SWPT 2018 PPA/APA Final Statistics

	SWPT 2018				Regular	Finals	Total
	PPA	Stroke	POY	ASA	Season		Money	#	Sp	#	Mth	Ply
	FINAL	Avg	Points	Index	Winnings	Winnin	Winnin	Tm	ots	Win	W	L
1	Lee Messinger	29.07	888.0	-0.93	$1,415.00	$260.00	$1,675.00	23	4	6	1	2
2	Brice Bergesen	29.71	713.0	-0.23	$888.33	$210.00	$1,098.33	21	4	2	4	1
3	Geoff Mosk	28.97	683.0	-0.85	$860.00	$310.00	$1,170.00	18	4	2	1	1
4	Joe Lea	28.46	595.0	-1.20	$810.00	$260.00	$1,070.00	13	4	2	1	1
5	Don Parker	30.48	559.0	0.60	$405.00	$530.00	$935.00	20	4	1	2	2
6	Jeffrey Smith	29.97	535.0	-0.20	$690.00	$210.00	$900.00	19	4	1		1
7	Cliff Matthews	29.26	525.0	-0.83	$665.00	$310.00	$975.00	6	4	3
8	Rainey Statum	28.87	475.0	-0.99	$440.00	$430.00	$870.00	4	4	1
9	Mason Spradlin	30.20	426.0	0.45	$543.33	$210.00	$753.33	17	4	2	1	2
10	Jody Kimble	29.97	386.0	-0.46	$553.33	$210.00	$763.33	10	4	2		1
11	Wade Sahmel	28.23	306.0	-1.07	$410.00	$210.00	$620.00	5	4
12	John Kropinak	30.38	302.0	-0.43	$365.00	$210.00	$575.00	11	4	1	1	1
13	Danny Tatum	30.65	154.0	1.36	$90.00	$260.00	$350.00	7	4		1	1
14	Tom Adair	32.10	129.0	1.85	$10.00	$260.00	$270.00	11	4			1
15	Jeff Garrison	28.25	124.0	-1.58	$120.00		$120.00	1
16	Matt Bellner	31.75	91.0	1.60	$30.00	$210.00	$240.00	7	4		2
17	Byron Kirby	31.15	45.0	1.76				5	1		2	1
18	Jeff McDonald	30.71	40.0	1.36		$210.00	$210.00	2	4
19	Robert Cook	30.40	33.0	1.07	$20.00		$20.00	3	1			1
20	Mike Flavin	29.25	25.0	-0.58	$25.00		$25.00	1
20	Jay Klapper	29.25	25.0	-0.58	$25.00		$25.00	1
22	Monte Synder	29.50	23.0	-0.33	$15.00		$15.00	1
23	Rudy Cuellar	28.50	17.0	0.81	$20.00		$20.00	1	1
23	Jim Palisano	29.33	17.0	-0.50	$25.00		$25.00	1	1
23	Robert Johnson	30.88	17.0	0.45				1
26	Zack Martin	30.00	15.0	-0.18				1
26	Randy Reeves	30.00	15.0	-0.18				1
28	Jeff Studer	31.50	7.0	1.68				1
28	Brad Lebo	31.50	7.0	1.68				1
30	John Wilder	33.00	6.0	3.18				1

	SWPT 2018				Regular	Finals	Total
	APA	Stroke	POY	ASA	Season			#		#
	FINAL	Avg	Points	Index	Money	Money	Money	Tm	Spots	Win
1	Greg Everly	30.58	871.0	-2.30	$324.00	$90.00	$414.00	11	4	5
2	Steven Yancey	32.13	587.0	-0.37	$386.00	$55.00	$441.00	22	4	4
3	Dwain Willett	30.84	497.0	-1.65	$180.00	$60.00	$240.00	8	4	2
4	Bryan Gentry	31.78	495.0	-0.60	$252.00	$50.00	$302.00	11	4	4
5	Chris Conradi	32.85	473.0	0.31	$174.00	$70.00	$244.00	21	4
6	Greg Simpson	30.14	381.0	-1.44	$162.00	$60.00	$222.00	6	4	1
7	Todd Trent	31.37	344.0	-2.04	$126.00		$126.00	4	2	1
8	Charles Cox	28.47	296.0	-1.87	$108.00		$108.00	4	3	2
9	Scott Myers	32.79	284.0	-0.17	$141.00	$55.00	$196.00	9	4	2
10	Ken Stanfill	33.48	248.0	0.97	$85.50	$50.00	$135.50	17	4
11	Mike Huckaby	32.39	245.0	-0.44	$102.00	$55.00	$157.00	9	4
12	Gary Plain	32.04	222.0	-0.88	$99.00	$55.00	$154.00	6	4
13	Alan Sahmel	31.93	190.0	-0.64	$108.00		$108.00	5	4	1
14	Trevor Lewin	32.90	173.0	0.55	$72.00	$50.00	$122.00	11	4
15	Charles Tarbell	29.24	145.0	-1.11	$90.00		$90.00	4	2
16	Jack Ramsey	35.67	108.0	2.98	$18.00	$50.00	$68.00	11	4
17	Steve Willmann	34.71	71.0	1.18	$18.00		$18.00	5	2
18	Terry Simpson	29.00	61.0	-1.55	$108.00		$108.00	1	1
19	Jason Sheffield	32.83	48.0	0.08	$27.00	$50.00	$77.00	2	4
20	Robert Martin	36.25	45.0	5.11		$50.00	$50.00	4
21	Mickey DeLucca	37.12	40.0	3.86			$4.50	6
22	Chris Wiggins	34.22	24.0	1.48	$4.50			3
23	James Kile	32.88	14.0	0.53				1
24	Rodney Ashley	33.00	13.0	-0.45				1
25	Doug Austin		12.0					2	2

2018 Tournament Results

Don Parker Defeats Reigning National Champion to Capture SWPT PPA Championship
Greg Everly Wins APA Title to Complete his Year of Domination

On Sunday September 30th the Southwest Putting Tour players gathered for the final time as we played our tour championship consisting of 36 hole matches. There are no easy matches at the tour championship. And as has happened most of the year, the first round was interrupted by a thunderstorm that popped up out of nowhere. It soaked the course in caused a considerable delay. Once the course was cleared of any puddles, play continued and there were no further delays. Brice Bergesen, who given his recent outstanding play, had to be considered a favorite to win, fell to Tom Adair in round one 3-2. Bergesen was heard saying that Adair played great and there wasn’t much he could have done better. In what most thought at the time was an upset, Don Parker dispatched 2014 National Championship Jeffrey Smith 7-6. Other winners were Lee Messinger 4-3, Groff on the 2nd hole of SD, Danny Tatum 1up, Joe Lea 1up, and Statum 2up. In the round of eight, the great shooting continued as Matthews defeated Adair 6-5, Parker defeated Player of the Year Messinger 3-2, Groff defeated Tatum 1up, and Statum defeated 2015 national champion and two-time tour champion on this course Joe Lea 3-2. In the Semi Finals match, Parker and Statum stepped up their game to another level as they easily won their matches 4-3 and 6-5 respectively. In the Tour Finals, Parker came out hotter than a depot stove by making 10 of his first 13 holes. He was able to build up his lead to as many as six holes. But Statum being the great putter and true champion he is did not quit and mounted a furious comeback. He cut the lead to two on the back nine as the two players traded aces and covers. Going into hole 17, Statum was down one and putting first. His putt was just a bit off and he took a two. Parker could win the Tour Championship with an ace. His putt was also just barely off and we went to hole 18. Statum made hole 18 to put the pressure on Parker who had another chance to win with an ace. This time Parkers putt was just a hair off to the right and the match would go to sudden death. Statum hit a pretty putt on hole one, but it was just a hair firm and caught the right lip. For the 3rd hole in a row Parker had a chance to ace for the win. This time he would not be denied as his ball found the bottom of the cup. Parker became the 7th different player in the last seven years to win the tour championship. This was Parkers first tour championship and had the most difficult path anyone could remember. He had to defeat three different national champions and a multiple time tour champion to get the victory.

PPA PLAYOFF 2018	SWPT-LONGVIEW TEXAS	RESULT
	30 September 2018

Round of 16	Tom Adair d Brice Bergesen	3 and 2
	Cliff Matthews d Jody Kimble 4 and 2
	Lee Messinger d Matt Bellner	4 and 3
	Don Parker d Jeffrey Smith	7 and 6
	Geoff Mosk d John Kropinak	37 holes
	Danny Tatum d Mason Spradlin	1 up
	Joe Lea d Jeff McDonald	1 up
	Rainey Statum d Wade Sahmel	2 up

Round of 8	Cliff Matthews d Tom Adair	6 and 5
	Don Parker d Lee Messinger	3 and 2
	Geoff Mosk d Danny Tatum	1 up
	Rainey Statum d Joe Lea	3 and 2

Semi Finals	Don Parker d Cliff Matthews	4 and 3
	Rainey Statum d Geoff Mosk	6 and 5

Finals	Don Parker d Rainey Statum	37 holes

In the APA we had 14 players going for the Tour Champion title. By virtue of their player of the year points Nationals runner up Greg Everly and Nationals Doubles Champion Steve Yancey each had a bye and were advanced to the quarter finals. The best match of the day was played in the first round between Gary Plain and Yancey's Nationals Doubles Partner, Trevor Lewin. Lewin was 5 down going into hole 15 with just 10 holes to go. He then made 7 in a row to pull into a tie with Plain. When Lewin made hole 9 on the 3rd hole of sudden death it appeared he had won the match. But Plain topped him and we headed to the 4th hole of sudden death. Lewin barely missed his putt. Playing a z shot, Plain's ball hit the hole, then the back rail, then the front of the cup, before plopping into the hole for the win. It was a great match and had virtually all of the players watching the finish as all had either finished their match or were waiting to play. Other winners in the round of 16 were Mike Huckaby 5-4, Dwain Willett 1up, Chris Conradi 6-5, Scott Myers 1up, and defending champ Greg Simpson 2-1. There was some good play but not any real close matches in the round of 8 as the winners were now just two matches away from the title. Everly beat Huckaby 3-2. Plain used up his aces to beat Lewin and fell to Willett 4-3. Former TV contestant Chris Conradi beat player of the year runner up Yancey 6-4. Defending champ Simpson beat Scott Myers 7-5. In the Semi Finals, the favorite all year long, Everly was able to beat Willett, who won an APA title on this course back in 1989, 3-2 to advance to the finals for the second year in a row. He would face either Conradi or Simpson, who defeated him the previous year in the finals at Webster. It was not to be for the defending tour and Louisiana State champion Simpson this year as Conradi was able to squeeze out a 2-1 victory. In the finals Everly had too much game for Conradi and he claimed his 1st APA Tour championship. Welcome to the Pro Division and congratulations on your Victory Mr. Everly!

