Defeats Sahmel 2w1 in back-and-forth match
Cruises Past Cinderella Lewin 8w7
Mosk Holds Off Bergesen; Tarbell Gets 1st SWPT Win
Jason Long opened his Longview Greens Mini Golf Course in 2016, and since then it has gotten a well deserved reputation as one of the finest mini golf courses in Texas. Jason decided to have a state championship played at his course in 2021, and Lee Messinger was the first winner of the champions award, a beautiful custom made belt buckle!
The 2022 championship was played on April 10th with unseasonably high winds blowing all through the competition, steady at 20 mph with gusts higher. Jason had 41 players sign up for the event, with 15 of them being regular players on the Southwest Putting Tour.
The course showed its teeth early as the pre tournament favorite, defending champ and winner of the warmup tournament on Saturday, Lee Messinger started with a 42 and never got untracked. Mini golf legend Olivia Prokopova also started with a 42, as did her husband and great player Wade Sahmel, essentially getting too far back early. Brice Bergesen and Rainey Statum were the first round leaders with one under par 35’s, two ahead of Mason Spradlin and Bryan Gentry. Brice and Rainey shot 34 and 35 the second round to put a six shot gap from second place to Adam Sahmel, who was in at a strong 76 for third place.
In the final round, Wade Sahmel shot his second straight 36 to be the early leader at 114. His strong finish put him ahead of his wife Olivia and his brother Adam, who finished at 119. The other Sahmel, Adam and Wade’s dad Alan, finished at 122. Rainey got off to a slow start the final round making a 4 on the second hole, but Brice got on the bogey train and the conductor would not let him off, going 5 over after 6 holes. Brice finished with a 42 and a 111 score, four behind Rainey’s very strong 107. Rainey won $1000, the champions belt buckle and he and Brice split the $500 prize for most aces in 54 holes, they both had 8 aces. The scores posted are just those of the SWPT players. To see all the scores go to longviewgreens.com.
The tournament was a great success, many new friends were made and everyone was looking forward to playing again next year, only with maybe a little less wind!!
Heat advisories were in place over the weekend in Longview for the three Southwest Putting Tour events, keeping the turnout down to the bare minimum, and at that three players had to withdraw during tournament play due to the excessive heat. But the show must go on. In the noon tournament on Saturday there was a tie for first in the PPA between Geoffrey Mosk and Don Parker, both at 93. Mosk won that playoff. In the afternoon 3pm tournament it looked like a runaway for Don as he was at 55 for two rounds and enjoyed a 9-shot lead. But his playing partner, Mosk, made 13 aces the last round and shot 24 to catch Don at 88 as Don could not make many aces and shot a 33. Don found his aces in the playoff, shooting a front nine 11 to easily win. The Sunday tournament both Don and Groff were steady and Mosk won 88 to 90. They were first or second all three events!
In the APA, no close scores like in the PPA as Steven Yancey won the noon event by seven shots with a fine 93. In the three pm tournament Mike Huckaby was very consistent and shot the APA weekend low score of 88 to beat Gary Plain by three. Mike continued his fine consistent shooting on Sunday shooting a 92 to clip Chris Conradi by two strokes.
A tip of the hat to all those who played in the over 100° weather, although Sundays event was over before triple digits, but just barely. The next two events are at Cool Crest in San Antonio on July 9th and 10th. It is always cool at Cool Crest, the course chosen for the 2023 Mini Golf U S Open next May.
Texas Mini Golf Championship
Longview Greens Mini Golf Course Montgomery, Texas
April, 10 2022
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