Team Holthus Laps Field in Spring Golf Outing

Overcast skies and a steady drizzle in the first part of the round welcomed 22 McPherson Optimists as they teed up the ball up in the prestigious Spring Golf Outing played at the challenging Newton Sand Creek Station Golf course on June 29. The weather did not seem to hamper the team of John Holthus, John Watkins, Doug Curtright and Kenny Sims, as they blazed to 9 stroke win over their closest competitors. The "shamble" format, which allowed all members of the team to use the best drive and the first two shots on the par 5's, made for a fun way to play the round. The three best scores on each hole (out of the four player's scores) counted for the team score. Team Holthus shot only 10 over par, which clearly outpaced the other teams. The three man team of Monte Koehn, Neil Colle and Jack Rader came in second, while the team of James Nelson, Matt Morrow, Ardie Streit and Brad Miller finished third. Neil Colle won the longest putt on hole #18, while Larry Fitzmorris was the closest to the pin on hole # 7 and James Melland was closest to the pin on #17.

Following the round at Newton, most of the players moved on to Hesston to play another 18 hole tournament, this time a four person scramble. Unfortunately, the drizzle that we experienced at Newton turned into a downpour at Hesston, and we had to end the round after only nine holes of play, most of which were played in rain. The team of James Melland, Jason Hoover, Jack Rader and Kenny Sims was tied at 3 under par with the team of James Nelson, Keith Janzen and John Holthus at the end of play. The group decided to plan another 18 hole tournament a little later in the year instead of "calling it good" after only nine holes. We did have two closest to the pin winners in this round, with Larry Fitzmorris the closest on hole number 4 and James Nelson closest on hole #8.

Thanks to all those who took the day off work to play golf with your fellow Optimists. Although we didn't quite get all 36 holes played, we sure had a lot of fun. We are planning to schedule another 18 hole tournament a little later this summer or early fall.