Ellwood City, PA- The 2011 Golf Channel Am Tour of Pittsburgh got its season off to a royal start as it crowned 6 champions during play of the Season Opening Tournament at Olde Stonewall Golf Club. Playing in light to moderate winds, an ominous but overcast sky all day, and after overnight rain of 1 inch had saturated the grounds 39 players from 4 different Golf Channel Am Tours took to battle on the course.
Starting with the Hogan division, Cleveland tour member Ed Ruper (84) defeated fellow Cleveland rival Dale Thompson (85) by 1 stroke. A charging Thompson came back from 6 strokes down in the final 5 holes and was tied going into the last hole but it was Ruper who eeked out the win.
In the Senior Hogan division, a competitive match between Bob Houghton (87) of the Detroit Tour held off AJ Bolyard Jr. (90) of the Pittsburgh Tour by 3 strokes in a back and forth match where both players had the lead.
The Sarazen division saw another close battle of Cleveland Tour members. Jeff Mast (86) defeated Matt Blum (87) by 1 stroke on the final hole after Blum, who had the lead going into 18, found trouble in the greenside fescue and couldn't get up and down to save the win.
Charles Blasdel (91) of the Cleveland Tour won the Senior Sarazen flight after an ambush attack by 3 other players. Pittsburgh Tour members Keith Miller and Bob Babish both tied for 2nd with a score of 92 while Peter Gitnik was one more stroke back at 93. It was the closest group finish of the day.
The Snead Division title came down to a battle between 3 players. Cleveland Tour player Charles Burger (104) held off fellow Cleveland player Bob Troha (105) and Pittsburgh member Greg Nemchick (105) as all three players were on 18 tee separated by 1 shot.
The best match of the day was from the Jones Division where a playoff decided the title. Pittsburgh Tour player Jerry O'Brien (89) went back out and made a dramatic chip-in par on the 1st playoff hole to defeat Cleveland Tour player Ted Heindel (89). O'Brien got hot down the stretch as he played the last 4 holes of regulation in 1-over par evaporating a 3 shot lead that Heindel had.
This season the Golf Channel Am Tour of Pittsburgh is joining the Am Tour's charitable ways as it is combining with the Cleveland Tour and having a 50-50 raffle along with its traditional skins games at each tournament. The proceeds of the local 50-50 raffles will be collected at each tournament and half of the total amount collected will go to the winner of the raffle and the other half will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
The winner of this week's 50-50 raffle was Charles Burger who collected 155 dollars and another 155 dollars was raised and will be donated to the JDRF at the end of the season.
The next event on the Pittsburgh Tour will be played Sunday, May 1st at Bedford Springs. We look forward to another great event and seeing you there!
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