holes again and played safe coming in for a winning 85 total. Brice had a chance to tie on 18 but hit the ball a little to easy and he settled for a tie with Lee for second place. Geoffrey ended in fourth place at 92. Brice earned his fourth and last tour final spot and in match play Rudy Cuellar and Pat Simpson won final spots.
APA
Greg Everly putting hole one in his third round Arlington Division course is still silently sitting behind AT&T Statium
Mike Huckaby swept Arlington Parks in 2014 in route to becoming the APA player of the year in the SWPT and he got off to a good start on Saturday with a first round 29, good for a one shot lead over two tough opponents, Greg Everly, who has won three of the five tournaments he has played in this year, and Bill Shelar who also has three wins, both just one back at 30. Mike was still hanging on to the lead after 36-holes even though he slipped to a 32 and a 61 total. Greg was only one back at 62 and Steve Yancey and Bill were two back at 63. Of the leaders in the last round the only player to shoot better than 33 was Greg and his 29 gave him a 91 and a four-shot win over Mike at 95 and five over Bill who ended at 96. Tour final spots went to Chris Conradi, his fourth and final spot, and to Ken stanfill and Steven Yancey.
PPA winner Jeffrey Smith, APA winner Greg Everly Jeffrey passing Brice for good after hole six the last round
PPA
Thank goodness the Arlington Parks course has a lot of shade, as the Saturday SWPT event was played on the hottest day of the year so far, with the temperature about 101 degrees. Since there is plenty of shade most players survived with no problem, however the heat bothered Mike Baldoza and while he finished on Saturday he decided not to go back into the heat on Sunday. Pat Simpson was the first round leader with a 28. Jeffrey Smith, the current National Champion, was nine under through 13 holes but back to back bogies on 14 and 15 put him in second place at 29. Brice Bergesen made the second round move by shooting a 26 which put him into a tie with Jeffrey after 36-holes at 57. Next closest were Geoffrey Mosk and defending champ Lee Messinger at 61. Lee had the hot hand in the third round, barely missing hole 18 but still ending with a day's best 25 and a 86 total. Jeffrey and Brice were in the last group and knew what they needed to shoot to catch Lee. Jeffrey got to nine under through 13 holes again and played safe coming in for a winning 85 total. Brice had a chance to tie on 18 but hit the ball a little to easy and he settled for a tie with Lee for second place. Geoffrey ended in fourth place at 92. Brice earned his fourth and last tour final spot and in match play Rudy Cuellar and Pat Simpson won final spots.
APA
Greg Everly putting hole one in his third round Arlington Division course is still silently sitting behind AT&T Statium
Mike Huckaby swept Arlington Parks in 2014 in route to becoming the APA player of the year in the SWPT and he got off to a good start on Saturday with a first round 29, good for a one shot lead over two tough opponents, Greg Everly, who has won three of the five tournaments he has played in this year, and Bill Shelar who also has three wins, both just one back at 30. Mike was still hanging on to the lead after 36-holes even though he slipped to a 32 and a 61 total. Greg was only one back at 62 and Steve Yancey and Bill were two back at 63. Of the leaders in the last round the only player to shoot better than 33 was Greg and his 29 gave him a 91 and a four-shot win over Mike at 95 and five over Bill who ended at 96. Tour final spots went to Chris Conradi, his fourth and final spot, and to Ken stanfill and Steven Yancey.
| SWPT—2015 | Parks | ||||||
| PPA | 11 July | ||||||
| 1 | Jeffrey Smith | 29 | 28 | 28 | 85 | $140.00 | |
| 2 | Brice Bergesen | 31 | 26 | 29 | 86 | $72.50 | 1 |
| 2 | Lee Messinger | 31 | 30 | 25 | 86 | $72.50 | |
| 4 | Geoffrey Mosk | 31 | 30 | 31 | 92 | $25.00 | |
| 5 | Don Parker | 32 | 30 | 32 | 94 | $20.00 | |
| 6 | Jody Kimble | 32 | 32 | 32 | 96 | ||
| 7 | Pat Simpson | 28 | 34 | 35 | 97 | 1 | |
| 8 | Danny Tatum | 34 | 30 | 34 | 98 | ||
| 9 | Rudy Cuellar | 32 | 35 | 34 | 101 | 1 | |
| 10 | Mike Baldoza | 35 | 33 | 34 | 102 | ||
| 10 | Matt Bellner | 36 | 32 | 34 | 102 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Parks | ||||||
| APA | 11 July | ||||||
| 1 | Greg Everly | 30 | 32 | 29 | 91 | $13.00 | |
| 2 | Mike Huckaby | 29 | 32 | 34 | 95 | $13.00 | |
| 3 | Bill Shelar | 30 | 33 | 33 | 96 | $13.00 | |
| 4 | Chris Conradi | 33 | 32 | 32 | 97 | 1 | |
| 4 | Trevor Lewin | 34 | 33 | 30 | 97 | ||
| 6 | Ken Stanfill | 35 | 31 | 33 | 99 | 1 | |
| 6 | Steven Yancey | 32 | 31 | 36 | 99 | 1 |
27 June, 2015, Abilene, Saturday -late tournament
Lee Messinger won his 4th tournament and Bill Shelar won his 3rd tournament of the 2015 SWPT season
PPA
After a one hour lunch break the ten players at Abilene were back at it in the second 54-hole tournament of the day. Lee Messinger, who shot a fine 84 in the first tournament, the lowest none winning score at Abilene, got off to a bad start by making a four on the third hole in the afternoon tournament. With the wind picking up it was not looking like a low score tournament. However Lee ended up with ten aces and a first round tie with Pat Simpson at 28. Lee upped his lead to three over Pat with a second round 27. Lee's fine final round 27 was noted not by the holes he aced but the hole finally missed. Hole eight was aced 8 times in 60 attempts and Lee made it the first five rounds he played on Saturday. He finally missed hole 8 his last round. Pat was the only other pro to ace the hole. I would like to note that in this case it was not Lucky Lee as all his aces were hit just perfectly. In fact Lee played superbly all day and his winning score of 82 in the breeze earned him a 5-shot win over Pat who finished at 87. Pat won the stroke play spot and the other two spots went to Rudy Cuellar and Mike Baldoza.