APA PLAYOFF	SWPT-LONGVIEW TX
	'30 September 2018
Round of 16	Greg Everly	Bye
	Mike Huckaby d Jason Sheffield	5 and 4
	Dwain Willett d Robert Martin	1 up
	Gary Plain d Trevor Lewin	40 holes
	Steven Yancey	Bye
	Chris Conradi d Jack Ramsey	6 and 5
	Scott Myers d Bryan Gentry	1 up
	Greg Simpson d Ken Stanfill	2 and 1

Round of 8	Greg Everly d Mike Huckaby	5 and 4
	Dwain Willett d Gary Plain	4 and 3
	Chris Conradi d Steven Yancey	6 and 4
	Greg Simpson d Scott Myers	7 and 5

Semi Finals	Greg Everly d Dwain Willett	3 and 2
	Chris Conradi d Greg Simpson	2 and 1

Finals	Greg Everly d Chris Conradi	3 and 2

Statum and Trent Tune Up for Nationals Week

The SWPT hosted a warm up event for nationals on 9/7. 19 Pros and 11 Amateurs played while some others practiced on the course the tournament was not currently being played on. Monte Snyder and Rainey Statum came out of the gate hot with opening round 25s. Nine other players were also under 30 on Course 1 after round one that also saw a rain delay in the middle of the round. With the rain came higher scores, but as would be a sign of things to come, Statum adjusted well to the conditions and held a 2 stroke lead over Brice Bergesen after two rounds at 54. For round three, the players switched to the normal tournament course. Again with the wet conditions only seven players were able to break 30. Bergesen shot a 27 and found himself in the lead at 83. Statum was the only player within 2 strokes of Bergesen, who since switching to the claw grip has been nearly unstoppable. However, stumbled down the stretch and Statum was able to overtake him and finish with a four round score of 112. In second, was Jeff Garrison who shot a 56 his last two rounds to come in at 113. It was a great warm up for the national tournaments that would start in just three days.

In the APA 33 was as low as anyone could go in round one. There were three scores in the 40s showing how difficult the course can play. Rodney Ashley and Todd Trent felt fortunate to be leading after one round. In round two, Greg Everly had the only sub 30 round in the APA with a 29 that brought him to a a tie with Bryan Gentry at 63 after two rounds. As the players switched to course 2, Everly was again the only player to break 30. He now had a two stroke lead over Todd Trent as he was in at 91 for three rounds. As in the pros, the leader had a difficult last round and finished at 125. Trent saw his opportunity playing a few groups behind Everly and had his best round of the day, at 29 to finish at 122 and win the warm up event. Even though there was a rain delay this was a great warm up for all who played as we get ready for nationals in just a few days.

	SWPT 2018						Web
	PPA						7Sept

1	Rainey Statum	25	29	31	27	112	$180.00	1
2	Jeff Garrison	27	30	29	27	113	$120.00
3	Brice Bergesen	28	28	27	31	114	$80.00
3	Wade Sahmel	28	29	30	27	114	$80.00	1
5	Joe Lea	28	30	29	28	115	$50.00
6	Lee Messinger	27	29	33	27	116	$40.00
7	John Kropinak	28	31	28	30	117	$25.00
7	Mike Flavin	31	27	31	28	117	$25.00
7	Jay Klapper	30	31	30	26	117	$25.00
10	Monte Synder	25	33	30	30	118	$15.00
11	Jody Kimble	31	27	29	32	119	$10.00
12	Geoff Mosk	31	31	29	29	120
12	Zack Martin	29	30	31	30	120
12	Randy Reeves	33	32	27	28	120
15	Jeffrey Smith	26	36	33	29	124
16	Jeff McDonald	28	32	36	30	126		1
16	Jeff Studer	31	30	32	33	126
16	Brad Lebo	32	32	30	32	126
19	John Wilder	37	34	33	28	132

	SWPT 2018						Web
	APA						7Aug

1	Todd Trent	33	30	30	29	122	$36.00
2	Greg Everly	34	29	28	34	125	$18.00
3	Chris Conradi	34	32	36	28	130	$18.00
4	Dwain Willett	37	33	31	30	131	$18.00
4	Alan Sahmel	38	33	30	30	131	$18.00
6	Rodney Ashley	33	36	31	32	132
7	Bryan Gentry	40	35	34	30	139
8	Mike Huckaby	42	35	32	31	140
9	Jack Ramsey	36	41	35	31	143		1
10	Trevor Lewin	36	37	33	39	145		1

Brice Wins "The Brice"

Brice and Dwain show the claw grip which they both went to just a month earlier

Day one

Twenty three players came out to play in the inaugural “The Brice” tournament at Webster. It was plenty warm, but with Nationals just two weeks away, it was a great tune up for the year’s biggest event. It is also a way to Honor Brice Bergesen, one of the legends of not only our Tour but all of Putt Putt. I, Geoff Mosk, am personally thankful for all that Brice has done for the Game. Most of my best friends in life have been found at Putt Putt. If not for him running the weekly tournaments at Gulf Freeway, most of us would not have found this great game and met many great people. We should not wait until someone is gone to honor them. I’m glad that I had a little bit to do with honoring Brice this weekend.

Bergesen had the honor of going first and he not only went first, he came out of the gate with the low 1^st round score of 26. Only 3 players that were able to break 30 the 1^st round and the course was playing tougher than most expected. Rainey Statum was in second place with a 27 and Mason Spradlin was three strokes back at 29. Bergesen continued to lead the event named after him with another outstanding score of 27 as he built up his lead to five strokes after just two rounds over Statum and Lee Messinger. Always tough to beat at Webster, Wade Sahmel, was six strokes back at 59 as we only had 4 players under 60 after two rounds. Sahmel had the low round of the day, an outstanding 24. to take a one stroke lead over Bergesen as those two separated themselves from the pack a bit. Joe Lea was five back at 88. Statum and Geoff Mosk were six back at 89. In the last round most of the players were gassed playing with a heat index of well over 100 degrees. Still Bergesen finished strong with a 28 and was the day one leader at 112. Statum closed even stronger with a 26 to be at 115. Sahmel stumbled to a 34 but was still in third at 117. Four more players were within nine strokes and hoping to make up some ground as we switched to course one on day two.

In the APA Todd Trent and Greg Simpson were the first round leaders with 31’s, with most other players staying close as well. Dwain Willett toed the APA low round of the day with a 26 in round two and pulled into the lead with a 60. Six other players, including Simpson at 61 and Trent at 63, were within nine strokes. Trent shot a 26 of his own in the third round to take the lead. He was the only APA player to shoot below 30 in the third round. The heat was becoming a factor for many of the players. In the last round no player was able to break 30 and some had their worst rounds of the day. When the smoke had cleared, local player and an original Gulf Freeway player, Willett was in at 122 and had a one stroke lead over Trent who had flown in for the tournament. Simpson and Steve Willman were within striking distance at 130.

Day two

The tournament started at 10am on day two and it was already steaming hot on the course. The humidity was almost 100% and sweat was pouring from most players bodies. It should be noted that the leaders in both divisions had switched to the claw grip. Statum showed Bergesen the Claw grip and he has seen a noticeable improvement in his stroke and accuracy as a result. Willett switched more recently and he is seeing noticeable results as well.

Now playing on what is referred to as the customer course because you have to walk by hole one on course one to get to hole one on course two, resulting in 80% of customers playing course one. Everyone was not only looking to make a move, but to get practice on a course that is not normally played in tournaments. Statum came out hot with a 27 that put him tied for the lead with Bergesen at 142. Sahmel was hanging close at 146, along with Messinger. Mosk had closed to within fivr strokes at 147, while Joe Lea had the low score of the round with a 26 to get within six of the lead with three rounds to go. Bergesen continued to struggle in round six with a 32. The course can give up low scores but can also go dry on you and that happened to several players. It did not happen to Statum or Sahmel as they both shot 27s and were now in first and second place at 169 and 173 with just two rounds to go. No one else was within eight strokes and it appeared to be a three man race between three local players. Bergesen, being the champion he is, got it going in round seven with a 27 and had pulled within one of Statum who was at 200. Sahmel was just 2 strokes back at 202. Mosk and Messinger were at 206 hoping to make a run the last round. In the final round, Mosk was one over after six holes and was essentially done. Messinger shot a 13 on the front and thought he might have a chance going into the back nine. None of the leaders was able to have a good front with Bergesen two under, Statum even, and Sahmel over par. Messinger shot another 13 on the back to close with a strong 26 while he waited on the leaders to finish. Sahmel finished with a 13 on the back, but came up two strokes short of tying Messinger. Statum shot a 15 on the back to come up one stroke short of the clubhouse lead. With one hole to play, Bergesen needed an ace to tie Messinger. In a similar situation back in March, he needed an ace on 18 to win and instead took a 3 to lose in a playoff. On this day his new stroke was true and his putt found the bottom of the cup setting up an 18 hole playoff. In the playoff, Messinger had two bogey strokes before making an ace on hole four. He also made the next three holes to go from two down to pull back into a tie with Bergesen with nine holes to play. On Hole 14, Bergesen made his ace, and when Messinger pushed his put a hair and hit the right triangle resulting in a bogey, he had built up a three stroke lead with four holes to go. But Messinger is one of the top players in SWPT history and would not go away. He made the final four holes, leaving Begesen with a chance to win with an ace on 18. His putt caught the lip and we were headed to sudden death. Bother players missed hole 1 and Lee went down the back hill on 2 but made his deuce putt. Bergesen with his third hole in a row where an ace could get him the win, played it out of tee dot 7 and hit slight pull that lined up perfectly. The playoff win for Brice ended a string of nine playoff losses in a row, dating back to 2010. Fittingly, Brice was the very first winner of “The Brice” and it was his second win in row.

