2024 Bobby Jones Golf Tournament Results

The Southwest Florida Amateur Players Tour Chapter had its inaugural event and the 2024 season opener at the newly renovated Bobby Jones Golf Club in Sarasota, Florida, on April 27.  42 players teed it up to test their skills at this links-style course in windy conditions.  The results came down to the last few holes in most divisions!  Highlights include: 

• Division 1:  After the front nine, 4 players were within 2 strokes of the lead, leading to an exciting back nine.  Frank Almasy, the leader at the turn, started the back nine off in solid fashion building a 2-stroke lead through 15 holes.  Preston Bridges, his closest competitor birdied the par 3 16^th hole while Almasy bogied and suddenly they were tied!  Almasy responded well with a birdie on the 17^th to get the lead back.  On 18, Almasy took an unfortunate double-bogey, and Bridges parred it allowing him to leapfrog Almasy for the win!  Almasy settled for solo second in the field of 7.  
• Division 2: Chase Bertrand, Daren Green, and John Baez turned in solid front-nine scores within 1 shot of each other! The three were neck-and-neck until Bertran birdied the 17^th to take the lead for good with a very solid 73 (+2) in the windy conditions.  Green finished second with a 75 (+4), and Derrick Corran had a solid back nine and moved ahead of Baez for third in the field of 11.  
• Division 3: With 13 players in the contest, Scott Dennis had a 3-stroke advantage over Rick Kaczmarczyk and 5 over Steve Mullin after a front nine score of 36!  Mullins turned the tables on the back nine and shot a 37 (+2).  It was not enough to overcome Dennis, who won with a 77, followed closely by Mullins at 78. Kaczmarczyk took solo third with a solid round of 80.  
• Division 4:   Jimmy Holdiness took an early 2-stroke lead through the first nine holes.  Jimmy held that lead over Brian Zoly until late in the contest when an untimely triple-bogey showed up for Jimmy, and then he and Zoly were tied.  Zoly’s par on #17 put him in the lead that he would keep, giving him the win.  Holdiness finished 1-stroke ahead of John Oursler for solo second in this 5-player field.    
• Division 5: This contest was exciting the whole way with 5 of the 6 players within 3 shots after the front nine!  Greg Gastfield had a slim 1-shot lead after nine holes with Andrew Lampert and Ken Winters right on his heels!  Lampert and Winters battled back-and-forth on the back nine with Winters catching Lampert on the final hole!   This division provided the first playoff in Southwest Florida APT history! The playoff started with Winters in trouble right and Lampert in the fairway.  Lampert took advantage of his good drive and ultimately won the playoff taking home the trophy and the $130 prize.  An extremely exciting finish to the day!  
• Senior Net: 12 of the 17 eligible players participated in the contest.  This event ended in a tie at -2 between our D2 2^nd place finisher, Daren Green, and our D3 winner Scott Dennis splitting the $300 pot.  

Next up for APT Southwest Florida is a stop in Fort Myers at Herons Glen Golf on Sunday, May 5.  There are plenty of spots available for this shorter but challenging track.  Registration closes tonight (April 28) at 11:59!  

A huge thank you goes out to John Ellis and the entire staff at Bobby Jones Golf Club for their help and hospitality.  We will be coming back here again for sure!