APA
Ken Stanfill was the only player to shoot over par in the early tournament but Ken came out smoking in the late tournament with a fine 29 opening round, good for a 3=shot lead over Bill Shelar, Greg Everly and Mike Huckaby. Bill Shelar shot 71 his final two rounds to lose the early tournament and he was determined to obviously do better in the late tournament. That he did, shooting 27-28 fpr a 55 to blow by the two he was tied with and Ken. His low scoring final two rounds put Bill in at 87, five shots clear of runner up Greg who finished at 92. Greg did win his fourth and final tour finals spot, and the other spots went to Ken Stanfill and Chris Conradi.
Lee Messinger won his 4th tournament and Bill Shelar won his 3rd tournament of the 2015 SWPT season
PPA
After a one hour lunch break the ten players at Abilene were back at it in the second 54-hole tournament of the day. Lee Messinger, who shot a fine 84 in the first tournament, the lowest none winning score at Abilene, got off to a bad start by making a four on the third hole in the afternoon tournament. With the wind picking up it was not looking like a low score tournament. However Lee ended up with ten aces and a first round tie with Pat Simpson at 28. Lee upped his lead to three over Pat with a second round 27. Lee's fine final round 27 was noted not by the holes he aced but the hole finally missed. Hole eight was aced 8 times in 60 attempts and Lee made it the first five rounds he played on Saturday. He finally missed hole 8 his last round. Pat was the only other pro to ace the hole. I would like to note that in this case it was not Lucky Lee as all his aces were hit just perfectly. In fact Lee played superbly all day and his winning score of 82 in the breeze earned him a 5-shot win over Pat who finished at 87. Pat won the stroke play spot and the other two spots went to Rudy Cuellar and Mike Baldoza.
APA
Ken Stanfill was the only player to shoot over par in the early tournament but Ken came out smoking in the late tournament with a fine 29 opening round, good for a 3=shot lead over Bill Shelar, Greg Everly and Mike Huckaby. Bill Shelar shot 71 his final two rounds to lose the early tournament and he was determined to obviously do better in the late tournament. That he did, shooting 27-28 fpr a 55 to blow by the two he was tied with and Ken. His low scoring final two rounds put Bill in at 87, five shots clear of runner up Greg who finished at 92. Greg did win his fourth and final tour finals spot, and the other spots went to Ken Stanfill and Chris Conradi.
| SWPT—2015 | Abilene | ||||||
| PPA | 27 June | ||||||
| 1 | Lee Messinger | 28 | 27 | 27 | 82 | $85.00 | |
| 2 | Pat Simpson | 28 | 30 | 29 | 87 | $50.00 | 1 |
| 3 | Rudy Cuellar | 35 | 27 | 33 | 95 | $20.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Brice Bergesen | 34 | 30 | 32 | 96 | ||
| 5 | Mike Baldoza | 34 | 33 | 35 | 102 | 1 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Abilene | ||||||
| APA | 27 June | ||||||
| 1 | Bill Shelar | 32 | 27 | 28 | 87 | $13.00 | |
| 2 | Greg Everly | 32 | 30 | 30 | 92 | $13.00 | 1 |
| 3 | Mike Huckaby | 32 | 32 | 31 | 95 | ||
| 3 | Ken Stanfill | 29 | 32 | 34 | 95 | 1 | |
| 5 | Chris Conradi | 34 | 33 | 35 | 102 | 1 |
27 June, 2015. Abilene, Saturday - early tournament
Beautiful course one at Abilene Greg Everly and Brice Bergesen show their Chromax balls that led to victory
PPA
It is a shame that Abilene is so far away from where most of the SWPT players live, as it is a wonderfully playing course and always in tip-top shape, thanks to Carol Zeni, the manager. We managed to have ten players this year, five in the PPA amd five in the APA. The strange thing about the Abilene course is that a player has to play quite good to break 90, yet we have had winning scores very low, including Jeffrey Smith's 79 last year. This year looked the same as Lee Messinger shot a 25 his first round for a 2-shot lead over Brice Bergesen, playing left hand low in his first tournament since he gave up trying to putt conventional style for the first half of the year, Brice shot two shots worse, a 29, in his second round but became the leader due to Lee's bogey free 32. Lee started slow the third round but put the pressure on Brice by acing his last five holes for a 27 and a 84. Brice responded by acing the last four holes himself for a 26 and a two shot win. Brice's first win of the year got him a spot in the tour finals, and match play spots went to Pat Simpson and Rudy Cuellar, who had an exciting match against Mike Baldoza that went to the 22nd hole.