In the APA division, there were only two scores below 30 posted all day. As Robert Johnson stated, there are many places that over strokes can be taken. It is very difficult to get thru an entire round without a bogey. Dwain Willett started off with a solid score of 30 and after five rounds had built his lead up to seven strokes over Todd Trent. Steve Willman was the only player that was still within nine strokes of the lead. Willett was solid again in round six with a 31. With Trent finding the bogey monster, the lead was now up to 13 over Trent and Greg Simpson. Willett finished with scores of 31 and 30 and he was never challenged. He finished with a fine score of 244 for eight rounds. The battle for 2^nd was tight the last two rounds. Trent was able to hold off Bryan Gentry, Steven Yancey, Alan Sahmel, and Greg Simpson for second place while those other players were able to finish in the top six and earn reimbursement money for their efforts.

Overall this was a great tune up for Nationals. Those in attendance know what they need to work on and hopefully a good time was had by all. We look forward to seeing all of our friends from the SWPT and the National players here in 2 weeks!

	SWPT 2018
	PPA

1	Brice Bergesen	26	27	31	28	30	32	27	31	232	$310.00
2	Lee Messinger	30	28	32	29	27	31	29	26	232	$210.00
3	Rainey Statum	27	31	31	26	27	27	31	33	233	$160.00	1
4	Wade Sahmel	30	29	24	34	29	27	29	32	234	$70.00	1
5	Geoff Mosk	30	31	28	30	28	30	29	34	240	$45.00
5	Mason Spradlin	29	35	27	27	31	31	28	32	240	$45.00
7	Joe Lea	30	32	26	34	26	34	29	30	241	$20.00
8	Robert Johnson	31	33	29	33	30	30	31	30	247
9	Don Parker	31	31	30	29	30	36	30	31	248
10	Jeffrey Smith	31	29	30	32	31	33	33	31	250
11	Danny Tatum	30	33	29	38	31	33	31	34	259
12	Byron Kirby	36	29	41	33	33	32	29	32	265


	SWPT 2018
	APA

1	Dwain Willett	34	26	32	30	30	31	31	30	244	$72.00	1
2	Todd Trent	31	32	26	34	34	39	32	34	262	$36.00
3	Bryan Gentry	35	36	30	30	35	32	35	31	264	$36.00
4	Steven Yancey	33	33	35	31	34	31	33	35	265	$36.00
4	Alan Sahmel	33	32	35	35	29	34	29	38	265	$36.00	1
6	Greg Simpson	31	31	30	38	35	31	37	33	266	$36.00
7	Ken Stanfill	37	32	31	36	31	34	35	32	268
8	Steve Willmann	33	32	34	31	31	36	35	41	273
9	Chris Conradi	39	37	36	33	35	31	33	37	281
10	Jack Ramsey	39	42	30	32	39	34	34	32	282
11	Mickey DeLucca	38	33	40	36	41	47	35	32	302

Cliff Matthews Wins Mike Baldoza Texas Open

23 players participated in the Mike Baldoza Texas Open July 28^th and 29^th at the Putt Putt Course in Tyler. Temperatures were expected to be at or near 100 degrees, but an unexpected light rain in the early morning hours kept it to a more bearable 93 degrees on Saturday. The Tyler course has some hole that you will not find anywhere else, like the famous Gator Hole, and is always a fun course to play. On Day 1 every player had at least one round of 30 or more on the difficult course. In the PPA first round, 2 time National Champion and Hall of Famer Cliff Matthews had a 28 to take a one stroke lead over Wade Sahmel, Mason Spradlin, Rainey Statum, and Lee Messinger. In round two, Matthews extended his lead to two strokes but all but one was still within six strokes of the lead. As happens to everyone at some point, Matthews had a 32 in round three and the field tightened. It was clear that no one would be able to run away in this event, which is normal for tournaments at Tyler as it is always very close. At the end of day 1 Spradlin had carved out a one stroke lead at 116 with seven other players within three strokes of the lead. Everyone knew it was going to come down to the last round on day two to determine a champion.

In the APA division Greg Everly looked to win Back to Back Texas Opens and he came out hot. Everly and Ken Stanfill both shot opening rounds of 28 to be the first round co-leaders with Chris Conradi only one stroke back. In round two, no player was able to break 30 as Everly took a rather commanding lead. In second place was Stanfill at 62 and in third, and making his first appearance in many years, was James Kile in at 63. In rounds three and four Gary Plain, who is always tough on his home course, shot two 29’s to gain a stoke on Everly and to be in second place. Everly ended the day at 117, which was only one stroke off the lead in the pro division. It had become a two man race.

That night 17 of the players and wives went to KAWAS and enjoyed dinner together. It has been said many times that some of the best parts of Putt Putt is the time you spend away from the course with the great friends you make. A great time was had by all and this has the potential to become a Tyler Tradition.

Day 2 of the Mike Baldoza Texas Open started at 10am and it was a hot and sticky morning. Most players expected the scores to be lower on day two and they would be right. Spradlin and Matthews came out hot with 27s but the low round went to local Pro Tom Adair who shot a 26 to get back into the hunt. Jody Kimble and Rainey Statum stayed close as well with 28s of their own. Lee Messinger was also within striking distance after shooting a 29. In the sixth round, Kimble shot the low round of the tournament with a 25 as he and Matthews took the lead at 172. Spradlinw as just two strokes back at 174. Wade Sahmel was still only five strokes back but was running out of time. Sahmel showed what a tough player he is and fired a 28 and 27 his last two rounds. That would be good enough to make up the five strokes on most players at Tyler but came up just a bit shy on this day. Kimble went 31-27 his last two rounds to finish Sunday with a score of 111 which was five strokes better than anyone shot on Saturday. His eight round total of 230, finished one behind Matthews, who was one of only two players to have all of his rounds in the 20s for the dat. Matthews shot rounds of 27-28-29-28 on day 2 for a total of 112 and a one stroke victory. Congratulations to 2018 Mike Baldoza Texas open Champion Cliff Matthews!

In the APA Division, Everly started where he left off and shot a 28 his opening round. Scott Myers, who was a bit disappointed with his play on Saturday, had the APA low round of the weekend with a 26 to start the day. Everly had a nine stoke lead and also had his eyes on the Trophy given to the overall winner of the Mike Baldoza Texas Open. He was only one back of Matthews overall after five rounds. The temperature got hotter and Everly cooled off a bit shooting 32-31-28 his last three rounds, but he was never seriously challenged as no one was able to get within seven strokes of him for the APA lead. Gary Plain had solid rounds of 30-30-31-30 on day two to claim second place at 245. In third was Ken Stanfill with a solid score of 250. Also finishing in the money were Steven Yancey, Chris Conradi, and Scott Myers.

	2018 Texas Open
	Tyler, Tx
	PPA	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	Cliff Matthews	28	27	32	30	27	28	29	28	229	$310
2	Jody Kimble	30	28	31	30	28	25	31	27	230	$240
3	Wade Sahmel	29	31	27	31	29	29	28	27	231	$160
4	Mason Spradlin	29	30	29	28	27	31	31	28	233	$70
5	Jeffrey Smith	31	26	30	32	30	28	30	28	235	$50
6	Rainey Statum	29	28	32	30	28	28	29	32	236	$40
7	Lee Messinger	29	28	31	29	29	32	30	29	237	$20
8	Tom Adair	33	27	30	32	26	29	30	31	238
9	Brice Bergesen	30	30	26	31	32	31	30	29	239
10	Geoff Mosk	32	29	29	33	32	29	28	30	242
11	Don Parker	30	29	32	33	32	33	29	29	247
12	Matt Bellner	33	31	32	30	34	35	32	29	256

	APA	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	Greg Everly	28	30	28	31	28	32	31	28	236	$72
2	Gary Plain	32	34	29	29	30	30	31	30	245	$36
3	Ken Stanfill	28	34	34	30	32	32	28	32	250	$36
4	Steven Yancy	30	34	33	30	34	28	31	31	251	$36
5	Chris Conradi	29	37	34	32	33	31	28	29	253	$36
6	Scott Myers	34	32	35	36	26	28	31	34	256	$36
7	Mike Huckaby	31	33	32	33	34	32	32	32	259
8	James Kile	33	30	37	37	32	30	32	32	263
9	Trevor Lewin	37	38	32	35	31	33	30	32	268
10	Mickey DeLucca	37	39	34	35	36	35	31	33	280
11	Jack Ramsey	38	39	37	35	36	36	33	35	289

Mosk has a Record Day en Route to

Louisiana State Championship

Day 1

A warm and muggy morning greeted the 22 players who came out to the beautiful Lake Charles Putt Putt course to compete in the Louisiana State Championship. The course is always in great shape and is a good test of putting skill.

