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Amateur Players Tour of Southwest Florida Tournament Recap
Heron Creek Golf & Country Club – August 10, 2024
August 10 was just 7 days after tropical storm Debby dumped a lot of rain on Southwest Florida. Our next venue, Heron Creek Golf and Country Club in North Port, Florida, was impassable shortly after Debby left town, but the course drained very well, and we were actually off the path! We had 30 players show up to compete for the 5 different divisions. 4 of the 5 divisions were close contests until the end. The two went to extra holes to decide the champion! Highlights of the day included:
- Division 1: In D1, Michael Smith jumped out to a one-shot lead after the front nine over Frank Almasy, and 4 shots over Robert Greene. Smith would have 3 unfortunate double-bogies on the back nine and fall out of the lead opening the door for a dogfight between Almasy and Greene! Almasy would start the back nine at one over through 14, but an untimely triple at the par 5 15th would bring Greene back into contention as he was even on the back at that point. On 16, Greene would card a double and give the lead back to Almasy. Frank bogied 17 and 18 and Green bogied the 18th to force a playoff! On the first playoff hole, Almasy would have a 10-footer for birdie and Greene had a 40-footer. Greene left his lag putt about 3 feet short. Almasy narrowly missed his birdie, but Greene had a 270-degree lip out for his par, giving Almasy his first win!
- Division 2: In this Division, Scott Dennis jumped out to the early front-nine lead with a 3-over 39, with 4 others right behind with a 4-over 40s! On the back nine, Nick Westbrook jumped out to a quick lead as he was 1-under through the first 5 holes on the back! However, he tripled the tricky par 5 15th, to give his 2-stroke lead away. He grabbed the lead back from Daren Green on 17 with a par to Green’s bogey! Green would come back and birdie 18 to force a playoff! In the playoff, Westbrook knocked his 3rd shot on the par 5 to about 10 feet, while Green was just off and forced to chip. Green was unable to get up and down and Westbrook had an easy 2-putt for his first win of the 2024 season!
- Division 3: Division 3 saw Waymon Fuselier jump out to a 4-stroke lead on the front nine, while the rest of the field struggled. Fuselier continued his consistency beating the field on the back as well and capturing his third win of the 2024 season!
- Division 4: Division 4 saw Gregg Carr and Dan Wojcik jump out to a 1-shot lead over Andy Halek on the front nine. On the back, Carr started off the back 1-over through 4 holes and he cruised to his first victory of the 2024 season, avenging his playoff loss the previous week!
- Division 5: In Division 5, Mike Abbott jumped out to a 5 shot lead over Lee Thompson on the front nine. On the back nine, Greg Gastfield was able to match Abbott, but could not gain any ground, and Abbot nabbed his first win of the season!
- Senior Net: In Senior Net, our Division 5 winner, Mike Abbott ran away with the win shooting -6 and Jackie Rush took second with a -1. Both players turned things around from their play in previous tournaments to shoot some impressive net scores!
A huge thank you goes out to Brandon Grecco, Bart Cook, and the entire staff at Heron Creek Golf and Country Club for even having the course playable after so much rain! It was hard to tell that Debby had dumped so much water on the course! We also enjoyed having the use of their card room for our group to hang out and share stories afterward!
Our next event is at The Meadows on the Members Course in Sarasota, and it will be on Saturday, August 17. Remember, the more players we get, the bigger the payouts! Sign up now for your spot to play! Registration closes on August 11!