APA
It looked like a runaway tournament after the first round as Bill Shelar shot a 27 and had a 5-shot lead over Chris Conradi. Bill ran into trouble the second round with a 35 but still held a 3-shot lead over Chris and a 5-shot lead over Greg Everly. Greg, playing in the first group shot a respectable 30 in his last round and was surprised to see Bill shooting no better than even par his last round. Greg ended up at 97 and Bill at 98. Greg won his third spot and also it was his third win of the season in only four starts! The other spots went to Chris Conradi and Ken Stanfill. The players had a one hour lunch break and then the second tournament of the day would start.
Beautiful course one at Abilene Greg Everly and Brice Bergesen show their Chromax balls that led to victory
PPA
It is a shame that Abilene is so far away from where most of the SWPT players live, as it is a wonderfully playing course and always in tip-top shape, thanks to Carol Zeni, the manager. We managed to have ten players this year, five in the PPA amd five in the APA. The strange thing about the Abilene course is that a player has to play quite good to break 90, yet we have had winning scores very low, including Jeffrey Smith's 79 last year. This year looked the same as Lee Messinger shot a 25 his first round for a 2-shot lead over Brice Bergesen, playing left hand low in his first tournament since he gave up trying to putt conventional style for the first half of the year, Brice shot two shots worse, a 29, in his second round but became the leader due to Lee's bogey free 32. Lee started slow the third round but put the pressure on Brice by acing his last five holes for a 27 and a 84. Brice responded by acing the last four holes himself for a 26 and a two shot win. Brice's first win of the year got him a spot in the tour finals, and match play spots went to Pat Simpson and Rudy Cuellar, who had an exciting match against Mike Baldoza that went to the 22nd hole.
APA
It looked like a runaway tournament after the first round as Bill Shelar shot a 27 and had a 5-shot lead over Chris Conradi. Bill ran into trouble the second round with a 35 but still held a 3-shot lead over Chris and a 5-shot lead over Greg Everly. Greg, playing in the first group shot a respectable 30 in his last round and was surprised to see Bill shooting no better than even par his last round. Greg ended up at 97 and Bill at 98. Greg won his third spot and also it was his third win of the season in only four starts! The other spots went to Chris Conradi and Ken Stanfill. The players had a one hour lunch break and then the second tournament of the day would start.
| SWPT—2015 | Abilene | ||||||
| PPA | 27 June | ||||||
| 1 | Brice Bergesen | 27 | 29 | 26 | 82 | $85.00 | 1 |
| 2 | Lee Messinger | 25 | 32 | 27 | 84 | $50.00 | |
| 3 | Pat Simpson | 32 | 32 | 28 | 92 | $20.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Mike Baldoza | 32 | 33 | 32 | 97 | ||
| 5 | Rudy Cuellar | 38 | 34 | 36 | 108 | 1 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Abilene | ||||||
| APA | 27 June | ||||||
| 1 | Greg Everly | 33 | 34 | 30 | 97 | $13.00 | 1 |
| 2 | Bill Shelar | 27 | 35 | 36 | 98 | $13.00 | |
| 3 | Mike Huckaby | 36 | 33 | 33 | 102 | ||
| 3 | Chris Conradi | 32 | 33 | 37 | 102 | 1 | |
| 5 | Ken Stanfill | 36 | 37 | 37 | 110 | 1 |
TEXAS OPEN Champions for 2015. PPA- Joe Lea and APA Mike Huckaby (2 in a row)
6-7 June 2015, Sat and Sunday, Waco Texas
Note: Usually the stories and scores are posted in a very timely matter, usually within a day or so. However, I (Brice Bergesen) got flooded at my house on Memorial Day night, 8-10 inches of water throughout the house, and the computer was a victim. My daughter's boyfriend took my computer apart and saved the data and built another computer for me. I think he will make a good son-in-law someday! Anyway, back on line finally.