Geoff Mosk came out of the gates as hot as you can by making the first 12 holes, shooting the first perfect nine of his career, in route to a 23 that was good enough for a one stroke lead over Joe Lea. Jeffrey Smith was just two back on the course he won the 2014 National Championship on at 25. Five more players were in at 26. In round two, Lea and Mosk separated themselves from the rest of the field to be in at 47 and 48 respectfully, except for Rudy Cuellar, who shot the day's low round of 23 to also be in at 48. As the day wore on the weather got hotter and the carpet started to fluff causing shots that went in earlier in the day to come up short. No player was able to shoot lower than 26 and five were not able to break 30. Lea continued to lead at 74 with Cuellar one back at 75, followed by Mosk four back at 78, and Smith in at 79. The struggles continued in the last round but the players did adjust somewhat. Wade Sahmel had the low round with a 25 to pull into a tie for 4th at 109 with Cuellar. Smith was in 3rd at 105, Mosk in 2nd at 104, and Lea the leader after day one at 102.

In the APA Greg Simpson was also able to shoot a perfect 9 to start the tournament on his was to a 1st round lead with a 24. Local player Charles Tarbell was in second with a fine score of 26. In 3rd was last years winner of the AL Terry Simpson with a 28. In round two, it was Sharkey Cox who got hot and shot a 24 of his own. This pulled him into a tie for second place with Tarbell at 54, just two strokes behind the defending tour champion Greg Simpson. Terry Simpson was just three5strokes back at 55. As these four players distances themselves from the field. In the last two rounds, they all remained close. Greg Simpson was able to keep the lead for all of day one, finishing at 109. This was good for a three stroke lead over Cox, Terry Simpson, and Tarbell who were all tied at 112. It will be a tight race that will likely come down to the last round to see which of these players will bring home the title of 2018 APA Louisiana State Championship.

Day 2

The players for day two of the Louisiana State Championship were happy to start at 10 so they could be finished before it got too hot. In the Pro division ,Joe Lea and Geoff Mosk picked up where they left off by shooting a 12 and 11 on the front respectfully. Lea cooled off on the back but Mosk stayed hot to shoot the low score of the round, a 24, which would be the worst round of the day for him. Lea was just three strokes back at 131. Jeffrey Smith was still close at 134 with Wade Sahmel closing with a 10 on the back 9 to be in fourth at 135. Sahmel continued his hot shooting by shooting a 10 on the front nine and a 22 for the round his second round and he lost 2 strokes on the leader! Lea and Smith also had good second rounds with each shooting a 25 but the story of the round was “Groff,” who shot a 10-10 for a 20 and an eight stroke lead. Mosk continued his hot shooting with a third straight 10 on his was to a 23 in round three. Lea, Smith, and Sahmel all continued their great play shooting 25, 25, and 26 respectively. The last round had Mosk walking the proverbial dog but he stayed hot shooting another 23 for a four round score of 90 and an 8 round score of 194. Lea had the low score of the last round with an outstanding 22 to secure second place at 203. Smith shot 74 his last 3 rounds to finish in 3rd at 208. Sahmel rounded out the top four at 112. Also finishing in the Money were defending Champ Danny Tatum at 227, and in a 228 were Lee Messinger, Rudy Cuellar, and Robert Cook. It should be noted that Cook improved by 14 strokes from his Day 1 score.

The four round score of 90 that Mosk shot was the lowest score anyone could remember on the SWPT, and his final three round score of 66 is also the lowest anyone could recall. It was definitely a day Mosk will not forget.

In the APA it was a tight race that would go right down to the wire. Day 1 leader Greg Simpson extended his lead to five over Sharkey Cox with a first round 28. Chris Conradi also fired a first round 28. Terry Simpson and Charles Tarbell fell to eight strokes off the pace. In round two, almost on queue, Cox shoots a 25 to pull within two strokes of Simpson. No one else was closer than 12 strokes of the lead as Simpson and Cox separated themselves from the field. Simpson and Cox both shot solid 30s in round seven to stay just two strokes of each other. A shootout loomed for round eight and that is exactly what we got. Both players had solid 14s on the front nine. If Simpson could shoot another 14 it would be very difficult for Cox to catch him. He did 1 better with a 13 to finish with a 27 and an 8 round total of 222. But Cox showed why he is one of the top APA players of all time at the Lake Charles course, making the final hole and closing with an 11 to tie Simpson at 222. In the playoff Simpson was able to outlast Cox to win by one and claim the 2018 APA Louisiana State Championship.

	SWPT 2018										LSC
	PPA										14/15July

1	Geoff Mosk	23	25	30	26	24	20	23	23	194	$310.00
2	Joe Lea	24	23	27	28	29	25	25	22	203	$200.00
3	Jeffrey Smith	25	28	26	26	29	25	25	24	208	$160.00
4	Wade Sahmel	26	29	29	25	26	22	27	28	212	$70.00	1
5	Danny Tatum	26	29	28	33	26	30	28	27	227	$50.00	1
6	Lee Messinger	30	27	32	27	27	27	29	29	228	$20.00
6	Robert Cook	26	31	30	34	28	23	26	30	228	$20.00	1
6	Rudy Cuellar	26	22	27	34	34	30	26	29	228	$20.00	1
9	Byron Kirby	31	29	29	30	25	25	27	33	229
10	Don Parker	27	30	29	31	25	26	33	29	230
11	Brice Bergesen	29	28	33	29	29	32	28	24	232
12	Mason Spradlin	26	27	32	35	30	27	27	35	239

	SWPT 2018										LSC
	APA										14/15
											July
1	Greg Simpson	24	28	26	31	28	28	30	27	222	$72.00
2	Charles Cox	30	24	28	30	30	25	30	25	222	$36.00	1
3	Terry Simpson	28	27	29	28	33	32	29	26	232	$36.00	1
4	Chris Conradi	29	32	30	31	28	29	30	28	237	$36.00
5	Charles Tarbell	26	28	27	31	33	32	29	33	239	$36.00	1
6	Bryan Gentry	32	30	27	35	32	28	31	29	244
7	Alan Sahmel	30	34	34	31	31	30	29	29	248		1
8	Steven Yancey	33	33	31	27	36	35	30	31	256
9	Ken Stanfill	31	31	34	33	36	32	30	32	259
10	Mickey DeLucca	36	34	40	38	37	33	34	33	285

June 10, 2018--Sunday--Arlington Parks--10am tee off

PPA
Everyone agreed that the scores would be lower than on Saturday, that it would take in the 80's to cash, and everyone was right!! Lee Messinger shot an opening round 9 shots lower than on Saturday with a 26 to lead Cliff Matthews by one shot. Steady Don Parker was third at 29. Don was the only player under 30 the second round with a 28 and it pulled him within one of Lee, 56 to 57. Also at 57 was Cliff with Jeffrey Smith back at 60. It was a battle between Don and Lee the final round, both shooting weekend low 12's on the front nine. Don briefly caught Lee in the final round but Lee pulled ahead on the back nine and shot another 28, good for a 82 and a two shot win over Don's 84. Cliff and Jeffrey were tied for third at 88. Spots went to Cliff Matthews and Tom Adair.

APA
Greg Everly shot a opening round 28 and was four shots ahead of three other players. Greg is hard enough to beat without spotting him four shots. Greg slid to a second round 32 but saw his lead only drop by one shot with Mike Huckaby moving into second place with a 63. Greg played an excellent final round and shot the weekend's low 18-hole score with a 25, good for a 85 and a 12-shot win over Mike and Scott Myers, both at 97. Mike and Scott played a 18-hole match for the stroke play spot for the tour finals and Mike won easily as Scott only had one ace. In the match play for the spots, Chris Conradi beat a worn out Scott Myers in one bracket and Ken Stanfill beat Chris Wiggins in the other bracket.

	SWPT 2018					Arling			SWPT 2018					Arling
	PPA					10June			APA					10June

1	Lee Messinger	26	30	26	82	$120.00		1	Greg Everly	28	32	25	85	$36.00
2	Don Parker	29	28	27	84	$50.00		2	Mike Huckaby	32	31	34	97	$18.00	1
3	Jeffrey Smith	30	30	28	88	$15.00		2	Scott Myers	32	33	32	97	$18.00
3	Cliff Matthews	27	30	31	88	$15.00	1	4	Steven Yancey	34	32	34	100	$18.00
5	Brice Bergesen	33	33	29	95			5	Ken Stanfill	37	33	32	102	$4.50	1
6	Tom Adair	33	32	32	97		1	5	Chris Wiggins	32	32	38	102	$4.50
								7	Chris Conradi	37	34	32	103		1
								8	Trevor Lewin	36	31	37	104
								9	Robert Martin	38	37	34	109

The Southwest Putting tour made their annual trip to Waco on May 12^th for the inaugural Allen Thomas Memorial, a longtime Waco player who passed away last year. The course is more than 50 years old and the holes are longer than what is played just about anywhere else. It makes for a very challenging course where any score under 30 is good. If you can go 3-4 strokes under 30 then you have a great chance of winning. In the first tournament of the day John Kropinak fired a 1^st round score of 28 to take the lead. He did so by shooting a very impressive 12 on the back nine. Most players would agree that the back nine has better ace holes that the front, but a 12 is still very impressive. Only 1 other player, Jody Kimble, was able to shoot as low as 30 in the first round. As is typical at Waco, all other players were between 31-34. The second round found players still tightly bunched with all but one player shooting between 29 and 32. Geoff Mosk shot a 29 to be in a 60 and tie Kropinak. Kimble and Brice Bergesen were each just one stroke back. Lee Messinger and Don Parker were both within striking distance at 64, but it would take a heck of a round to catch the leaders. That is exactly what happened. Parker shot the low round of the day, a 26, to finish at 90. Bergesen and Mosk were still out on the course and knew what they needed coming in to tie Parker. Brice needed to make 2 of his last 3 to tie. None of the last three holes are real good aces but can be made with skillful putts. That is exactly what Bergesen did by making holes 16 and 18. Mosk only needed to make one of the last three. He missed 16 and 17. On 18 he hit the left rail late and went into the valley of sin. He then missed the deuce for his only bogey of the day. He not only missed the playoff, he missed cashing at all. Don was able to win the playoff on the second hole of sudden death. It was his first win of the year. Kimble and Kropinak tied for third at 91.

