Pine Island Results

The Amateur Players Tour Charlotte Chapter held its inaugural event on Monday April 5th. The weather was beautiful, the field was full, seven APT Chapters represented and the anticipation was building. Pine Island, a par 71 gem, played host to the season opener. With the event starting on time, at 10:00am Jimmy Popp hit the first drive in Charlottes Season.

Division 1, as is typical, saw plenty of birdies and the occasional eagle dropping throughout the day. As the day unfolded, the competition narrowed to four competitors on the course. Wally Love (36-39-75) was in good position at the turn but would stumble a bit on the back 9. Rob Fulford (38-36-74) would finish 3rd and inside the money, played steady most of the day. Knowing he had to make move in the closing holes, unfortunately bogeyed 17 and 18 to come up a bit short on his goal for the day. The play centered on two players most of the day. Dennis Reames (36-33-69), not getting off to a good start, put up 5 birdies and eagle on the board, as he tried to put some pressure on the leader. Scott Roberts (32-35-67), proved he will be a factor to be dealt with this year. Roberts played bogey free golf and never put to much stress on his game all day. It does appear he has found some lost magic in the putter, if true, you’ll see his name atop the leader board all year.

In Division 2, it was all about who could make pars on the back nine. Wesley Jones (39-41-80), Johnny Moffett (39-41-80) and Josh Johnston (39-41-80) battled it out for third and fourth place. With a three-way tie for third place and playing four spots, a scorecard playoff would be required. USGA tie breakers are used (Back nine total, last 6-hole total, last 3-hole total, last hole score). Wesley Jones takes third and Josh Johnston takes fourth. Johnny Moffett finishes in fifth place. Mark Ballew (38-39-77) takes solo second. Playing consistently all day, Ballew is starting to see a resurgence in his game. At the end of the day, Joe Zebrecky (37-38-75) would prove too much for the field to handle. After playing a solid front nine, Zebrecky’s highlight would come on the Par 3 thirteenth hole ($2,500 hole in one). Zebrecky would hit his shot to 10 inches.

Division 3 had the largest field of all the divisions also saw a close battle on the back nine. Timothy Wyatt (40-40-80) with consistent play all day would take 6th place. Ronnie Strange (39-40-79) fairing slightly better takes 5th place. Nolan Elenz (42-37-79) winning the scorecard playoff finishes in 4th place. Bill Liebler (39-39-78) with only a single par on the front nine, found a bit more consistency on the back nine takes third place. Tommy Boyter (38-39-77) from the Upstate Chapter, birdies 18 to take second place. The day belonged to Malcolm Niven (40-35-75) with a stellar back nine. Finding himself in a bunched pack of players after the turn, Niven with timely birdies on 11 and 13 separated himself from the others.

Division 4 can be exciting if you are watching and definitely get the blood flowing if your competing. With seven players all having a chance to grab the title heading into the back nine, only one would be the victor. Three players would stumble coming home. When the dust settled and having another scorecard playoff, Jerry York (43-41-84) takes 4th place and Danny Stein (43-41-84) takes 3rd place. Roy Santonil (39-44-83) with a refreshed attitude and some new sticks found himself in contention. An untimely double bogey 17 diminished his chances, Santonil still had a smile as he took 2nd place. With little fanfare, Darrell Johnson (41-40-81) played a solid back nine. Focused on the task at hand, Johnson kept making pars on the back nine to take lead and force the other players into mistakes.

Division 5, paying two spots on the day, saw two players pull away from the field. Bob Russell (43-47-90) and Upstate winner Jace Calhoun (46-44-90) required extra holes. Bogies on holes one and two would push the playoff to a third a hole. The playoff would come down to a putting contest. Jace was left with a slick 4 footer to extend the playoff which he underread and watched slide by. Bob Russell would two put to secure his victory.

Pace of play averaged 4 hours and 40 minutes for the entire field. We know a few players approached the 5-hour mark. Players may have seen Phil riding the course looking for the bottle neck. We did identify a group which was out of position. We took steps to inform the group and handed each player in the group a two-stroke penalty for being out of position upon completion of the round.

We are #absolutelyexcited to get the season started, humbled by your support and grateful for all the feedback. Thank you to all the players for coming out and thank you to the members who we’ll meet in the coming weeks.

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday April 14th - Bermuda Run West (Triad Chapter)
Saturday April 17: Connestee Falls Golf Club (Upstate Chapter)
Monday April 19th - Peninsula Club (Charlotte Chapter)
Monday April 26th - Verdict Ridge (Charlotte Chapter)