ORLANDO, Fla. -- The 2005 Michelob ULTRA Golf Tour's National Championship came to a close after 72 holes of exciting, competitive golf.
Nearly 500 golfers competed on three championship courses at Disney World's Eagle Pines, Palm and Magnolia golf courses in Orlando, FL. The final round produced plenty of drama in all twelve flights, with many champions decided on the 72nd hole.
The low gross total for the event, and Nicklaus (Championship) Flight medalist honors, went to Danny Nungesser of Atlanta (GA). The lone competitor finishing the tournament under par, Nungesser carded a 72-hole total of 1-under-par 287 (72-77-66-72). Nungesser’s 6-under 66 at the Palm course on Saturday was the low round for the week. One stroke behind was James Bowery Jr. from Jacksonville (FL) with a total 288 (70-75-71-72), followed by Justin Hoft, also of the Jacksonville tour with a one-over-par 289 total (76-68-75-70).
On Sunday, Nungesser stood at the 18th tee on Magnolia tied at 1-under par overall with Bowery. Hoft sat two strokes back, hoping for a birdie along with some rare mistakes from the leaders to give him a chance for a playoff. Both Nungesser and Bowery placed their tee shots in the fairway. Bowery then uncharacteristically hit a low pull into the left rough about 30 yards short of the green. Nungesser landed his second in between the greenside bunkers on the left. Bowery then hit a tremendous wedge out of the thick bermuda to around 4 feet from the pin. Nungesser followed with a tentative chip shot to the green that left him a solid 8 feet from the hole.
With Bowery's amazing shot from the rough, the pressure mounted on Nungesser as he stepped up for his par putt. He got set, sighted, shot and drained the putt to finish under par for the tournament. The pressure now shifted to Bowery. His par putt to tie burned the edge to just miss a playoff.
Every player gave it their all this week and the flight champions truly earned their trophies by besting all the players from across the US in their flight.
Palmer Flight champion for 2005 is Jacksonville's Paul Hammerlund with a 4-day total of 312 (78-84-73-77). Hammarlund came from 5 strokes back to take the trophy followed closely by John Taylor (78-78-75-82) of Jacksonville and RJ Opliger (76-79-75-83) of Kansas City (MO), who both carded totals of 313 for the championship.
Denver’s (CO) Patrick Isom rode a 1-over 73 on day one to win the trophy for the Hogan Flight with a four-round total of 312 (73-79-82-78). Isom was followed by Jim Davidson of Richmond (VA) with a 325 total (81-73-83-83) and Rick Ramsey of Cincinnati (OH) with a total of 326 (84-82-83-77).
Aaron Uhle of Washington DC came from 4 shots back in the final round to capture the Sarazen Flight hardware with a tournament total of 334 (86-84-87-77). Kirk Guthrie of Dallas came just shy of the title again with a total of 341 (92-87-80-82). Third place honors went to Jacksonville's Michael Ames with a 342 total (85-85-85-87).
Matt Kehm of Tampa (FL) held on to his third round lead to capture the title of Jones Flight champion. Kehm's total of 344 (90-80-88-86) edged out fellow Tampa member Shane Mello who totaled 347 (96-84-83-84) for the tournament. Cedric Coleman of Jacksonville finished third with a 348 total (87-82-92-87).
In the Snead Flight, New York’s John Marsala took home the trophy by carding a four-round total of 362 (93-90-89-90). Ford bested South Florida’s Steven Charles (96-87-89-92) by 2 strokes. Third place in the flight went to 2004 National Champion Scott Ford of Atlanta with a total of 366 (92-89-91-94).
The senior flight champions for 2005 are Nicklaus: Jack Miles from Louisville (KY), Palmer: Kenny Robshaw from Jacksonville, Hogan: Bruce Addleman from Minneapolis (MN), Sarazen: Doug Wolford from Louisville, Jones: Rodney Pennock* from Penscola (FL), Snead: Dave Sample from Kansas City.
*won playoff
The Michelob ULTRA Golf Tour is a nationwide amateur golf tour that offers individual, stroke play golf tournaments for players of all skill levels and abilities. Players are placed in one of 12 flights (6 regular, 6 senior) based on a verifiable USGA handicap index and compete for prizes and the chance at qualifying for local and national championships. Tour members may play in tournaments across the country and the scores, statistics and standings from each city are posted every week on the national website throughout the season so that players nationwide can track players from Atlanta and other cities as the season unfolds.
For information on the Atlanta tour, access www.atlantaamateurgolf.com. Apex Golf Solutions organizes and promotes the Michelob ULTRA Golf Tour in Atlanta. Mr. Tim Patterson is the Commissioner for the Atlanta tour and he can be reached at tpatterson@ultragolftour.com or at 770-356-9253.
Get inside the ropes and play on the largest and fastest growing amateur golf tour in the nation. See you on tour in 2006!