In the APA division Greg Everly unexpectedly showed up. He cut a vacation short in order to compete in the Allen Thomas Memorial event and he led after one round with a 32. Trevor Lewin and Bryan Gentry were just one stroke back at 33 and Steve Willmann, who grew up next door to Allen Thomas in the Waco area, was just 2 strokes back at 34. Everly put the pedal to the medal the last two rounds, shooting back to back 30’s on his way to a 6 stroke victory at 92. Lewin also finished well and was the only other APA player to be under 100 with a score of 98. The rest of the APA players knew they could compete in the second event of the day if they could eliminate the bogeys, which are very easy to make on just about every hole.

	SWPT 2018
	May 12	Waco		12 pm
	PPA
1	Don Parker	33	31	26	90	$130.00	38 holes
2	Brice Bergesen	31	30	29	90	$60.00
3	Jody Kimble	30	31	30	91	$30.00
4	John Kropinak	28	32	31	91	$30.00
5	Geoff Mosk	31	29	32	92
6	Lee Messinger	33	31	30	94
7	Mason Spradlin	34	32	36	102
8	Jeffrey Smith	34	36	33	103

	APA
1	Greg Everly	32	30	30	92	$36.00
2	Trevor Lewin	33	34	31	98	$18.00
3	Steven Yancey	36	32	35	103	$18.00
4	Bryan Gentry	33	40	32	105	$18.00
5	Steve Willmann	34	34	38	106
6	Chris Conradi	38	35	34	107
7	Ken Stanfill	40	34	34	108

In the second tournament of the day Jody Kimble jumped out to an early lead with the day’s low round of 25. He made every odd numbered hole up to hole 17. Only one other player was below 30 as John Kropinak started off hot again with a 29 of his own. Kimble kept up his strong play in the second round shooting a 30. Only Jeff Smith was able to gain any ground on Kimble as he shot his best round of the day, a 29. Kimble cruised in his last round with a 33 which was good enough to finish at 88, three strokes ahead of second place finisher Geoff Mosk, at 91. Kropinak finished his day at 92 to be in third place by himself.

In the APA division many of the players scored better in the afternoon tournament. Trevor Lewin had the low round of the day in the APA the first round, and the only sub 30 score in the APA, a 28 to take a two stroke lead over three time winner in 2018, Bryan Gentry. In round two, Steve Willmann found his stroke and shot the low score for the round with a 30. He found himself just 1 stroke back of Gentry who was at 62. Greg Everly was close by at 65 as well. The last round saw some very good scores. Steven Yancey had his best round of the day with a 30. Chris Conradi shot a 31 to move all the way up to third place. Gentry shot a 34 to finish at 96 and thought for sure that Willmann would catch him. Coming down the stretch Willmann came up an ace short to finish in second place at 97. It wrapped up a fun day at the challenging Waco Course.

We are more than half way thru the SWPT 2018 schedule. The next events will be in Arlington on June 9-10 when the Astros also happen to be playing the Rangers in Arlington. We hope to see several players out there and maybe catch a baseball game!

	SWPT 2018
	May 12	Waco		3 pm
	PPA
1	Jody Kimble	25	30	33	88	$130.00
2	Geoff Mosk	30	30	31	91	$60.00
3	John Kropinak	29	31	32	92	$40.00
4	Brice Bergesen	33	30	31	94
5	Lee Messinger	37	30	29	96
6	Don Parker	32	33	34	99
7	Mason Spradlin	33	34	32	99
8	Jeffrey Smith	38	29	32	99

	APA
1	Bryan Gentry	30	32	34	96	$36.00
2	Steve Willmann	33	30	34	97	$18.00
3	Chris Conradi	33	34	31	98	$18.00
4	Greg Everly	33	32	35	100	$18.00
5	Steven Yancey	38	33	30	101
6	Trevor Lewin	28	39	38	105
7	Ken Stanfill	37	35	35	107

Mason Masters Minigolf

	SWPT 2018	Longview Greens
	April 28th
	PPA
1	Mason Spradlin	31	32	33	96	$140.00
2	Jeffrey Smith	33	34	30	97	$ 70.00
3	Lee Messinger	34	31	37	102	$ 40.00
4	Don Parker	38	31	35	104	$ 20.00
5	Joe Lea	32	32	42	106	$ 10.00
6	Geoff Mosk	38	36	35	109
7	Danny Tatum	38	37	36	111
8	Brice Bergesen	42	36	35	113
9	John Kropinak	40	39	41	120


	APA

1	Bryan Gentry	39	44	33	116	$ 36.00
2	Steve Yancey	44	42	40	126
3	Doug Austin	33	45	45	123

Groff is Good

	SWPT 2018	Longview Greens
	April 28th
	PPA
1	Geoff Mosk		36	32	35	103	$150.00
2	Lee Messinger		34	37	33	104	$80.00
3	Joe Lea		38	36	32	106	$60.00
4	Mason Spradin		39	32	36	107	$40.00
5	John Kropinak		36	36	36	108	$20.00
6	Don Parker		35	38	37	110	$10.00
7	Jeffrey Smith		41	38	35	114
8	Brice Bergesen		37	45	37	119
9	Danny Tatum		37	39	43	119
10	Matt Bellner		45	46	43	134

	APA

1	Steve Yancey		43	41	41	125	$26.00
2	Doug Austin		44	37	49	130

Blustery Winds = Bundled Up Players in Tyler

19 total players made their way to Tyler Saturday for a double header on the course that will host this year’s Mike Baldoza Texas Open. Though not as cold as last weekend, temperatures in the low 50’s and a constant wind that reached 25mph made most of the players bundle up to keep warm. The course is in great shape and playing well with freshly scraped and painted rails. However, due to the amount of shots that require a precise line and touch the constant wind caused scores to be higher than usual. The players were also greeted with a surprise appearance from hall of famer Cliff Matthews causing everyone to step their game up a notch.

4/14 3:00 PPA – By 3:00 temperatures had risen slightly but the wind was still fierce. Jeffrey Smith once again found himself in the lead after round one by shooting a 28. Jody Kimble, who finished the early tournament with back to back 29s, kept with tradition and found himself in a tie for second place with Tom Adair and John Kropinak by shooting another 29. In round two, Kimble was able to gain one stroke on Smith by shooting a 30, tying both players at 59. Through 11 holes in the final round Smith held a three stroke lead on Kimble who was at that point only -2 on the round. Kimble’s cold round did not last long as he aced hole 12 and then proceeded to ace every remaining hole but number 18. Smith finished his final round at 29 but was unable to match Kimble’s 28. Shooting an 87 overall Kimble was able to pick up his first win of the season. Smith finished second at 88 and Mason Spradlin finished third at 91. The spots went to Jody Kimble, Jeffrey Smith, and Mason Spradlin.

4/14 3:00 APA – In the second tournament of the day local Gary Plain finally got rolling, shooting a 28 to tie for the first round lead with Saturday morning winner Bryan Gentry. Round two saw Plain and Gentry continue to hold the lead at 60 overall with Greg Everly in second at 61 and Mike Huckaby in third at 62. Whether it was a bit of fatigue or the constant wind, the aces dried up for the APA as all but one of the players shot their worst round of the tournament. Both Everly and Plain were in prime position to take advantage of the high scores but neither could get anything going on the back nine as Everly shot an 18 and Plain shot a 17. Gentry was able to grind out a 33 for a total score of 93 to capture his second win of the day. Everly finished two shots back at 95 and Gary Plain was able to hold on for thirdplace at 96. The spots went to Bryan Gentry, Greg Everly, and Mike Huckaby.

	SWPT 2018	Tyler		April 14
	PPA			3:00 PM				APA

1	Jody Kimble	29	30	28	87	$140	1	Bryan Gentry	28	32	33	93	$36
2	Jeffrey Smith	28	31	29	88	$70	2	Greg Everly	31	30	34	95	$18
3	Mason Spradin	32	29	30	91	$40	3	Gary Plain	28	32	36	96	$18
4	John Kropinak	29	31	32	92	$20	4	Mike Huckaby	30	32	36	98	$6
5	Tom Adair	29	34	30	93	$10	5	Chris Conradi	31	34	33	98	$6
6	Lee Messinger	32	30	32	94		6	Scott Myers	34	31	33	98	$6
7	Don Parker	30	31	34	95		7	Steven Yancy	32	34	34	100
8	Brice Bergesen	35	30	31	96
9	Matt Belner	33	31	32	96

4/14 12:00 PPA - In the PPA Jeffrey Smith and Local pro Tom Adair were the only two players to break 30 in the first round with matching 29s. Three players followed close behind one stroke back. In round two both Smith and Adair struggled to keep their momentum as neither broke 33 while Lee Messinger and Mason Spradlin both shot 29 making, Messinger the tournament leader at 59 overall with Spradlin one stroke back. In the last round; Messinger looked on his way to his third consecutive victory and fifth win in the last six tournaments as he was two strokes up with five holes to play; but after an unfortunate lip out on hole 14 and a miss on the aceable 15, Spradlin was able to pull even. Tied going into hole 17 Messinger left his ace putt just wide as Spradlin aced, taking a one stroke lead. Messinger was unable to ace hole 18 and Spradlin deuced to shoot 29 on the round and 89 for the tournament. John Kropinak launched himself back into contention by firing a tournament best 27 but came up just wide on hole 18 which would have forced a playoff with Spradlin. It was Spradlin’s first win since becoming a professional in 2017. Kropinak and Messinger tied for second at 90 overall. The spots went to Mason Spradlin, John Kropinak, and Jody Kimble.

