We had sunshine, a light wind, but a lot of heat today at Ironhorse GC for the Troon Championship. Course was in fantastic condition, staff was terrific, and some of the play was top notch, with 8 super skins!
Division 1 was a tight race on the front 9, with John Todd, Dave Kearney and Jake Englebrake all within a couple of strokes. Jake, however, seemed to have a stroke on hole 10, and made it a two man race with John and Dave. John ran off a string of birdies to give him a 2 stroke lead, one that Dave couldn’t make up. John finished at an impressive 2 under par on a very difficult and narrow golf course.
Division 2 was the start of a very special day. Cliff Austin III has been grinding away in the middle of the pack since being promoted to Division 2, but today, he shined. Cliff had a commanding victory today, shooting an impressive 6 over par 78 and winning by 4 strokes. But that was on the start for the Austin family.
We saw another playoff in Division 3 this week, with Andrew Zeigler and Alex Lederer both shooting 8 over par 80’s, with Terrance Barrios taking a triple bogey on hole 18 to shoot 82 and tie with Jeremy Schaefer for 3rd. On the first playoff hole, Ziggy drained a 25ft birdie putt to take the playoff win and find himself back in the winners circle.
Division 4 also went to a playoff after Jeff Rader, with a 3 stroke lead going into 18, hit too much club on the tee shot and went through the fairway into the hazard. He took a triple bogey on 18 to see his 3 stroke lead become a tie with Clint Wilson. Both players played extremely well, and shot 12 over par 84 to get into the playoff. On the first hole of the playoff, Wilson had to manage a par by hitting his 3rd shot from 55 yards to 6ft and draining the putt. And that par was just good enough to take out Rader, securing Clint’s first win on the APT.
Division 5 was a bit of a nail biter thanks to some cell phone service problems making live scoring tough to keep track of. All the players hung out inside as the scores were entered and verified, and the story of Division 2 got even better. Cliff Austin II ended up taking a 2 stroke victory over William Yancey, making it the first father-son championship in Kansas APT history. Congrats to father and son on a memorable day at Ironhorse!