Bloomington Men's City Golf Qualifier comes down to final shot
Jim Gordillo
Doak Henry Jr. and Logan Vernon took 142 swings in the final round of the Bloomington City Golf Tournament Men's Qualifier on Sunday.
Looking back on his nearly equal share, Vernon is wondering where he might have saved himself another shot, just as Henry could easily find where executing a critical shot or two may have saved him.
Start maybe with Henry's tee shot on the final hole with the duo tied, though neither said they were quite sure that was the case. "Honestly, I had no idea," said Vernon, who figured it must have been close. He sent his tee shot right of the fairway and dropped his club in disgust.
First round coverage:Par hard to beat in opening round of City Golf Qualifier
Henry, who had been keeping careful track for a time and stopped for his own sake, sent his rocket just over the guardian tree. It rolled to the back of the green, waiting for the others to eventually send their chips to exactly the same area.
Two putts later, Henry had a birdie and the win when Vernon settled for par.
"I had the whole group's scores down for most of the day," said Henry, who also had tourney leaders Brian Muehlhaus and Harrison Carmichael in his foursome. "And then I made bogey on 16. At that point, I just tried to keep playing.
"I thought we might have been tied going to the last hole, but I wasn't positive. I was just glad to hit a good, solid tee shot on the last hole. It helped quite a bit."
It's the first City Qualifier title for Henry, who won his first City Tournament match play title in 2019. He covered Cascades with a 70 to go from one down to one up and a 139.
"I wasn't hitting the ball particularly solid, so I tried to at least leave myself in spots where I'm comfortable getting up and down. It doesn't always work."
Earlier in the day, Gary EuDaly wrapped up the Senior title and Dan Neubekcer took the Super Seniors crown. Both were first-round leaders. Interestingly, all three champions shot 70s on Sunday.
Vernon started off with a double bogey on No. 1, then had 14 pars after that along with two birdies to finish at one-over 72. Henry led by two at the turn but two bogeys evened it up.
"I definitely don't feel like I played the greatest," said Vernon, who had the defending City champ, Jace Day, as his caddy. "I got off to a pretty rough start but I was happy with how I bounced back.
"I played pretty well on the back, but overall, the past two days were solid. The putting was good. The ball striking was pretty good. Just got to keep it going for when match play starts."
That will be on July 9.
"Getting through this weekend is the more stressful part," Henry said. "Match play is the fun part."
A new Neubecker
Neubecker was also a first-time City Qualifier champ, using a rebuilt swing to make himself more of a contender this year. He noticed a positive change right before winning the Medalist.
"Those things take a while and it finally kind of took hold in the past few weeks," he said "So I've been playing a lot better.
"That's the hard part about it. You can practice and practice until its something you don't have to think about it and I don't think about it any more."
He ran out to a two-under 33 on the front nine and had just one adventurous hole on the back to cruise in four shots ahead of Rory Brown at 67-70—137.
"At the Medalist, I went into that, I had no idea I might win it," Neubecker said. "And really, I didn't put any pressure on myself and I did the same thing yesterday and today. I just played relaxed.
"I was less aggressive today, just trying not to make mistakes. I pulled one (out of bounds) on 13, but otherwise played good."
EuDaly wins Seniors
EuDaly (144) won his third Senior Qualifying Tournament with two consistent rounds of play.
He might have gone into the second round with a bigger lead than one after shooting a 73, but had no problem keeping the top spot with 75s from runner-up Mark Chestnutwood (149) and Matt Till the second-best rounds of the field. Todd May (152) finished third.
"I actually hit the ball better yesterday," EuDaly said. "But I hit the 18th tee shot out of bounds and took a 7. Both rounds were very similar just the one hole I messed up on.
"I played solid. I don't think I had any three putts. Hit a lot of greens and kept it mostly between the tree rows."
He also worked around some tricky pin placements and rain-starved areas by the greens to keep the ball below the cup.
"Some of the holes you had to play the old-style bump and run shots," he said.
Second-day surges
Several players came back with strong rounds on the final day to push themselves up into the top three.
In the Men's division, Jason Bannister, the rising sophomore from the University of Southern Indiana and winner of the Medalist two weeks ago, fired a two-under 69 to move into third and a tie with former champ Nick Burris.
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Burris, Brad McLaughlin and Mitch Oard also had even par rounds of 71 to put themselves in the top seven.
In the Super Seniors, Brown found himself in second place after he posted the day's best round of 68, with six birdies, to finish at 141. He started his day by making a 60-plus foot putt that covered the entire green. After topping his drive.
"I hit it a little bit closer and I putted a lot better," Brown said. "Yesterday, I couldn't get anything to go in. Hey, I'm happy being second."
Mike Vernon also had one of his best rounds of the year, shooting a 70 that included an eagle on No. 11. He sank a gap wedge from about 100 yards out and it helped push him into third place with a 145.
"I was three-over going into No. 8," Vernon said. "And then birdied 8, chipped in on 9 for a birdie, hit second shot (on 11) for eagle. Had pars and birdied the last hole.
"I've been hitting the ball, I just haven't been able to score."
Top 15 qualifiers
With all three defending champs returning in Day, Jim Alexander and Ike Martin, just the top 15 made the Championship flights for match play that begins on July 9.
There was just one tie and it came in the Men's division where Justin Fox and Simon Deliyannis each shot 155s for 15th. Fox won the first playoff hole with a double bogey.
In the seniors, the last spot was grabbed by Brett Daniels by a stroke over Burke Geene. Both had 81s Sunday, but Daniel's 87 on Saturday was the difference. Gary Blackwell and Ross Grimes each had 80s, six shots better than Round 1, for 166s that got them in the field as well.