4/14 12:00 APA – Nine APA players braved the conditions including Robert Martin and Chris Wiggins who players were glad to see return to the tour. In round one, Chris Conradi showed that playing in the local weekly tournament did him some good as he lead the field with a 30. Steven Yancey and Bryan Gentry followed one stroke back. Gentry kept up his steady play in round two with a 31 to take a two stroke lead over Conradi, Mike Huckaby, and 2017s APA player of the year Greg Every. After struggling with a 17 on the front nine to open round nine, Gentry was able to string together a few aces and shoot a 14 on the inner half. This put him at 31 on the round and 92 total which was good enough for a two stroke victory. Conradi, Huckaby, and Everly all shot matching 31s to tie for second. Steven Yancey was able to recover from a second round 35 with a 29 in the third round to sneak into fifth place. The spots went to Bryan Gentry, Mike Huckaby, and Greg Everly.

	SWPT 2018	Tyler		April 14
	PPA			Noon				APA

1	Mason Spradlin	31	29	29	89	$140	1	Bryan Gentry	31	30	31	92	$36
2	Lee Messinger	30	29	31	90	$ 55	2	Mike Huckaby	32	31	31	94	$18
3	John Kropinak	30	33	27	90	$ 55	3	Greg Everly	35	28	31	94	$18
4	Jody Kimble	33	29	29	91	$ 20	4	Chris Conradi	30	33	31	94	$18
5	Don Parker	30	34	31	95	$ 5	5	Steven Yancy	31	35	29	95	$18
6	Jeffrey Smith	29	33	33	95	$ 5	6	Gary Plain	34	33	32	99
7	Tom Adair	29	36	32	97		7	Scott Myers	35	35	30	100
8	Brice Bergesen	33	32	35	100		8	Chris Wiggins	33	33	36	102
9	Cliff Matthews	34	35	31	100		9	Robert Martin	38	34	33	105

4/15 PPA – All those who were unhappy with the cold and windy weather Saturday were in for a surprise as the wind remained the same and the temperature dropped to the low 40s on Sunday. Players suspected that the poor shooting by Cliff Matthews on Saturday would not continue Sunday as he would eventually find his touch. They were right as his first round 29 put him only one stroke back of Saturday morning winner Mason Spradlin. John Kropinak continued his stellar play by also shooting a first round 29, tying him with Matthews and Lee Messigner for second place. Through two rounds it was anybody’s tournament as Matthews and Jeffrey Smith lead at 59 but an incredible six of the remaining eight players were within two strokes. After the final round, Smith once again found himself one stroke short at 89 overall as Don Parker shot a tournament tying best 28 and Matthews continued his hot play with a 29 putting the two players tied for the lead at 88 overall. In the 18 hole playoff, Parker took an early lead through three holes but had an unfortunate bogey on hole four. Matthews was able to capitalize with an ace and never looked back, soundly beating Parker. It was Matthews’ first win on the Southwest Putting Tour since 2012. In match play Brice Bergesen proved he had been sand bagging the field all weekend as he beat Saturday winner Mason Spradlin and Sunday runner-up Don Parker to win a spot. Matt Bellner was also able to beat a Saturday winner in Jody Kimble followed by a tight match with John Kropinak in which he was able to win 1-up.

4/15 APA – Sunday morning Scott Myers was the first player to show up to the course and it paid off. Myers lead out of the gates with a 30 and did not look back. After shooting a blistering seven under par 29 in round two, Myers found himself at 59 overall, four strokes ahead of the winner of both of Saturday’s tournaments Bryan Gentry. Gary plain rounded out the top three at 65. Myers proceeded to shoot a 32 putting him at 91 overall and good for a wire to wire victory. It was his first ever Southwest Putting Tour and could be the first of many as Scott continues to play more and more tournaments on the tour. Gentry was unable to complete the weekend sweep but played well enough to capture second place at 94 overall. Gary Plain finished third at 95 as the trio of Mike Huckaby, Chris Conradi, and Steven Yancey tied for the crumb in fourth at 98. In match play local pro Gary Plain was able to edge Chris Wiggins 1-up to win a spot. Steven Yancey was able to beat Chris Conradi in the first round, but could not get past Bryan Gentry who played well all weekend. Gentry was able to win the second match play spot 4 and 3.

	SWPT 2018					Tyler			SWPT 2018					Tyler
	PPA					15Apr			APA					15Apr

1	Cliff Matthews	29	30	29	88	$150.00	1	1	Scott Myers	30	29	32	91	$36.00	1
2	Don Parker	33	27	28	88	$75.00		2	Bryan Gentry	31	32	31	94	$18.00	1
3	Jeffrey Smith	31	28	30	89	$60.00		3	Gary Plain	33	31	31	95	$18.00	1
4	Lee Messinger	29	32	29	90	$25.00		4	Chris Conradi	31	36	31	98	$6.00
4	John Kropinak	29	31	30	90	$25.00		4	Mike Huckaby	32	33	33	98	$6.00
6	Mason Spradlin	28	33	31	92	$3.33		4	Steven Yancey	32	34	32	98	$6.00
6	Brice Bergesen	31	30	31	92	$3.33	1	7	Robert Martin	35	35	33	103
6	Jjody Kimble	31	29	32	92	$3.33		8	Chris Wiggins	35	35	34	104
9	Tom Adair	33	32	32	97
9	Matt Bellner	32	32	33	97		1

THE FROZEN NINE: Par Temp of 36 Cooled Most of the Putters

Dallas – April 7^th

Ten players made it out to the beautiful Adventure Landing course on Coit Round in Dallas on April 7^th to participate in the 6^th Tournament of the young SWPT season. Temperatures in the upper 30’s with wind chills in the 20’s greeted those brave enough to endure the conditions. One of the players left after some practice after not being able to feel his hands well enough to putt. So the “Frozen Nine” took to the course at noon to see who could battle the course and conditions. Who would survive?

The course plays very well and low scores can be had, but it can be difficult to get anything going when it is cold and windy. No player in either division was able to shoot below a 30 in the first round. In the PPA both Lee Messinger and Geoff Mosk were able to get it to 30 and take a 3 stroke lead over Tom Adair. In round two, Mosk was able to get a little better with a 28 to take a two stroke lead over Messinger. In the last round it looked like a shootout would occur when Messinger shot a 12 on the front nine to not only catch, but pass Mosk for the lead. When Mosk made the tricky 9^th hole he had pulled back to within one stoke with just nine holes to go. Messinger showed what a great player he is by keeping the pedal to the medal the acing six of the last nine holes to go along with one bogey after the outcome had already been determined. Mosk was as cold as the weather making just two down the stretch with a bogey of his own to finish five stokes back. Spots went to Messinger (his 4^th and final spot), Mosk, and Adair.

In the APA division, the scores were tight all day. After the first round, all six players were within four strokes of the leaders Greg Everly and Steve Yancey, who both shot a four under 32 in the opening round. Scores stayed tight after two rounds as well. Everly was in the lead at 65 by two over Yancey at 67. Lurking just three stokes back were Trevor Lewin and Chris Conradi at 68. The temperature at the course did not warm up, but Yancey did. He fired the APA Low round of the day, a 30, finish at 97. Everly needed to shoot two under the last nine holes to tie but could not get his putter hot and came up just one stroke shy at 98. Mike Huckaby came in at 101 to claim the last cash spot. Because of the very cold conditions it was determined before the tournament that there would be no match play and the three spots for the tour championship in September at Longview would go to the top stroke play scores. This was the first win for Steve Yancey who has upped his game this year and looks to be a top player in the APA this year.

	SWPT 2018					Dallas			SWPT 2018					Dallas
	PPA					7Apr			APA					7Apr

1	Lee Messinger	30	30	25	85	$80.00	1	1	Steven Yancey	32	35	30	97	$36.00	1
2	Geoff Mosk	30	28	32	90	$40.00	1	2	Greg Everly	32	33	33	98	$18.00	1
3	Tom Adair	33	30	34	97		1	3	Mike Huckaby	33	36	32	101	$18.00	1
								4	Trevor Lewin	35	33	35	103
								4	Chris Conradi	34	34	35	103
								6	Ken Stanfill	36	34	38	108

Dallas – April 8^th

On Sunday we again had 9 players at Coit Road. Jeffrey Smith was able to feel his hands a little better than the day before and was able to play. We all wished Mike Huckaby a happy birthday as he spent time with his family on the cold, but not quite as cold as the day before, Sunday morning.

It was 37 degrees at tee time, 1 degree warmer than at tee time the day before, but it was not nearly as windy so it didn’t feel quite as bad and the scores reflected it. Both Geoffrey Mosk and Lee Messinger came out of the gate strong. Both shot a six under 12 on the front nine. Messinger finished the round with a 27 to have a one stroke lead. Jeffrey Smith adjusted to the colder temperatures in the second round to shoot the low score of the weekend with a 24. He didn’t gain much ground on the leaders as Mosk shot a 25 and Messinger a 26 to be tied at 53 after two rounds. Disaster struck in the 3^rd round for Mosk as he only managed a 1 under 17 on the front nine, and only managed a 30. Messinger’s third straight round in the 20’s gave him a three stroke lead at 80 heading into the final round. Tom Adair and Smith had fallen well off the pace going into the last round. Messinger played the first six holes at an amazing rate the first three rounds by acing 16 of the 18 through that stretch. He finally stumbled on the front nine and amazingly missed three of the first six holes. Mosk capitalized and was able to pull within one after the front nine. Mosk made the 10^th to have a chance to tie but Messinger topped him and then went on to blister the rest of the course to put Mosk away just like he had done the day before. It was the third time in seven events that Messinger had finished 1^st with Mosk in 2^nd. The spots went to Mosk, Smith, and Adair.