Saturday
PPA
It was hot, but not too hot as it has been in some years. Rain was not a factor. The fact is the Waco course is just plain hard! Especially the front nine! How hard was it? It was so perplexing that there was only one 13 shot on it and five 14's the entire eight rounds. That is six nine hole totals under 15 out of 180 front nines played over the weekend. Each day there were 34 scores of 18 or worse on the front nine, 68 altogether. Joe Lea had three of the six 14's or better. Jeffrey Smith was the first round leader shooting a 18-11 for a 29. Lee Messinger took the second round lead with a 29 of his own for a 60 total and a 3-shot lead over three other players. In the third round Joe Lea had the only sub 14 on the front with a 13 and his 27 put him at 89 and one up on Lee and three up on Rainey Statum, who played the first day without a bogey stroke. Joe had a 31 in his fourth round for a day's leading 120, two ahead of Rainey and Jeffrey, who fired a 28 his last round. Wade Sahmel was steady all day and finished four rounds in fourth place at 123.
APA
The front nine bit the APA players a lot more than the PPA pl;ayers as Adam Sahmel had the only sub-16 nine of the day with his fourth round 14. Adam was also the first round leader at 30, two ahead of defending champion Mike Huckaby and Alan Sahmel at 32. Adam fired a solid 31 his second round but was caught by his dad Alan who had the days low round with a 29. Both were at 61 and two ahead of Bill Shelar. Adam skied to a 39 in his third round, very easy to shoot over par at Waco, and saw Alan take the sole lead at 92. The only other player in the APA to be under 100 after three rounds was Bill Shelar, two back at 94. Alan slumped to a 35 his fourth round and he and Bill were tied for the lead at 127. Adam charged back with his fine 14 on the front nine to be only four shots out at 131, and hanging around in fourth place at 133 was Mike Huckaby.
Sunday
PPA
What could have been a very interesting shootout in the PPA on Sunday was ruined by Joe Lea's excellent and steady shooting, shooting 114 for the day and winning by ten shots. In the fifth round he shot a 29 which gave him a 5-shot lead over four players. Lee Messinger got into the 4-way tie by shooting a 18-10 for a 28 the hard way. Joe followed with a sixth round 28 and a seventh round 29 to build a 9-shot lead going into the last round. the real battle was for second place as Rainey Statum, Wade Sahmel and Lee Messinger battled each other all day, never separated by more than three strokes. When the eighth round had concluded Rainey and Wade were tied at 244 and Lee just one shot back at 245. Defending National Champion Jeffrey Smith never got it going on Sunday and finished 17 shots back at 251. This was yet another tournament that when Joe gets the lead he is a bulldog and works hard to keep extending that lead. To average almost 29 per round on a course that difficult is quite a remarkable achievement. Joe won his fourth finals spot and the other spots went to Rainey Statum, Wade Sahmel and Mike Baldoza.
APA
As opposed to the PPA it was a three man battle all day in the APA. Alan Sahmel took the lead by himself in the fifth round with a 31 and a 158 total, 3-up on Bill Shelar. Adam Sahmel and Mike Huckaby were both still within striking distance at 163 and 164. None of the these four could shoot much in the sixth round but Mike did move within 5-shots of leader Alan. After the seventh round Adam had dropped 7-shots out of the lead and so the battle was with the other three. Alan continued to lead at 224, but closely followed now by Mike whose 30 put him into second place only 2-shots back at 226, with Bill four back back at 228.. Mike shot another 30 in the last round and ended up tying Alan at 256 with Bill finishing in third place at 261 and Adam fourth at 266. In the 18-hole playoff Mike continued his fine play and his 31 in the playoff won by four shots. Congratulations to the defending champion making it two Texas Open wins in a row. Tour finals spot winners were Bill Shelar and Bryan Gentry getting their fourth spots, Adam Sahmel getting his third and Chris Conradi getting his first finally! .
6-7 June 2015, Sat and Sunday, Waco Texas
Note: Usually the stories and scores are posted in a very timely matter, usually within a day or so. However, I (Brice Bergesen) got flooded at my house on Memorial Day night, 8-10 inches of water throughout the house, and the computer was a victim. My daughter's boyfriend took my computer apart and saved the data and built another computer for me. I think he will make a good son-in-law someday! Anyway, back on line finally.
Saturday
PPA
It was hot, but not too hot as it has been in some years. Rain was not a factor. The fact is the Waco course is just plain hard! Especially the front nine! How hard was it? It was so perplexing that there was only one 13 shot on it and five 14's the entire eight rounds. That is six nine hole totals under 15 out of 180 front nines played over the weekend. Each day there were 34 scores of 18 or worse on the front nine, 68 altogether. Joe Lea had three of the six 14's or better. Jeffrey Smith was the first round leader shooting a 18-11 for a 29. Lee Messinger took the second round lead with a 29 of his own for a 60 total and a 3-shot lead over three other players. In the third round Joe Lea had the only sub 14 on the front with a 13 and his 27 put him at 89 and one up on Lee and three up on Rainey Statum, who played the first day without a bogey stroke. Joe had a 31 in his fourth round for a day's leading 120, two ahead of Rainey and Jeffrey, who fired a 28 his last round. Wade Sahmel was steady all day and finished four rounds in fourth place at 123.
