Wildwood Golf Course

GOLF CHANNEL Amateur Tour
Louisiana / East Texas

Village Mills, Tx -



John Jeffrey of Groves, Tx in the Championship flight and J. K. Miller of Lumberton, Tx in the Palmer Flight both recorded low rounds of the tournament with a 1-over par 73 to capture wins in their respective flights. Scores were low and birdies were flying in all flights at this event.

Tournament News: http://www.thegolfchannel.com/GALeagueTournament/tournament.asp?detail=1&menuitem=10&TOURN_ID=10001074&ID=&SearchID=&source=aagt

Event Results:
http://www.thegolfchannel.com/GALeagueTournament/tournament.asp?detail=1&menuitem=16&TOURN_ID=10001074&ID=&SearchID=&source=aagt

The Course: Wildwood Golf Course – Village Mills, Texas

The weather provided some great conditions for a day of competitive golf. Fairways were tight and fast with the greens in transition from winter grass to summer Bermuda, providing some challenges and inconsistency in speed. Once again, we had another tournament which finished under 4:30 minutes and I appreciate everyone’s attention to pace of play.

I want to thank several tour members for their assistance during this event. John Oates, Mike Murphy, Leonard Peterson, Paul Whitehead (New Member) and Gil Coppersmith all pitched in from the start to assist with set-up, scoring, and the take down of signs, flags, banners, etc. Thanks to everyone for your assistance and support. I would also like to thank those of you that traveled long distances to attend this event.

The Weather: Mostly sunny with a high temperature of 77 degrees. Winds were from the NW at 5-7 mph.

The Tournament:

Championship Flight: Top 3 - John Jeffrey (73) Jimmy Neale (77), Trey Scruggs (80).



John Jeffrey of Groves, Tx captured his second tour victory of the season by shooting one of the low rounds of the day making birdies on 2, 16, and 18 to shoot 73. Jimmy Neale of Beaumont, Tx. recorded a birdie on 4 to shoot (77) and capture second place honors. Trey Scruggs of Shreveport, La rounded out the top three.


Palmer Flight: Top 3 - J.K. Miller (73), Thomas Tatum (75), Robert Corbello (78).



J.K. Miller captured his first tour victory of ’08 by shooting one of the lowest rounds of the day (73) winning by two strokes over hard charging Thomas Tatum (75) of Nacogdoches, Tx. Tatum recorded birdies on 3, 10, 11, and 18 to pull within two strokes of Miller and capture second place honors. Robert Corbello (78) of Vidor, Tx turned things around on the backside to take home another trophy with his 3rd place finish.

Sarazen / Hogan Flight: Top 3 - Dale Johnson (81), Wayne Pratt (82), Gil Coppersmith (84).

Dale Johnson of Lufkin, Tx. takes top honors and captures his second tour victory of the 2008 season in the Hogan flight by just one stroke over our newest member, Wayne Pratt of Village Mills, Tx. Pratt gave Johnson a good run for his money, but in the end, the straight hitting Dale Johnson came out on top. Rounding out the top-three just two strokes behind was Gil Coppersmith from the Houston Tour.

Snead / Jones Flight: Top 3 - Mike Haney (86), Scott Lucas (87), Greg Phillips (87), Michael East (87).

Mike Haney of Lufkin, Tx. breaks into the winner’s circle and captures his first tour win of the 2008 season. Congratulations Mike!!! We had a three-way tie for second with Scott Lucas of Lufkin, Tx. winning the scorecard playoff over Greg Phillips of Weatherford, Tx and Michael East of Lufkin, Tx. Lucas continues to make as strong showing this year capturing another runner-up trophy and adds to his growing collection of hardware and points in the race to capture the Tour Championship and a bid for the National Championship in Orlando, Fl later this year. Greg Phillips and Michael East, Lufkin, Tx battled it out on the course and the scorecard to decide third place. This was one of the closest battles I have ever seen on a scorecard playoff . In the end Greg Phillips ended up with third place honors over Michael East.

In addition to the flight winners, the following players won the skills challenges:

Closest to the pin ($65 each)

Frank Wallace, #4
Les Horner, #8
Trey Scruggs, #12
Robert Chiszar, #15

Skins Winners ($65 each)

Thomas Tatum (won with a 3), #3
Rodney Conerly (won with a 3), #13
Collier Nolte (won with a 3), #14
Thomas Tatum (won with a 4), #17

The Golf Club at Stonebridge - Bossier City, Louisiana

William Loftin of DeRidder, La - shoots the low round of the day (77) to capture his second tour victory for 2008 (Palmer flight) and increase his lead in the points race to qualify for the National Championship.