In the APA Division the players were again bunched up tightly. After two rounds, four players were all within four stokes of the lead with Trevor Lewin leading the pack at 59. Chris Conradi and Greg Everly were just three stokes back at 62 and Saturday’s winner Steve Yancey was at 63. It got even tighter after round three. Lewin still had the lead at 91, but playing partners Everly, 92, and Yancey, 93, had closed the gap. Conradi was still lurking at 94. A shootout was looming in the APA division and a shootout is what we got. In the lead group Lewin made hole one while his playing partners missed. There would not be another miss in the group until hole seven. They all made holes 2 thru 6 for 16 aces in a row. Lewin and Everly put a little distance between themselves and Yancey and it was a two man race down the stretch. Lewin had a two stroke lead on Everly with three to play. He went down the hill on hole 16 and missed the tricky putt coming back up to take a bogey. Everly then calmly made a perfect putt to ace the hole and tie the score. Both players missed 17. Everly missed 18 and thought for sure he had lost the tournament with Lewin making hole 18 the previous three rounds. Lewin’s putt was just a hair off and 18 more holes would be needed to determine a winner. In the playoff Everly was able to limit mistakes and came out on top for his 1^st win of the 2018 season. It was a very close call for Lewin but he has nothing to hang his head about. It was fun to watch these two players go head to head down the stretch. Some were able to watch live on facebook as well where we will try to show any playoffs live. Spots for the tour championship went to Everly, Lewin, and Yancey.

	SWPT 2018	Dallas		April 8
	PPA									APA

1	Lee Messinger		27	26	27	27	107	$90.00	1	Greg Everly	32	30	30	27	119	$36.00
2	Geoffrey Mosk		28	25	30	30	113	$50.00	2	Trevor Lewin	29	30	32	28	119	$18.00
3	Jeffrey Smith		33	24	34	29	120	$20.00	3	Steve Yancey	33	30	30	31	124	$18.00
4	Tom Adair		35	33	33	34	135		4	Chris Conradi	32	30	32	34	128
									5	Ken Stanfill	33	35	34	36	138

2017 Tournaments

2017 SWPT Match Play Finals
October 22, 2017
Webster Texas

PPA PLAYOFF 2017	SWPT-WEBSTER TEXAS	RESULT
	22 October 2017

Round of 32	Jody Kimble d Joe Lea	2 up

Round of 16	Danny Tatum d Don Parker	2 up
	Mason Spradlin d John Kropinak	2 and 1
	Lee Messinger d Rudy Cuellar	2 up
	Jeffrey Smith d Pat Simpson	2 and 1
	Rainey Statum d Tom Adair	6 and 5
	Byron Kirby d Geoff Mosk	2 and 1
	Jjody Kimble d Wade Sahmel	1 up

Round of 8	Brice Bergesen d Danny Tatum	5 and 4
	Lee Messinger d Mason Spradlin	4 and 3
	Rainey Statum d Jeffrey Smith	3 and 1
	Byron Kirby d Jody Kimble	4 and 3

Semi Finals	Lee Messinger d Brice Bergesen	3 and 2
	Rainey Statum d Byron Kirby	3 and 2

Finals	Rainey Statum d Lee Messinger	11 and 10


APA PLAYOFF 2017	SWPT-WEBSTER TEXAS	RESULT
	22 October 2017

Round of 16	Jason Sheffield d Alan Sahmel	40 holes
	Bryan Gentry d Charles Tarbell	7 and 6
	Charles Cox d Scott Myers	4 and 2
	Ken Stanfill d Dwain Willett	1 up
	Greg Simpson d Jack Ramsey	3 and 1
	Mike Huckaby d Trevor Lewin	1 up

Round of 8	Greg Everly d Jason Sheffield	10 and 9
	Bryan Gentry d Charles Cox	4 and 3
	Greg Simpson d Ken Stanfill	5 and 4
	Mike Huckaby d Chris Conradi	2 and 1

Semi Finals	Greg Everly d Bryan Gentry	1 up
	Greg Simpson d Mike Huckaby	1 up

Finals	Greg Simpson d Greg Everly	39 holes

Webster
October 21st, 2017

	SWPT—2017					Web
	PPA					21 Oct

1	Lee Messinger	25	26	28	79	$160.00
2	Rainey Statum	28	26	26	80	$100.00
3	Brice Bergesen	25	29	28	82	$70.00
4	Danny Tatum	26	30	27	83	$50.00
5	Jeffrey Smith	29	28	27	84	$40.00
6	Mason Spradlin	27	26	32	85	$25.00
6	Geoff Mosk	30	27	28	85	$25.00
8	Don Parker	28	28	32	88	$10.00
9	Wade Sahmel	26	33	31	90		1
9	Rudy Cuellar	32	31	27	90
11	John Kropinak	32	31	28	91		1
12	Pat Simpson	30	30	33	93
12	Tom Adair	30	34	29	93

	SWPT 2017					Web
	APA					21Oct

1	Greg Everly	29	28	28	85	$26.00
2	Charles Cox	29	30	30	89	$13.00
3	Bryan Gentry	28	34	30	92	$13.00
4	Charles Tarbell	34	33	27	94	$13.00
5	Ken Stanfill	32	28	36	96	$13.00
5	Greg Simpson	28	35	33	96	$13.00
5	Mike Huckaby	33	33	30	96	$13.00
8	Dwain Willett	32	37	28	97
8	Trevor Lewin	32	31	34	97
10	Jason Sheffield	30	37	31	98		1
11	Chris Conradi	33	35	32	100
12	Scott Myers	33	35	36	104
13	Jack Ramsey	39	33	34	106		1

Webster
October 20th, 2017---3PM

	SWPT—2017					Web
	PPA					20Oct

1	Rainey Statum	24	27	26	77	$140.00
2	Danny Tatum	28	27	27	82	$90.00
3	Geoff Mosk	29	28	27	84	$50.00
3	Tom Adair	26	30	28	84	$50.00
5	Jeffrey Smith	28	32	26	86	$20.00
6	Lee Messinger	28	31	28	87	$5.00
6	John Kropinak	27	29	31	87	$5.00	1
8	Brice Bergesen	28	32	29	89
9	Pat Simpson	31	30	30	91
10	Mason Spradlin	31	31	33	95
11	Rudy Cuellar	30	34	32	96		1

	SWPT 2017					Web
	APA					20 Oct

1	Dwain Willett	24	27	31	82	$26.00
2	Greg Everly	26	28	29	83	$13.00
3	Chris Conradi	30	31	25	86	$13.00
4	Alan Sahmel	31	28	28	87	$13.00	1
5	Ken Stanfill	30	26	32	88	$13.00
6	Greg Simpson	30	31	32	93	$13.00
7	Bryan Gentry	31	34	29	94	$13.00	1
8	Trevor Lewin	33	30	32	95
9	Jason Sheffield	36	30	31	97		1
9	Charles Tarbell	31	31	35	97		1
11	Jack Ramsey	33	35	30	98
12	Charles Cox	36	33	31	100

Webster
October 20th, 2017---Noon

	SWPT—2017					Web
	PPA					20Oct

1	Wade Sahmel	29	23	27	79	$140.00	1
2	Mason Spradlin	25	28	27	80	$90.00
3	Danny Tatum	26	31	27	84	$60.00
4	Rainey Statum	27	28	32	87	$18.00	1
4	Geoff Mosk	27	27	33	87	$18.00
4	Brice Bergesen	31	31	25	87	$18.00
4	Pat Simpson	31	27	29	87	$18.00
8	Jeffrey Smith	29	29	31	89
8	Lee Messinger	28	29	32	89
10	John Kropinak	32	28	31	91		1
11	Rudy Cuellar	33	34	29	96

	SWPT 2017					Web
	APA					20 Oct

1	Greg Everly	27	27	29	83	$26.00
2	Bryan Gentry	30	30	29	89	$13.00	1
3	Chris Conradi	30	26	34	90	$13.00
4	Greg Simpson	31	29	35	95	$13.00
5	Charles Tarbell	35	30	32	97	$13.00	1
6	Dwain Willett	35	29	34	98
7	Jason Sheffield	32	31	36	99		1
8	Ken Stanfill	35	33	33	101
9	Jack Ramsey	36	36	31	103
10	Trevor Lewin	39	34	34	107

Louisiana State Championship
September 10, 11th 2017
Lake Charles Louisiana

	SWPT—2017										LSC
	PPA										10-11Sept

1	Danny Tatum	25	26	27	25	25	26	25	29	208	$290.00
2	Lee Messinger	26	28	27	27	28	24	27	27	214	$190.00
3	Joe Lea	29	26	23	25	28	34	27	24	216	$120.00	1
4	Jeffrey Smith	26	24	29	25	24	29	30	31	218	$80.00
5	Brice Bergesen	27	31	26	24	28	28	31	28	223	$50.00
6	Byron Kirby	32	25	34	30	24	26	30	24	225	$30.00
7	Rainey Statum	29	30	32	27	28	25	28	27	226	$20.00	1
8	Pat Simpson	30	32	28	28	26	29	29	26	228		1
9	Don Parker	30	32	27	28	32	30	30	28	237
10	Rudy Cuellar	34	29	27	28	30	30	32	31	241

	SWPT 2017										LAO
	APA										10/11 Sep

1	Charles Cox	29	27	26	27	30	29	28	31	227	$52.00	1
2	Greg Simpson	32	28	30	26	28	30	25	29	228	$26.00	1
3	Terry Simpson	28	26	26	33	28	29	30	29	229	$26.00
4	Charles Tarbell	32	25	27	32	29	27	31	28	231	$26.00	1
5	Chris Conradi	32	27	26	31	31	30	28	30	235
6	Trevor Lewin	29	28	34	35	30	31	31	27	245
7	Dwain Willett	31	31	32	29	34	34	34	25	250
8	Mickey DeLucca	36	38	33	34	31	35	31	32	270

13 August 2017--Sunday--Tyler Texas--10am tee off

PPA winner with his Chromax "silver bullet" golf ball, 9-time 2017 APA winner Greg Everly