In the Super Seniors, Fred Cooksey was 15th (164) by a three-shot margin. Rob Vernon (75) and John Cantwell (78) both bounced back from 85s to make the field as well.
Looking ahead
Interesting matchups to look forward to include a Vernon v. Vernon matchup in the Super Seniors between Mike and Robbie. The brothers (Mike's older by two years and a grandfather to Logan) tangled in the semifinals in 2018, with Robbie pulling the 'upset'.
Rewind:Robbie beats big brother in battle of Vernons
Another brother, Chuck, also made the championship flight in the Seniors and opens against Lance Ringler in an 8-9 matchup. Brian Muehlhaus vs. Charles Osborne and George Finley vs. Robin Harper make the other two 8-9 meetings.
Looking for long hitters? No. 7 Mitch Oard vs. No. 10 Harrison Carmichael is a best bet.
Still time to enter
For those still wishing to enter the men's regular, women's and junior flights, the entry deadline is July 4. Players must turn in a qualifying round at Cascades by then.
Entry fee is $15 for regular and women's while juniors are free.
The tourney is open to all golfers from Monroe and surrounding counties (Greene, Owen, Brown, Morgan and Lawrence). A minimum of four players are required for each bracket.
Contact the Cascades Pro Shop for more details or to sign up.
BLOOMINGTON CITY GOLF QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT
MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
Top 15: Doak Henry 69-70—139; Logan Vernon 68-72—140; Jason Bannister 75-69—144; Nick Burris 73-71—144; Brad McLaughlin 74-71—145; Charles Osborne 75-72—147; Mitch Oard 76-71—147; Harrison Carmichael 72-75—147; Brian Muehlhaus 73-74—147; Darren Fuller 73-76—149; Sam Wise 78-72—150; Tyler Jordan 79-72—151; Matt Newman 79-73—152; Chad Osborne 73-79—152; *Justin Fox 76-79—155
Missed cut: Simon Deliyannis 81-74—155; George Adams 80-76—156; Matt Jacobs 82-76—158; Darin Woodley 78-80—158; Jeremy Wise 81-79—160; Robert Wise 84-78—162; Jordan Santa 81-82—163; Hunter Desilets 83-81—164; Cole Parker 86-81—167; Nick Zwissler 83-85—168; Brian Wise 83-86—169; Joe Stratton 87-83—170; Jason Storm 83-87—170; Brad Scroggins 85-88—173; Dillon Donovan 96-78—174; David Tiwari 112-104—216; Matthew Seifers 83-WD; Jim Southern 87-WD
*Won first hole of playoff
SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Top 15: Gary EuDaly 74-70—144; Mark Chestnutwood 74-75—149; Todd May 75-77—152; Tim Gillespie 76-78—154; Matt Till 81-75—156; Lance Ringler 78-78—156; Brad Leach 79-77—156; Charles Combs 80-78—158; Chuck Vernon 82-76—158; Steve Sims 75-86—161; John Kaser 80-84—164; Gary Walls 83-82—165; Gary Blackwell 86-80—166; Ross Grimes 86-80—166; Brett Daniels 87-81—168
Missed cut: Burke Geene 88-81—169; KwangRok Kim 90-93—183; Dan Smith 97-88—185; Jan Bond 92-94—186; Rick Scherer 101-93—194; Matthew Grubb 88-WD
SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Top 15: Dan Neubecker 67-70—137; Rory Brown 73-68—141; Mike Vernon 75-70—145; Ron Shiflet 70-76—146; Jeff Smith 71-75—146; Don Chastain 75-74—149; George Finley 74-79—153; Robin Harper 75-80—155; David Devitt 73-82—155; Joe Beane 78-78—156; Dick Meacham 79-79—158; Rob Vernon 85-75—160; Rick Miracle 76-84—160; John Cantwell 85-78—163; Fred Cooksey 82-82—164
Missed cut: Kirby Gann 82-85—167; Marty Hutsell 86-85—171; Brian Werth 86-87—173; Doak Henry Sr 88-WD; Sam Jantaraweragul 89-DQ.
MATCH PLAY FIRST ROUND PAIRINGS
July 8
MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Jace Day vs. [16] Justin Fox; [8] Charles Osborne vs. [9] Brian Muehlhaus
[4] Jason Bannister vs. [13] Tyler Jordan; [5] Nick Burris vs. [12] Sam Wise
[2] Doak Henry vs. [15] Chad Osborne; [7] Mitch Oard vs. [10] Harrison Carmichael
[3] Logan Vernon vs. [14] Matt Newman; [6] Brad McLaughlin vs. [11] Darren Fuller
SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Jim Alexander vs. [16] Brett Daniels; [8] Lance Ringler vs. [9] Chuck Vernon
[4] Todd May vs. [13] Gary Walls; [5] Tim Gillespie vs. [12] John Kaser
[2] Gary EuDaly vs. Gary Blackwell; [7] Brad Leach vs. [10] Charles Combs
[3] Mark Chestnutwood vs [14] Ross Grimes; [6] Matt Till vs. [11] Steve Sims
SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Ike Martin vs. [16] Fred Cooksey; [8] George Finley vs. [9] Robin Harper
[4] Mike Vernon vs. [13] Rob Vernon; [5] Jeff Smith vs. [12] Dick Meacham
[2] Dan Neubecker vs. [15] John Cantwell; [7] Don Chastain vs. [10] Dave Devitt
[3] Rory Brown vs. [14] Rick Miracle; [6] Ron Shiflet vs. [11] Joe Beane
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.