Falcon Lakes Golf Club Season Opening Tournament Results

The 2022 Season Opener at Falcon Lakes was the epitome of Kansas weather!  Cold, cloudy and gale force winds on Saturday and Sunny, warm and a light breeze on Sunday!  Just another weekend in Kansas!  The course was absolutely pure both days despite some rain last week.  The greens were fast and true, which made for some tricky putting in the high winds on Saturday as the ball would get blown around by the wind.  Despite that, 104 guys stuck it out and were rewarded on Sunday with some great golfing weather!  With a $5,250 prize pool on the line, along with a really cool trophy and Nelson Hill scorecard holder on the line, Sunday turned out to be a banger!

We had three playoffs for first place this Sunday.  Kicking it off in Division 1 were Jacob Bruhn and Larry Langley.  Jacob turned in the round of the day on Saturday, being the only player to post a sub 80 round in those brutal conditions.  Larry was right there with him until he had a struggle on the 18^th hole.  On Sunday, Alex Fortuna came out hot, making every putt he looked at, going 2 under through 8 holes.  A lipped out par putt on the 9^th saw him 1 under through 9, leading the event now by a couple strokes as Jacob was not firing on all cylinders and Larry was creeping up the leader board.  On the back 9, Alex’s putter went cold and had a hard double double finish.  Larry needed to drain a 25ft putt on the 18^th to tie Jacob and shoot a tournament best 76, and he did.  It took two playoff holes on 18 before Larry lost a drive right into the hazard, and Jacob just needed to make a par to win.  This is Jacob’s first win on tour, but it’s been coming!  He takes home $420 in a Visa gift card along with the trophy and scorecard holder.

Sunday and the win was up for grabs in Division 2, with four guys all having a shot at taking home the win.  Pat Macy, Josh Ackerman, Travis Bryant and Brian Vance were coming down the stretch within a few strokes of one another.  But by the time the 18^th hole came around for Pat and Josh, Travis and Brian had just finished, with Travis finishing with a two day total of 20 over and Brian at 22 over, with both Pat and Josh sitting at 19 over.  With Travis waiting anxiously to see how they finish, both players kept it together and finished with a par to make it a 2 way playoff.   They went back to play 18, and it only took one hole.  Pat made a par with Josh making a bogey.  This was both players first events with the APT and they both did incredibly well and kept the nerves under control.  Great first win for Pat!  He takes home $525 along with the trophy and scorecard holder.

In Division 3, there was a lot of players close after day 1, with 6 guys within 2 strokes of the lead.  On day 2, a couple guys just didn’t have it, and trimmed that group to 4 players battling it out back and forth.  By the turn, the winner was bound to come out of a group of 3 players – Cliff Austin, Beau Wilshire and Brian Taylor.  Taylor and Wilshire were tied after the front 9 on Sunday, both carding impressive 39’s.  On the back, Taylor showed his home course advantage and despite a bad hole, was able to keep it together while Wilshire made a couple of mistakes.  Taylor’s solid finish and impressive round of 77 gave him a 4 shot win over Wilshire, who played great for his first ever event with the APT.  Taylor wins $720 and the trophy and scorecard holder.

Saturday had only 4 players shoot sub 90 in Division 4 with those conditions.  Jim Reeves, Darren Fichtner, Andrew Zeigler, and Todd Gurss.  Gurss had a one stroke lead over Zeigler going into Sunday, with Reeves only 2 strokes behind and Fichtner 4 back.  Troy St. Clair, Eric Lynch, Al Tison and Michael Roane all made a move up the leader board on Sunday, but it ended up being a battle between Zeigler and Gurss.  Zeigler had the round of the event in D4 on Sunday, carding a solid 84, while Gurss struggled coming home and shot an 88 to take second over Troy St. Clair, who shot an impressive 85 along with Eric Lynch, to both move way up the leader board and finish 3^rd and 4^th respectively.  Zeigler starts off 2022 with a solid win in testing conditions and takes home $600 along with the trophy and scorecard holder.

Rocky Metcalf came into day 2 leading Division 5 by 5 strokes over Paul Orovets, and 6 strokes over Robert Rosenbaum and Leroy Barnes.  Day 2 proved to be a struggle for Rocky and Rosenbaum, while Leroy and Justin Bennet had the rounds of the day shooting 88.  Leroy’s solid par par par finish still had him 3 strokes behind Orovets, but a rocky finish from Orovets ended up with both players in a playoff.  They went down hole 1 to decide the winner, and Leroy had an unfortunate 3 putt for a bogey while Paul made a nice par to take the win.  Paul is now a multiple winner on the APT, and hoping he can play well enough to get into D4 soon!  Paul takes home $420 along with the trophy and scorecard holder.