The course was in early spring condition and very green. Due to the large amounts of rain leading up to this event, the course was very wet with greens rolling about 8 on the stimp meter. The course superintendant and crew did a great job of getting the greens and the rest of the course ready for our event.

On Friday, a large storm rolled through most of East Texas and Northwest Louisiana bringing large amounts of rain and even some hail. It was looking like we might have our first rainy event of the season, but by Saturday morning things cleared up and we were blessed with another event where the weather was very nice. The course played a little longer than normal due to the wet conditions. Many of the bunkers had water after the large amount of rain leading up to this event. Due to the wet conditions, we decided to play lift, clean and place thru the green.

The staff at Stonebridge did an excellent job of getting things ready for this event. I want to thank our players and Stonebridge staff for working hard on the pace of play for this event. As a result, we were able to finish our round in 4 hrs and 25 minutes with this being the first event with foursomes.

The Weather: Mostly sunny with a high temperature of 64 degrees. Winds were from the N at 4-6 mph.

Championship Flight: Top 3: Chad Roden (79,)Trey Scruggs (80), David McElveen (82)

It was a heated battle in the Championship flight as Roden, Scruggs and McElveen battled for first place right from the first tee. Chad Roden of Forney, Tx narrowly captured his second tour victory of the season by shooting (79) over Trey Scruggs (80), Shreveport, Tx and David McElveen (82) of Lufkin, Tx.

Palmer Flight: Top 3: William Loftin (77), Bobby Annison (82), Richard Ainsworth (85)

William Loftin of Deridder, La captures his second tour victory of the season with a (77) over Bobby Annison (82) of Denham Springs, La and Richard Ainsworth (85) of Little Rock, Ar.

Hogan Flight: Top 3: Doug Free Jr. (78), Dale Johnson (80), Brandon Jones (84)

News Flash: “Golf Channel Amateur Tour Contestants captured after a 15 minute standoff at one of the local hotels in Bossier City, La.”

I think I’ve heard it all now!!! I don’t know if Tony Achord was nervous about playing in his first event or what. But he claims he and his crew almost missed our first event in Bossier City, due to a sting operation conducted at their hotel on Friday night. From what I hear they were surrounded by ATF agents with guns drawn and had to do some quick talkin’…. Can you believe Tony would make up such a story just to get the headlines at this event? Actually, Tony was telling the truth and fortunately everything worked out ok. I’ll let ya’ll ask Tony about the details, cause I can’t do justice to the story that Tony tells.

Doug Free Jr. of Shreveport, La shoots (78) to capture his first tour victory of the season and now has something to put in the soon to arrive trophy case. The straight hitting Dale Johnson of Lufkin, Tx narrowly misses his second tour victory of the season by shooting (80) Brandon Jones rounds out the top three with an (84).

Sarazen Flight: Top 3: Don Moore (84), Greg Williams (89), John Blount (92)

Don Moore (84) of Texarkana, Tx is really starting to settle into playing competitive golf and has now captured his second tour victory of the season over Greg Williams (89) of Minden, La and John Blount (92) of Denham Springs, La.

Jones Flight: Top 3: Les Horner (83), Roy Allen (86), Gary Lee (88).

Les Horner of Kirbyville, Tx captures is first tour victory of the season and now has a little hardware to show for his accomplishments over Roy Allen (86) of Lufkin, Tx. and Gary Lee (88) of Tyler, Tx.

Snead Flight: Top 3: Leonard Peterson (92), Rick Hagel (94), Scott Lucas (96)

Leonard Peterson (92) of Lufkin, Tx breaks into the winner circle and captures his first tour victory of the season in his bid for the National Championship. Rick Hagel of Hackberry, La continues to put pressure on the group and narrowly misses his first tour victory of the season. Scott Lucas (96) of Lufkin, Tx rounds out the top 3.

In addition to the flight winners, the following players won the skills challenges:

Closest to the pin ($75 each)
Rick Hagel, #3
Roy Allen, #8
Brandon Jones, #13
David McElveen, #17


Skins Winners ($50 each)
Trey Scruggs (won with a 4), #4
Doug Free Jr. (won with a 3), #7
Trey Scruggs (won with a 3), #10
Tony Achord (won with a 3), #12
Joe Hodges (won with a 3), #14
Don Moore (won with a 2), #17