APA
The front nine bit the APA players a lot more than the PPA pl;ayers as Adam Sahmel had the only sub-16 nine of the day with his fourth round 14. Adam was also the first round leader at 30, two ahead of defending champion Mike Huckaby and Alan Sahmel at 32. Adam fired a solid 31 his second round but was caught by his dad Alan who had the days low round with a 29. Both were at 61 and two ahead of Bill Shelar. Adam skied to a 39 in his third round, very easy to shoot over par at Waco, and saw Alan take the sole lead at 92. The only other player in the APA to be under 100 after three rounds was Bill Shelar, two back at 94. Alan slumped to a 35 his fourth round and he and Bill were tied for the lead at 127. Adam charged back with his fine 14 on the front nine to be only four shots out at 131, and hanging around in fourth place at 133 was Mike Huckaby.
Sunday
PPA
What could have been a very interesting shootout in the PPA on Sunday was ruined by Joe Lea's excellent and steady shooting, shooting 114 for the day and winning by ten shots. In the fifth round he shot a 29 which gave him a 5-shot lead over four players. Lee Messinger got into the 4-way tie by shooting a 18-10 for a 28 the hard way. Joe followed with a sixth round 28 and a seventh round 29 to build a 9-shot lead going into the last round. the real battle was for second place as Rainey Statum, Wade Sahmel and Lee Messinger battled each other all day, never separated by more than three strokes. When the eighth round had concluded Rainey and Wade were tied at 244 and Lee just one shot back at 245. Defending National Champion Jeffrey Smith never got it going on Sunday and finished 17 shots back at 251. This was yet another tournament that when Joe gets the lead he is a bulldog and works hard to keep extending that lead. To average almost 29 per round on a course that difficult is quite a remarkable achievement. Joe won his fourth finals spot and the other spots went to Rainey Statum, Wade Sahmel and Mike Baldoza.
APA
As opposed to the PPA it was a three man battle all day in the APA. Alan Sahmel took the lead by himself in the fifth round with a 31 and a 158 total, 3-up on Bill Shelar. Adam Sahmel and Mike Huckaby were both still within striking distance at 163 and 164. None of the these four could shoot much in the sixth round but Mike did move within 5-shots of leader Alan. After the seventh round Adam had dropped 7-shots out of the lead and so the battle was with the other three. Alan continued to lead at 224, but closely followed now by Mike whose 30 put him into second place only 2-shots back at 226, with Bill four back back at 228.. Mike shot another 30 in the last round and ended up tying Alan at 256 with Bill finishing in third place at 261 and Adam fourth at 266. In the 18-hole playoff Mike continued his fine play and his 31 in the playoff won by four shots. Congratulations to the defending champion making it two Texas Open wins in a row. Tour finals spot winners were Bill Shelar and Bryan Gentry getting their fourth spots, Adam Sahmel getting his third and Chris Conradi getting his first finally! .
| SWPT—2015 | Texas Open | |||||||||||
| PPA | June 6-7 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Joe Lea | 34 | 28 | 27 | 31 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 30 | 234 | $275.00 | 1 |
| 2 | Wade Samuel | 33 | 31 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 31 | 29 | 30 | 244 | $150.00 | 1 |
| 2 | Rainey Statum | 31 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 32 | 31 | 28 | 31 | 244 | $150.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Lee Messinger | 31 | 29 | 30 | 36 | 28 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 245 | $75.00 | |
| 5 | Jeffrey Smith | 29 | 33 | 32 | 28 | 32 | 31 | 32 | 34 | 251 | $50.00 | |
| 6 | Brice Bergesen | 33 | 36 | 30 | 34 | 31 | 29 | 32 | 33 | 258 | $25.00 | |
| 7 | Mike Baldoza | 33 | 33 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 31 | 36 | 37 | 262 | 1 | |
| 8 | Don Parker | 34 | 35 | 34 | 35 | 31 | 33 | 30 | 31 | 263 | ||
| 9 | Rudy Cuellar | 31 | 40 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 30 | 37 | 30 | 270 | ||
| 10 | Matt Bellner | 38 | 44 | 37 | 34 | 40 | 36 | 35 | 31 | 295 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Texas Open | |||||||||||
| APA | June 6-7 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Mike Huckaby | 32 | 34 | 36 | 31 | 31 | 32 | 30 | 30 | 256 | $26.00 | |
| 2 | Alan Sahmel | 32 | 29 | 31 | 35 | 31 | 33 | 33 | 32 | 256 | $26.00 | |
