2024 Serenoa Golf Club Tournament Results

On June 15, after 16 inches of rain the previous 4 days, 23 players braved the conditions at the fifth event of the Southwest Florida Amateur Players Tour 2024 season at Serenoa Golf Club in Sarasota.  Despite the record rainfall amounts, the course drained well enough to be 90-degree rule on all but 4 holes!  We did get “treated” to another shower of about 30 minutes, but everyone made it through just fine!  Despite the wet conditions, everyone had a great time!  Highlights of the day included: 

• Division 1:  The results in this division were a tale of 2 nines!  On the front nine, Preston Bridges took a 1-shot lead over Derrick Corran and just a couple of shots back were the rest of the field.  Bridges promptly birdied the 10^th and never looked back, but there was quite a battle for second place.  Preston took home hist second win of the season, and Henry Abbott took second after a 4-over 40 on the back nine.     
• Division 2: Scott Dennis jumped out to a 3-shot lead over Nick Westbrook after the front-9.  Scott kept up his consistent play on the back after Westbrook had a slow start to the back-9.  Ultimately, Westbrook would settle down and play strong down the stretch, but could only tie Dennis on the back.  This gave Scott Dennis his second win in D2 for the season!   
• Division 3: This one was a tight race all the way between Waymon Fuselier, Stephane Soucy, and Brian Zoly!    Soucy had a 1-shot lead at the turn, but he started off the back-9 with a double-bogey at 10, and we had a 2-shot swing on one hole and a tie with Zoly!  The two would go back-and-forth the whole back-9 and on the last hole, Zoly led by one!  Unfortunately, Zoly took a double-bogey to Soucy’s bogey, and we had another tie in D3! We headed back to #1 for a playoff.  Both players had about 150 yards to the front pin, and Soucy knocked his 2^nd shot a few yards from the green while Zoly had his club dig in the soft turf, and he still had 80 yards left.  Zoly came up just short in 3 and Soucy chipped up and tapped in for a 4 and the win!    
• Division 4:   Andy Halek jumped out to a 5-strok advantage after the front-nine on the wet course.  That proved to be too much for John Oursler to overcome and Halek had his first win of the season in D4!    
• Division 5: This one was exciting and close the whole way!  All 4 players were within 3 shots of each other after the front-nine!  The lead changed hands several times on the back nine.  Rusty Lingenfelter jumped to the early lead on the back, but on 13, Tony Hedger caught him!  On 14, Lingenfelter again took the lead, and Hedger would chip away at that lead until an untimely double put Lingenfelter out of reach.  This was Rusty Lingenfelter’s first win in the Southwest Florida chapter this season!   
• Senior Net: 5 out of the 11 eligible players participated in the Senior Net game, and in the end, it was our D4 winner, Andy Halek who took home the first-place money with a solid 3-over par score!         

A huge thank you goes out to Andy Secret and the entire staff at Serenoa Golf Club for even having the course playable after so much rain!  It was hard to tell that they had 16 inches of rain on the course!  Everyone was friendly and very helpful!   

Our next event is at Rosedale Golf & Country Club in Sarasota, and it will be on Sunday, July 14.  Remember, the more players we get, the bigger the payouts!  Sign up now for your spot to play!  Registration closes on July 7!