Tournament Champions
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The Central Illinois Amateur Players Tour returned to The Den at Fox Creek on Saturday, October 31, 2026 in Bloomington, Illinois, for one of the most competitive Central Illinois amateur golf tournaments on the fall calendar. A field of 43 players competed across five divisions, with the Mid-Am Net and Senior Net games played alongside them. Players are flighted into divisions based on their APT Tournament Index.
The Den at Fox Creek, an Arnold Palmer design that opened in 1997, is best known for its 17th, a par 3 played over water. Despite it being Halloween, the course was in incredibly great condition, with the greens rolling true and quick all day. The opening hole set the tone early: the par-4 1st played nearly a shot and a half over par and did not surrender a single birdie across the field.
Conditions never warmed. The entire day was cloudy, breezy and fairly chilly, and with the wind working against quick putting surfaces, only two players in the field broke 80.
In Division 1, Dustin Finley of Ramsey, IL came home in even-par 36 to post a 5-over 77 and win by four. It was far from a procession. Mitch Myers was three strokes to the good after six holes, and with three to play Finley was still level with both Myers and Aaron Thum. Finley answered where it mattered most, playing his closing three in 1-under with a birdie at the par-4 16th after an earlier birdie at the 12th. Myers, Thum and Alex Cronin all signed for 9-over 81 to share runner-up honors, with Myers’ eagle at the par-5 5th among the day’s loudest swings.
Division 2 produced the low round of the day. Shane Thompson of Bartonville, IL turned in 2-over 38 and matched it coming home for a 4-over 76, winning by four. Thompson birdied the par-5 5th and the par-3 13th and played his final six holes in even par. Reggie Livingston of Peoria, IL pushed him hardest, cutting the deficit to a single stroke through 12 before Thompson steadied; Livingston birdied the par-5 9th on the way to an 8-over 80 and second place. Trenton Matthews of Annapolis, IL took third at 9-over 81, picking up back-to-back birdies at the par-5 9th and par-5 10th and coming home in 3-over 39.
Division 3 was the tightest race of the day and it changed hands more than once. Jamison Boyd of Tuscola, IL won by a single stroke with an 11-over 83 built on nine pars, holding off Rick Johnson of Sullivan, IL and Ross Richardson of Indianapolis, IN, who tied for second at 12-over 84. Richardson led by one after six holes and Johnson led by one after 15 before Boyd closed it out. Three players finished within two shots of the lead.
Robert Olsen of Ballwin, MO controlled Division 4 from the front, posting a 13-over 85 and winning by six. Olsen went out in 8-over 44, came home in 5-over 41 and finished with a birdie at the par-4 18th. Chase Runyon of Charleston, IL finished in 2nd, having made the day’s other eagle at the par-5 5th, and Timothy Hill of Decatur, IL was third at 23-over 95.
Division 5 belonged to a visitor. Tim Butts traveled in from Gerrardstown, West Virginia to see family and spent the day winning a golf tournament instead, taking the division with an 18-over 90 by four strokes. Butts was level with Myron Schroeder after six holes and four clear by the 12th, and he birdied the par-4 15th late. Schroeder, of Downs, IL, was second at 22-over 94, and Edward Watkins of East Peoria, IL finished third at 25-over 97.
In Mid-Am Net, Thomas Margetich of Pekin, IL won by three with a net 2-over 74. Nathan Turner of Peoria, IL held a three-shot edge over Margetich through 15 holes before Margetich turned the contest around over the closing stretch; Turner took second at net 5-over 77, and Jimmy Pulis of Pekin, IL was third at net 8-over 80.
Senior Net ended in a deadlock at net even-par 72 between Rick Johnson and Tim Butts, the two sharing the points and the purse. The trophy was settled by a scorecard playoff, and Butts claimed it — completing the double-dip on a day he had only come to Illinois to visit family. Edward Pavese of Mattoon, IL and Greg Mitchell of Findlay, IL tied for third at net 5-over 77. Johnson’s net 72 came on the same card that earned him a share of second in Division 3.
The closest-to-the-pin prize went to Alex Cronin, who stuck his tee shot to 7 feet 1 inch on the par-3 4th — a hole that gave up just one birdie all day — and collected $440 for it.
That is another one in the books for the Central Illinois chapter as the 2027 season rolls on. Keep an eye on the chapter schedule for the next stop.
