Local senior golfers Jeff Floyd, Cy Mandle and David Throckmorton from Union’s Triple Crown Country Club combined with Triple Crown professional CJ Jones to win June’s Kentucky Professional Golf Association Pro-Senior Event #1.
The foursome shot 22-under-par 118 and won the first-place purse of $1,200 at Louisville’s Big Spring Country Club. Seniors age 50 and up are eligible to play with the pros.
Traditions Golf Club assistant Aaron Eldridge of Hebron was the overall pro individual stroke-play champion at the event with a final score of 8-under 62.
Eldridge was part of the foursome including Kurt Kuhl, Steve Locke and Rob Petrey, also from Traditions. They tied for sixth at the Kentucky Pro-Senior Event at 18-under 122.
Elsewhere around the links:
TRADITIONS FOURSOME SHINES AT BILL LONG MEGA
The Traditions Golf Club foursome of Aaron Eldridge, Rob Petrey, Kevin Williams and Chuck Maricle tied for fourth at the annual Bill Long Mega event. They carded 17-under 127, two shots behind the winners in a two-best-balls/net scoring format. Eldridge was the area’s overall individual low pro, tying for second with a score of 5-under-par 67 at Wildwood Country Club in Louisville.
Two other area foursomes finished in the top 10 at the event. Triple Crown Country Club’s Jones, Jeff Wandell, Darrell Dehner and Robert Barnes tied for sixth at 16-under 128. Jones tied for fifth in the overall individual low pro standings with a score of 3-under 69.
Summit Hills Country Club’s Tom Walters, Tom Weipert, Mark Wendling and Greg Depenbrock tied for 10th at the Bill Long Mega with a score of 15-under 129. Event champions at 19-under 125 are David Huffman, Daniel McGaha, Chad Long and Josh Jarvi from South Park Country Club.
ELDRIDGE EXCELS AT KGA PRO-PRO
Eldridge paired with Nevel Meade Golf Course pro Robert Costello to place third at the Kentucky Professional Golf Association Pro-Pro Tournament at Audubon Country Club in Louisville. The duo combined to shoot 6-under-par 66. Eldridge tied for fourth in the individual professional competition at 2-under 70.
OKUDA TAKES ON KENTUCKY WOMEN’S AMATEUR
Ryle High School golfer Anika Okuda placed in a tie for ninth at the 97th Kentucky Women’s Amateur Championship at Nevel Meade in Prospect. Okuda, a rising senior at Ryle, placed second at last fall’s Region 7 tournament for the regional team champion Raiders.
Lexington’s C.A. Carter defeated Eddyville’s Cathryn Brown, a fellow University of Kentucky golfer, 1-up in the Women’s Amateur final. They emerged from a field of 31 in the championship division following one day of stroke play qualifying and two days of match play.
FULDNER RE-EMERGES IN POINTS RACE
Alexandria’s Eric Fuldner is the early leader among locals in the points race for top Kentucky men’s amateur golfer. Fuldner has accrued 45 points after one tournament. He is tied for 25th place in the race for the annual John C. Owens Award, which goes to the yearly points leader.
Ben Kendrick of Louisville and Clay Pendergrass of Richmond are co-leaders with 300 points each. Fuldner finished 13th in last year’s Kentucky points race with 589.29.
KENTUCKY MEN’S AMATEUR UNDERWAY
The 111th Kentucky Men’s Amateur Championship has teed off at Lexington Country Club. The three-day event running through Wednesday hosts 156 of Kentucky’s best amateur golfers. They tee it up for 54 holes of stroke play. There is a second-day cut to the top 70 players and ties. Among the experienced locals in the field are Alexandria’s Fuldner and local senior standout Lance Lucas from Union. Lucas won the 2018 Kentucky Senior Amateur at Louisville’s Persimmon Ridge Golf Club.
Former Ryle and Northern Kentucky University golfer Jacob Poore and one-time Highlands golfer Justin Gabbard, who golfed at NKU and Xavier University, are also in the field. Recently graduated Covington Catholic senior Ben Unkraut, who has committed to Transylvania University, is also playing. Unkraut is from Florence. Another Florence golfer, former Cooper standout and current University of Cincinnati player Rylan Wotherspoon, also tees it up this week in Lexington.
KENTUCKY PRO-LADY TEES OFF
Aaron Eldridge is back in action today at the Kentucky Golf Association’s Pro-Lady Tournament at Greenbrier Golf and Country Club in Lexington. He’s teaming with Heather Hann from Pendleton Hills, Natalie Johnson and Clara Woods. It’s an 18-hole event with a two-best-balls scoring format using 100% of the players’ handicap index.
Another foursome of note in the field includes pro Adam Fangman, assistant at Lassing Pointe and Boone Links golf courses. He’s playing with young sisters Nora Anthony, age 13, and Reese Anthony, 9, from Hebron, plus Maddi Hudson. Fangman is a US Kids Golf Certified Coach, now a Level 3, the highest current level of US Kids Certification. The Anthony sisters are quickly on the rise. There’s also an individual professional stroke-play competition.