The Amateur Players Tour – Rocky Mountain Chapter made their way to Midway, UT for the Mid-Season Mountain Melee on July 16th-17th, 2021. The 36-hole tournament was played on the Silver and Gold Courses at Soldier Hollow Golf Course, the home of the XIX Winter Olympics in 2002, that saw the grounds used to crown medalists in Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, and Nordic Combined. On this weekend however, a different kind of shooting and racing was held at 63 players across 5 divisions were looking to aim high and shoot low on their way to earning points and prize purse winnings.
In Division 1, Danny Meaders (148) continues to tune-up ahead of his September Q-School ambitions, firing 72-76 and claiming the $185 first place prize money.
A crowded leaderboard after round 1 found Jeff Clifford again at the top, after an opening round 76. Day 2 however would belong to Michael Hollan (152) who shot an impressive even par 72 on the gold course to nip Jay DeJesus (154) by two strokes. Hollan trailed by four strokes entering the final round, but did not let that deter him in claiming his second consecutive win on the APT. Jeff Clifford (155) hung on for third place, one shot better than Brandon Ballif (156), rounding out the Division 2 money finishers.
Division 3 would feature a comeback champion as well, with Justin Burk (155) erasing the two-shot lead of Mani Kottaichamy (160) to claim his first win on the Amateur Players Tour. Mike Brown (159) and Luke Barritt (159) tied for second place, with Brown taking home second place prize money on the USGA scorecard playoff (39 to 40). Kottaichamy finished in 4th place and Dustin Criddle (161) took home 5th place money.
36 holes would not be enough to determine the Division 4 champion. David North (163) shot his competitive personal best 76 on the first round to stake himself to a one-shot lead over Brayden Robinson (163) heading into Saturday. It was Andrew Pace (163) however who stole the focus during the second round, chipping away at a 7-shot deficit with a balanced 40-40 and found himself with a putt to win outright on the 18th green. The putt would skirt the edge however and all 3 players; North, Robinson, and Pace were headed to an on-course playoff. The players returned to 18, in which Pace was eliminated with a double bogey, while North/Robinson advanced with bogey. On the second playoff hole, again played on #18, North would find another bogey while Robinson faltered with a double bogey to give David North his first APT win! 2nd place prize money went to Pace, who defeated Robinson on the scorecard playoff with a better back nine (40:41)
Mike Eames (186) has been crisscrossing the USA in search of his first win on Tour and can now call himself a champion after his perseverance paid off with a one-shot victory in Division 5 over Naveen Ravindran (187). Joshua Madden (188) finished in third place; two shots back. In the Division 5 Net game, Ravindran claimed the tournament trophy for the third consecutive event (146), edging out Joshua Madden (147) by one stroke.
Overall CTPs were won by David North, Garrett Danielson x 2, Dennis McGraw, Jeff Clifford, Blake Stevenson, Brian Bowden, Dustin Criddle, Jay DeJesus, and Brian Harris. Super Skins were claimed by Brandon Ballif, Jeff Clifford, Michael Collins, Brian Bowden x2, Danny Meaders, Jay DeJesus, Brian Harris, and Josh Henshaw.
The final contest of the weekend featured “Make Mark and Luke Feel The Blues”, which sought to award TWO BlueTees Series 3 RangeFinders in a blind draw NET two-man best ball competition. 26 teams teed it up on Friday, in which the only criteria to advance in the competition was to beat the NET score of Mark Amann and Luke Barritt (-7). Twelve teams equaled or tied Amann/Barritt, advancing to Saturday’s play. On Saturday, the team from Saturday’s NET score ONLY would be deemed winners of the contest. In the event that Barritt/Amann was the best score, the rules dictated that a random draw of ALL participants would determine the winner; giving a second chance opportunity to all players. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the Rocky Mountain Chapter Owners held serve, firing an 11-under 61 on Saturday, tying atop the board with Brayden Robinson and Matt Stevenson. To the USGA scorecard, in which Amann/Barritt prevailed with a better back 9 (30 to 31). The random drawing will be live-streamed on Monday, July 19th to determine the winners of the BlueTees RangeFinders!
Congratulations to all of our Division Champions and various winners. Next Up: A trip north to the private grounds of the Ogden Country Club, a single day 18-hole stroke play event on Monday, August 2nd.