| 3 | Bill Shelar | 33 | 30 | 31 | 33 | 34 | 33 | 34 | 33 | 261 | $26.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Adam Sahmel | 30 | 31 | 39 | 31 | 32 | 35 | 33 | 35 | 266 | $26.00 | 1 |
| 5 | Bryan Gentry | 41 | 34 | 33 | 34 | 34 | 33 | 32 | 31 | 272 | $26.00 | 1 |
| 6 | Chris Conradi | 36 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 34 | 34 | 37 | 36 | 279 | 1 | |
| 7 | Allen Thomas | 35 | 33 | 37 | 38 | 37 | 35 | 33 | 35 | 283 | ||
| 8 | Trevor Lewin | 40 | 32 | 35 | 38 | 38 | 33 | 31 | 38 | 285 | ||
| 9 | Mickey DeLucca | 36 | 33 | 36 | 41 | 37 | 33 | 34 | 38 | 288 | ||
| 10 | Ken Stanfill | 36 | 36 | 34 | 35 | 38 | 40 | 34 | 36 | 289 |
17 May 2015. Sunday, Longview Texas
Mike Baldoza tries to miss the big puddles on number 11 as the rain and wet course was the story in Longview
. . . . .And the winner Sunday at Longview was. . . the rain!! The weather was just perfect for low scoring during practice on Sunday morning but a front was coming and with it a 50 mile line of rain, due to hit just before tee off time. The rain came and chased everyone inside but let up enough to start the tournament. The heavy rain was forecast for the next two hours. Somehow the rain broke up around us and thile the course was very wet the first round the conditions improved throughout the day, although surprisingly the scores did not improve that much.
Only a 32 would be leading the first round. Current SWPT champ Less Messinger, two-time SWPT Finals winner at Longview Joe Lea and loser in a playoff in last years tournament, Danny Tatum, shared the first round lead. Tied for fourth at 34 were Geoffrey Mosk and Mike Baldoza. Lee Messinger had the low round of the day in his second round with a 7 under 29 which put him at 61 and a 3-shot lead over Joe at 64. Mike was staying close in third at 65. Both Joe and Mike shot even par 36's in the third and final round, making it easier for Lee to win. But Lee shot a 34 his last round for a 95 and barely held off defending champ Jeffrey Smith who finished with a 30 and a 96. Third place was a tie between Byron Kirby, Geoffrey and Brice Bergesen, who had streaks of 14 straight two's and 16 straight two's, at 99. In match play Jody Kimble of Ft Smith Arkansas won his first tour final spot of 2015 and in the other match it looked like Byron Kirby would finally win his first spot as he battled Tom Adair, also looking for his first spot. Byron was 4-up with four holes to play when Tom aced number 15, 16, 17 and of course number 18 to force a play off. Tom's great comeback went for naught as Byron aced number one, the first playoff hole to win his first tour finals spot.
Lee Messinger, PPA winner Bill Shelar, APA winner
APA
If the PPA pros were having problems with the rain and water on the course, the APA players were really having problems!! The average score was almost 109 for 54 holes, the first time the APA has been over par as a group since the evil days of Killeen when over par would sometimes win. In the first round three of the eight players shot under par, led by Bill Shelar at 33, Saturday's winner Greg Everly at 34 and defending champion Gary Plain at 35. When Bill shot the days low APA round of 31 in the second round he found himself at 64 and with a 6-shot lead over Greg at 70, and a 7-shot lead over Gary and Chris Conradi at 71. Bill, who won at Hurst in April shooting a 22 one round, did not need such heroics at Longview and his final round 34, good for a 98 easily won by 5-shots over Chris Conradi at 103. Greg Everly was the only other APA under par at 105. Though the course was very wet it was a good test to see who could cope and who could adjust the best. In match play Mickey DeLucca won his fourth and final spot and Bryan Gentry won his third spot in only three tournaments.
Mike Baldoza tries to miss the big puddles on number 11 as the rain and wet course was the story in Longview
. . . . .And the winner Sunday at Longview was. . . the rain!! The weather was just perfect for low scoring during practice on Sunday morning but a front was coming and with it a 50 mile line of rain, due to hit just before tee off time. The rain came and chased everyone inside but let up enough to start the tournament. The heavy rain was forecast for the next two hours. Somehow the rain broke up around us and thile the course was very wet the first round the conditions improved throughout the day, although surprisingly the scores did not improve that much.
