Good weather for golf, short lived as it was | Tee to Green

The annual Captains vs. Co-Captains Tournament of the Canyon Oaks Women’s Golf Club held last week was, as usual, a close contest, albeit it was cut short because of inclement weather.

It was Karen Escott’s “Explorers” team against Cynthia Paulo’s “Peeps”. Paulo’s Peeps prevailed “barely” in both the gross and net categories, 529 to 533 and 423 to 428.

Individual gross category: 1, Susan McVicker Wever; 2, Tie, Robin Manna, Sally Pearson and Shelley Carney. 3, Karen Olson. Net Category: 1, Sue Osterholt; 2, Vickie Spelts; 3, Linda Arellano; 4, Cathy Edgar; 5, Linda Alworth. Closest to pin on hole No. 3: 1, Pearson; 2, Gayle Hutchinson; 3, Vieira. Hole No. 6: 1, Escott; 2, Osterholt; 3, Alworth.

The Canyon Oaks Women’s Golf Club also held a 3-player, 2 net best-ball Shamble format for its weekly game.

The best tee shot was selected and from there, each member played their ball until holed out. Taking first was the team of Nancy Dooly, Gina Snider and Evie Spring with a score of 116. The team of Karen Escott, Sally Pearson and Vickie Spelts finished in the second spot at 121.

Closest to pin on No. 11: 1, Karen Escott; 2, Nancy Vieira; 3, Shelley Carney. Hole No. 6: 1, Escott; 2, Osterholt; 3, Alworth.

Bidwell Park Golf Course

Kelly MacKinnon continued her winning ways in the Bidwell Women’s Golf Club’s monthly Pro-Points tournament.

MacKinnon was low gross in the first flight with a score of 92. Karla Dreiss and Sheila McMurphy tied for low net at 72.

Second flight low gross: Sandy Fortino, 102. Net category: 1, Barbara Albers, 75; 2, Irma Jenkins, 78; 3, Donna Ensele, 79. Third flight low gross: Liz Mosher, 104. Net: 1, tie, Linda Mowell and Sue Blizman, 75; 3, Deena Cooper, 77. Closest to pin on No. 4: 1, Shelley Connolly; 2, Albers. Bidwell is still playing a little tough, because of the wet conditions, but not much longer.

Butte Creek Country Club

It was a good turnout of the senior men’s club members, with 15 teams participating in its monthly tournament.

The team of Ed Anderson and Mike Lim played a bogie-free round in the 2-Man Blind Draw Scramble format, shooting a gross score of 68 and a net score of 64.04 to take both the low gross and low net stipends. The old “Ham & Egg” adage was definitely the deciding factor.

The team of Mike Bechtol and Rovane Younger took second low net with a score of 66.88 by a mere 0.03 of a point. The team of Gary Crane and Jim Westcott, along with the team of Erv Alves and John Olsen, tied for the third spot at 66.91. Rounding out the payout in golf shop credit was the team of Royal “Aire” Hawkley and Richard O’Sullivan, with a score of 67.16 to take the fifth spot. The scores were close, to say the least.

The Butte Creek Women’s Golf Club weekly tournament was a Step Aside Scramble, meaning whose shot is chosen, that person is ineligible to hit on the next shot.

There was a good turnout of 26 members taking advantage of the great weather as short-lived as it was. There was a two-way tie for first place, with a score of 55, between the team of Joan Bequette, Sally Hayes, Pam Miller and a blind draw, and the team of Janet Alves, Paula Sands, Pat Stephenson and a blind draw.

The third spot was won by the team of Tami Blofsky, Cilla Hauer, Barbara Joronen and Sherri Kimmelshue with a score of 57.

Chico-Paradise SIR’s Golf Club

The Chico-Paradise SIR’s traveled up to Red Bluff and played a 4-Man Scramble format at Wilcox Oaks GC for its semi-monthly tournament last week.

The club’s guru, Darrell Hands, reported that the course in general was in great shape, especially the greens. Apparently, Rich Reynolds’ move from Butte Creek, as an assistant golf professional, up to Wilcox Oaks as its general manager and PGA head golf professional was beneficial, not only for Reynolds, but also for Wilcox Oaks.

The good turnout of the SIR’s members enabled the payouts to go down to fourth place.

Taking first was the team of Sam Davis, Darrell Hands, Cap Porterfield and Craig Herman with a score of 61.

The scores of the other teams finishing in the money were really close. No. 2, Jim Barger, Bob Mabrey, Dennis McNamara and Gary White, 62.0; 3, Dave Barnum, Mike Lim, Charles Staser and Jim Weidert, 62.3; 4, Ron Griffin, Richard Nussbaum, Ron Peterson and Benny Sommer, 62.7. Closest to pin contest: Hole No. 4: 1, Staser; 2, Mabrey. Hole No. 8: 1, Dennis Bruggman; 2, Rich Carlson. Hole No. 15: 1, Mabrey; 2, Weidert. Hole No. 18: 1, Carlson; 2, Don Lampe.

Junior golf

Livy Woodward won an unprecedented seven tournaments in a row in the U.S. Kids Central Valley Tour girls’ 8-and-under division, as a result of her win last weekend in the Tour Championship Tournament at Rancho Solano GC in Fairfield. Woodward shot another subpar round of 35 to easily win the tournament and the title, dominating her opponents in the process. Awesome.

Nine-year-old Alex Baca tied for second place in the U.S. Kids, Sacramento Tour Tournament at Mather GG last weekends with a score of 44. Congratulations!

Spectacular shots

Ed Anderson (aka, “yours truly,” as Ted Blofsky refers to me) scored an eagle two on the 16th hole at Butte Creek during the senior men’s weekly outing. Witnessing the ball being retrieved from the hole, because no one actually saw it disappear into the cup, following the 137-yard, 24-degree hybrid approach shot, were Cliff Kitayama, Ray Parker, Denny Varley and Rovane Younger.

Greg Martin eagled the par 5, 10th hole at Butte Creek last Friday, albeit he made it look easy. Reaching the green in two, Martin sank his putt for a 3 on the scorecard. Martin’s teammates were, Jim Westcott, Ray Parker, Cliff Kitayama and Erv Alves.

Carla Fritzler, a member of Butte Creek, traveled out-of-town recently to achieve her first hole-in-one. Fritzler aced the 17th hole at the Shadowridge GC in Palm Desert. Witnessing Fritzler’s perfect 94-yard, 7-iron tee shot find the bottom of the cup, was her husband, Mark.

Ed Anderson’s local golf column appears Tuesdays. He can be reached at edanderson1936@gmail.com.