The SunBird Men’s Golf Club held its second to last meeting of the 2018-2019 season on Tuesday, March 5. The main order of business was the election of officers and the introduction of committee chairs for the 2019-2020 season. Officers elected were Fred Nixon, president; Bob Johns, vice president; and Patrick Leach, treasurer. The position of secretary is still to be filled. Many thanks to Dan Carroll, current president, and Gary Popelka, current secretary, for their efforts and leadership during the past season.
Committee chairs for the coming season are Membership: Fred Garmeson; Tournaments: Don Hunt and Wayne Onyx, assistant; Rules: Gerry Tomlinson and Dave White, assistant; Home and Home: Gene Dunbar and assistants Glenn Ketchum and Wayne Onyx; Shoot Outs: George Jones; Social: Scott Moore; Hole-in-One: Don Hunt; and News: Norm Ott.
Events scheduled for the last month included stroke/net play on February 7, the Club Championship on February 14 and 21 and the first leg of a Home and Home with Sun Lakes on the 28th. Other events in addition to regular Thursday play were the Men’s Net Shoot Out on February 17 and the Couple’s Gross Shoot Out on March 3. The Shoot Out events are reported separately. Rounding out the month’s activities was the completion of the Men’s Match Play Challenge.
There were four flights in the stroke/net play on the 7th. The gross winners, respectively, by flight were Jack Cooper 64, Don Hunt 70, Al Lundeen 74 and John Campbell 73. The net winners, respectively, were Jack Cooper 59, Wes Terry 58, Bill Barkley 56 and John Campbell 55. Net scores are the player’s total or gross score minus the handicap.
The Club Championship was supposed to be a two-week, total gross score tournament; however, due to the heavy rains on the 21st, the final round was canceled, so the champions were determined with only one week’s play. There were five flights, determined by handicap, in this event. The player with the lowest gross score out of the total field is named Club Champion. This season’s Club Champion and playing out of the first flight is Fred Nixon with a score of 65, one under par. The remaining four flight winners were, respectively, Don Hunt 69, John Franklin 74, Howard Anderson 75 and Roy Comeau 78.
In the match play challenge, 61 golfers were divided into eight bracketed flights according to handicaps. Each flight starts with four two-person brackets. The two players play against each other with the winner proceeding to the next bracket. The survivor in each main bracket, after three rounds, is declared the winner. The bracket winners were: Championship Bracket: Rod McInnis, Hogan Bracket: Doug Latham, Trevino Bracket: Lew Lepore, Palmer Bracket: Earl Walker, Mickelson Bracket: Jim Croghan, Watson Bracket: Bill Barkley, McElroy Bracket: Laverne Schaffer and Fowler Bracket: John LeMaster. Note the famous PGA names as bracket titles.