Only a 32 would be leading the first round. Current SWPT champ Less Messinger, two-time SWPT Finals winner at Longview Joe Lea and loser in a playoff in last years tournament, Danny Tatum, shared the first round lead. Tied for fourth at 34 were Geoffrey Mosk and Mike Baldoza. Lee Messinger had the low round of the day in his second round with a 7 under 29 which put him at 61 and a 3-shot lead over Joe at 64. Mike was staying close in third at 65. Both Joe and Mike shot even par 36's in the third and final round, making it easier for Lee to win. But Lee shot a 34 his last round for a 95 and barely held off defending champ Jeffrey Smith who finished with a 30 and a 96. Third place was a tie between Byron Kirby, Geoffrey and Brice Bergesen, who had streaks of 14 straight two's and 16 straight two's, at 99. In match play Jody Kimble of Ft Smith Arkansas won his first tour final spot of 2015 and in the other match it looked like Byron Kirby would finally win his first spot as he battled Tom Adair, also looking for his first spot. Byron was 4-up with four holes to play when Tom aced number 15, 16, 17 and of course number 18 to force a play off. Tom's great comeback went for naught as Byron aced number one, the first playoff hole to win his first tour finals spot.
Lee Messinger, PPA winner Bill Shelar, APA winnerAPA
If the PPA pros were having problems with the rain and water on the course, the APA players were really having problems!! The average score was almost 109 for 54 holes, the first time the APA has been over par as a group since the evil days of Killeen when over par would sometimes win. In the first round three of the eight players shot under par, led by Bill Shelar at 33, Saturday's winner Greg Everly at 34 and defending champion Gary Plain at 35. When Bill shot the days low APA round of 31 in the second round he found himself at 64 and with a 6-shot lead over Greg at 70, and a 7-shot lead over Gary and Chris Conradi at 71. Bill, who won at Hurst in April shooting a 22 one round, did not need such heroics at Longview and his final round 34, good for a 98 easily won by 5-shots over Chris Conradi at 103. Greg Everly was the only other APA under par at 105. Though the course was very wet it was a good test to see who could cope and who could adjust the best. In match play Mickey DeLucca won his fourth and final spot and Bryan Gentry won his third spot in only three tournaments.
| SWPT—2015 | Longview | ||||||
| PPA | 17 May | ||||||
| 1 | Lee Messinger | 32 | 29 | 34 | 95 | $170.00 | |
| 2 | Jeffrey Smith | 35 | 31 | 30 | 96 | $100.00 | 1 |
| 3 | Brice Bergesen | 35 | 32 | 32 | 99 | $46.67 | |
| 3 | Byron Kirby | 36 | 30 | 33 | 99 | $46.67 | 1 |
| 3 | Geoffrey Mosk | 34 | 33 | 32 | 99 | $46.67 | |
| 6 | Joe Lea | 32 | 32 | 36 | 100 | $25.00 | |
| 7 | Danny Tatum | 32 | 36 | 33 | 101 | $7.50 | |
| 7 | Mike Baldoza | 34 | 31 | 36 | 101 | $7.50 | |
| 9 | Tom Adair | 36 | 34 | 33 | 103 | ||
| 10 | Jeff McDonald | 36 | 35 | 33 | 104 | ||
| 10 | Rudy Cuellar | 38 | 34 | 32 | 104 | ||
| 12 | Don Parker | 36 | 37 | 34 | 107 | ||
| 12 | Jody Kimble | 36 | 35 | 36 | 107 | 1 | |
| 14 | Greg Simpson | 37 | 42 | 32 | 111 | ||
| 15 | Matt Bellner | 39 | 36 | 39 | 114 |
| SWPT-- 2015 | Longview | ||||||
| APA | 17 May | ||||||
| 1 | Bill Shelar | 33 | 31 | 34 | 98 | $26.00 | 1 |
| 2 | Chris Conradi | 37 | 34 | 32 | 103 | $13.00 | |
| 3 | Greg Everly | 34 | 36 | 35 | 105 | $13.00 | |
| 4 | Gary Plain | 35 | 36 | 37 | 108 | $10.00 | |
| 5 | Bryan Gentry | 36 | 39 | 36 | 111 | 1 | |
| 6 | Charles Cox | 37 | 41 | 34 | 112 | ||
| 7 | Ken Stanfill | 42 | 39 | 33 | 114 | ||
| 8 | Mickey DeLucca | 41 | 40 | 39 | 120 | 1 |
16 May 2015, Saturday, Tyler Texas
PPA winner and 2014 National Champion Jeffrey Smith on the left and APA winner with a Chromax ball Greg Everly
PPA
The Southwest Putting Tour had its largest turnout of the 2015 season at Tyler because of great hospitality shown by Kat and Tom, plus it is the course that will host the finals on the weekend of September 12 and 13. The weather was great and there was a very close tournament from the start to the finish.
