Clear skies and warm temps welcomed the Memphis/Mid-South APT to TPC Southwind on Monday, July 11th. Southwind will host the PGA’s FedEx Cup playoffs beginning August 11th, but first, the course was met with 119 APT golfers from 13 states!
The day started with an honorary tribute to the late Roger Leake of the Memphis chapter. Roger tragically passed away 6 days before the event. Five APT members hit honorary tee shots in Roger’s memory while his parents, wife, and siblings looked on from the first tee box.
The somber start to the day was short lived as players began their quest to tame the PGA playoff venue just 4 weeks before the pros get their shot.
Division 1 saw our first tight battle of the day as Memphis chapter member Josh Caldwell prevailed for the win with a round of 76 (+5). David Apperson and Wil Linehan of Memphis, along with Jonathan Spann of Birmingham fired matching 77s to finish in a three-way tie for second.
Division 2 was also a battle as Birmingham member Terry Szymczyk fired a 76 to take a 2 shot victory over Nashville member John Hipp (78). Memphis members Tim Miller (79) and Jeff Avant (82) finished third and fourth respectively.
Division 3 was a Nashville member that came out on top of the battle as Austin Stacey fired a 78 to hold off four Birmingham players and a St Louis member. Shane Parrott (Birmingham) came in second with an 82, Phil Lambert (Birmingham) came in third with an 83, and three players tied for fourth with matching 84s (Russ Donaldson, Birmingham; Jason Harbin, Birmingham; Simay Souvannarath, St Louis).
Division 4 saw Wilson Gammill of the Birmingham chapter come out on top with his round of 94, while Jason Bucher of the Memphis Chapter and Mark Rigby of the Birmingham chapter shot 95 to finish in a tie for second. Brian Nabors of Memphis and Danny Daniel of Birmingham finished tied for fourth with their pair of 96s.
Division 5 saw our biggest winning margin of the event as Mason Gibson (91) of the Arkansas chapter won by 5 strokes over Basil Hall of Nashville (96). Chris Jones of Memphis finished third with a 97 while Arkansas members Jordan Kimbriel and Travis Kimbriel matched 99s with Nashville’s David McDow and John Marshall for a four way tie for fourth.
We would like to also extend our deepest thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of our fallen member Roger Leake. It was an honor to have his family with us for a portion of the day and to be able to honor his life and his friendship. TPC Southwind was gracious enough to donate rounds of golf and lunches for a raffle in Roger’s honor. At the close of the event, our Roger Leake raffle had generated $2,200 for Roger’s wife. We also ran a 50/50 raffle for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which garnered another $900!
Our next event is over 3 days with 2 events on 1 course at The Ridges in Wynne, Ar. Friday’s event will be a net stableford event leading into the two day regional Saturday and Sunday June 30th and 31st.