No less than seven players were within two shots of the lead after round one. Current National Champion Jeffrey Smith was the leader with a 28, closely followed at 29 by Joe Lea and five players were at 30. Last place was only 5 shots out. After two rounds Jeffrey was co-leader with Hall of Fame player Mike Baldoza, making his first start of 2015, both at 58. Joe, Don Parker and Jeff McDonald, all the way from San Diego to play, were tied for third at 59, just one back. While Don never got anything going the last round with his 32, Jeff faded away also, and Jeffrey could only fire a 30 his last round for a 88, it gave several players a excellent chance to win the tournament. Geoffrey Mosk shot a 28 for a 88 to tie Jeffrey. Joe Lea had a great chance to win after being five under through seven holes, but could muster only one more ace the final eleven holes and finished one back at 89. Mike was in the best position to win, needing to only ace the easy 17th hole and deuce the 18th, but Mike got a bad kick on 17 and his ball did not clear the rail guarding the hole and Mike ended up making bogey. He also bogeyed the 18th to finish at 90, two shots back. So there was the third straight SWPT event that ended with a 18-hole playoff. Jeffrey jumped out to a lead quickly and Geoffrey never could quite catch up and when Jeffrey made the dangerous 13th hole he coasted in for his third victory on the SWPT this season. Geoffrey lost a playoff for the second time in three events, losing to Lee Messinger at Arlington in late April. In match play Joe Lea won his third spot and Greg Simpson won his first.
APA
In the APA the 2014 Player of the Year Mike Huckaby came out blazing with a 27 to lead by two over local favorite Gary Plain, Charles Cox and Ken Stanfill, all at 29. When Mike followed with a 28 for 55 he should have been breezing but Greg Everly shot the low round of the day with a 26 and had momentum on his side as he was just one back at 56. Gary was in third place six shots back at 61. Mike never got it going in the last round and a bad back nine gave him a 35 and a 90, good for second place. Greg shot a 30 his final round and beat everyone, PPA and APA with a 86. This is the second time in a row a APA had had the overall low score as Bill Shelar did the trick at Hurst. Gary hung on for third place at 91.It is also the second win in two tournaments for Greg in 2015. In match play local player Mason Spradlin won his first ever spot in the tour finals and Bryan Gentry from Memphis won his second.
PPA winner and 2014 National Champion Jeffrey Smith on the left and APA winner with a Chromax ball Greg Everly PPA
The Southwest Putting Tour had its largest turnout of the 2015 season at Tyler because of great hospitality shown by Kat and Tom, plus it is the course that will host the finals on the weekend of September 12 and 13. The weather was great and there was a very close tournament from the start to the finish.
No less than seven players were within two shots of the lead after round one. Current National Champion Jeffrey Smith was the leader with a 28, closely followed at 29 by Joe Lea and five players were at 30. Last place was only 5 shots out. After two rounds Jeffrey was co-leader with Hall of Fame player Mike Baldoza, making his first start of 2015, both at 58. Joe, Don Parker and Jeff McDonald, all the way from San Diego to play, were tied for third at 59, just one back. While Don never got anything going the last round with his 32, Jeff faded away also, and Jeffrey could only fire a 30 his last round for a 88, it gave several players a excellent chance to win the tournament. Geoffrey Mosk shot a 28 for a 88 to tie Jeffrey. Joe Lea had a great chance to win after being five under through seven holes, but could muster only one more ace the final eleven holes and finished one back at 89. Mike was in the best position to win, needing to only ace the easy 17th hole and deuce the 18th, but Mike got a bad kick on 17 and his ball did not clear the rail guarding the hole and Mike ended up making bogey. He also bogeyed the 18th to finish at 90, two shots back. So there was the third straight SWPT event that ended with a 18-hole playoff. Jeffrey jumped out to a lead quickly and Geoffrey never could quite catch up and when Jeffrey made the dangerous 13th hole he coasted in for his third victory on the SWPT this season. Geoffrey lost a playoff for the second time in three events, losing to Lee Messinger at Arlington in late April. In match play Joe Lea won his third spot and Greg Simpson won his first.
APA
In the APA the 2014 Player of the Year Mike Huckaby came out blazing with a 27 to lead by two over local favorite Gary Plain, Charles Cox and Ken Stanfill, all at 29. When Mike followed with a 28 for 55 he should have been breezing but Greg Everly shot the low round of the day with a 26 and had momentum on his side as he was just one back at 56. Gary was in third place six shots back at 61. Mike never got it going in the last round and a bad back nine gave him a 35 and a 90, good for second place. Greg shot a 30 his final round and beat everyone, PPA and APA with a 86. This is the second time in a row a APA had had the overall low score as Bill Shelar did the trick at Hurst. Gary hung on for third place at 91.It is also the second win in two tournaments for Greg in 2015. In match play local player Mason Spradlin won his first ever spot in the tour finals and Bryan Gentry from Memphis won his second.
| SWPT—2015 | Tyler | ||||||
| PPA | 16 May | ||||||
| 1 | Jeffrey Smith | 28 | 30 | 30 | 88 | $170.00 | 1 |
| 2 | Geoffrey Mosk | 31 | 29 | 28 | 88 | $100.00 | |
| 3 | Joe Lea | 29 | 30 | 30 | 89 | $65.00 | 1 |
| 4 | Mike Baldoza | 30 | 28 | 32 | 90 | $45.00 | |
| 5 | Tom Adair | 30 | 30 | 31 | 91 | $27.50 |