PPA
Don Parker won the Sunday 2016 tournament, then finished last in the 2017 Saturday tournament, so for Sunday he leads after the first round with a strong 27, especially since the carpets are still somewhat soaked after a two hour rain delay. Don had a two shot lead over Saturday winner Jeffrey Smith, runnerup's Mason Spradlin and Brice Bergesen and Jody Kimble, all at 29. Brice shot a second round 28 for a 57 and was surprised to see that he had a two shot lead, as all the other leaders after the first round shot 30 or worse. There were four players at 59, including Matt Bellner, who shot a 27 the second round. With four more players at 60, including the first round leader Don, it figured to be a shootout the final round. The shootout never happened. Of the top nine leaders, only Geoff Mosk broke 30, and his 28 was good enough for a 88 and second place. Brice shot a steady 30 and it held up for a 87 and the win. The fields are almost always tightly bunched at Tyler and this was shown to be true again as five players tied for third at 90; Jeffrey, Mason, Jody, Byron Kirby and Don, and two more tied at 91. Tom Adair made only five aces his first two rounds, then shot a 27 his last round, tying the day's low round. It is the little breaks that determine winners in Tyler. Brice made the loop the loop number 9 back door at about 50 mph the first round, and made number 11 back door the second round, something host pro Tom Adair said he had never seen before. At almost 71 years old, Brice said he would take a win on this course, lucky or not. The two players that won spots for the SWPT finals were Byron Kirby and Rudy Cuellar.

APA
Greg Everly's fourth place finish on Saturday was one of his worst finishes of the 2017 season, so everyone expected the APA tour leader in all catagories to bounce back strong on Sunday. He did, showing consistancy rarely seen. Greg shot 14-15=29 his first round for a 2-shot lead over Mickey DeLucca and three shots over four other players. Saturday winner Gary Plain was tied for last place at 34. In the second round Greg shot 14-15=29 for a 58 total and a four shot lead over Mike Huckaby and Chris Conradi, both in at 62. In the final round Greg shot another 14-15=29 for a smooth and easy 87. We would like to report that Greg made the same seven holes each round, but he actually made 13 different holes, and somehow managed to bogey hole 16 the second round to shoot his back nine 15. This was Greg's 9th win of the season in 16 starts. Second place went to Gary, who shot a final round 14-15=29 for 94, seven shots back, cutting Mike and Scott Myers by one shot. The spots went to Bryan Gentry and Mickey DeLucca.

	SWPT—2017					Tyler			SWPT-- 2017					Tyler
	PPA					13Aug			APA					13Aug
1	Brice Bergesen	29	28	30	87	$160.00		1	Greg Everly	29	29	29	87	$26.00
2	Geoff Mosk	30	30	28	88	$100.00		2	Gary Plain	34	31	29	94	$13.00
3	Jeffrey Smith	29	30	31	90	$33.33		3	Mike Huckaby	32	30	33	95	$13.00
3	Mason Spradlin	29	30	31	90	$33.33		3	Scott Myers	32	32	31	95	$13.00
3	Jody Kimble	29	30	31	90	$33.33		5	Chris Conradi	32	30	34	96
3	Byron Kirby	31	29	30	90	$33.34	1	6	Ken Stanfill	32	34	32	98
3	Don Parker	27	33	30	90	$33.34		6	Mickey DeLucca	31	34	33	98		1
8	Lee Messinger	31	29	31	91	$5.00		8	Bryan Gentry	34	35	33	102		1
8	Matt Bellner	32	27	32	91	$5.00
10	Rudy Cuellar	33	32	29	94		1
10	Wade Samuel	32	30	32	94
12	Danny Tatum	33	31	31	95
13	Tom Adair	36	33	27	96

12 August 2017--Saturday--Tyler Texas--noon tee off

Looking at holes 16, 17, and 18 at the beautiful Tyler Texas course

The rain continued to follow the Southwest Putting Tour to Tyler for the weekend of August 12th and 13th. The weather on Saturday was actually beautiful as the Friday night rains ended. The course was wet but very playable on Saturday. Rains started up again around 7pm Saturday night and intensified into Sunday morning, resulting in a over two hour tee off delay. Fortunatly the course drains good and Gary Plain was an expert with the blower to blow the water off the course. Once we did get started the weather was fine, the players just needed to adapt to the changing speeds of the carpet during the day.

APA winner Gary Plain and 5 time SWPT winner in 2017 Jeffrey Smith

PPA
The two top players in wins this 2017 season, Lee Messinger with 6, and Jeffrey Smith with 4 (out of 17 tournaments) were tied for the lead after the first round with 27's, two shots ahead of Lubbock,s Joel Woodall who was at 29. Jody Kimble of Ft Smith Arkansas was fourth at 30. Host pro Tom Adair stormed the second round with a 25 to tie for the lead with Jeffrey at 58. Brice Bergesen had a 28 and snuck into third place at 60, just one shot ahead of five players at 61. Going into the back nine of the third and final round Jeffrey found himsel still two up on Brice, and Jody and Lee were tjree baclk. Jody shot a back side 18, Lee hit into the water on 16, and Brice could only muster a 15 while Jeffrey made 6 of his last 7 holes for a back nine 12 and a third round 25, good for a 83. Mason Spradlin came from a 10th place tie after two rounds to shoot a 25 of his own and tie Brice for second place at 88. Lee and Tom tied for fourth place at 90. The SWPT tour final spots went to Byron Kirby, Rudy Cuellar and Wade Sahmel.

APA
Gary Plain, Tyler's number one APA player for many years got off to a great start with a first round 28, one shot ahead of the new Texan, Bryan Gentry, who moved from Memphis to just outside of Houston last month, and who aced 7 of his first 8 holes before settling for a 29. Steady Chirs Conradi was in third place at 31. Gary opened a three shot lead after two rounds with another 28 and a 56 total. Bryan was at 59. Charging into a third place tie with Chris was Mike Huckaby with the day's low APA score with a 27 and a 62 total. In the final round Bryan got hot again on the front nine with a 12 to cut the lead to one shot, but a back nine 17 did him in, and his 29 for a 88 got him second place. Gary was steady and a solid 30 was good for a 86 and the win. Mike put together another good round and his 30 and 92 was good to claim third place by a stroke over the 2017 runaway point getter Greg Everly. The SWPT final spots went to Bryan Gentry and Mickey DeLucca.

	SWPT—2017					Tyler			SWPT-- 2017					Tyler
	PPA					12Aug			APA					12Aug
1	Jeffrey Smith	27	31	25	83	$160.00		1	Gary Plain	28	28	30	86	$26.00
2	Brice Bergesen	32	28	28	88	$90.00		2	Bryan Gentry	29	30	29	88	$13.00	1
2	Mason Spradlin	33	30	25	88	$90.00		3	Mike Huckaby	35	27	30	92	$13.00
4	Lee Messinger	27	34	29	90	$35.00		4	Greg Everly	32	31	30	93	$13.00
4	Tom Adair	33	25	32	90	$35.00		5	Chris Conradi	31	31	34	96	$13.00
6	Geoff Mosk	32	29	31	92	$15.00		6	Steven Yancey	32	33	32	97
6	Jody Kimble	30	31	31	92	$15.00		6	Scott Myers	35	32	30	97
8	Danny Tatum	35	29	29	93			8	Chris Walker	37	31	31	99
9	Matt Bellner	31	30	33	94			9	Ken Stanfill	36	33	33	102
10	Byron Kirby	34	30	31	95		1	10	Mickey DeLucca	32	41	34	107		1
10	Rudy Cuellar	32	30	33	95		1
10	Wade Samuel	31	30	34	95		1
13	Joel Woodall	29	34	33	96
14	Don Parker	32	35	30	97

15-16th July 017--Mike Baldoza Texas Open--Arlington Texas

Mike Baldoza at 14 in 1969 Mike Baldoza at 58 at his last PPA win in Arlington in 2014

The second annual Mike Baldoza Texas Open was played at the Arlington Parks Putt-Putt on July 15th and 16, the tournament as a tribute to our great friend and legendary Hall of Fame putter who passed away the last day of 2015. Wade Sahmel, the inaguaral winner in 2016, was unable to play because of a new work schedule. Bill Shelar, the inagural APA winner, turned pro and also moved to California. The weather was as good as could be hoped for in Arlington in July, and the 18 players had a good time on the course that was Mike's last victory in July of 2014.

FIRST DAY-Saturday, July 15th, noon tee off.

PPA

This is THE tournament everyone now wants to win because of our love for Mike Baldoza. Jeffrey Smith, who shot a 106 on this same course just three weeks earlier, blistered the field the first round with a 11-12=23, with a nasty lip out on hole 18! The first round completed on Saturday would prove to be the most important of the entire weekend. That sparkling round gave Jeffrey a 5-shot lead over Brice Bergesen and Geoff Mosk with no other PPA player under 30. Brice made a small charge the second round by going 6 under through 7 holes to cut the lead to only one shot, but Jeffrey took off again and was at 52 for 36 holes, four up on Brice at 56 and six on Geoff at 58. Jeffrey kept the pedal to the metal by posting a third round 26 for a 78 total. Jeffrey shot a front nine 11 to Brice's 19, which opend up a 8-shot lead over Geoff at 86. The only other players within 10 shots of Jeffrey were the pre-tournament favorite, the leader in all SWPT catagories this 2017 season, Lee Messinger, amd rookie Mason Spradlin, both at 88. In the fourth and final Saturday round Jeffrey "slipped" to a 30, but still held a comfortable 7-shot lead over Geoff, 108 to 115. Lee and Brice finished tied for third at 117.

APA
As was the case with Jeffrey Smith starting out so strong in the PPA division, Greg Everly, the run away leader for the SWPT Player of the Year Award and winner of four straight APA tournaments, led after the first round with a 28, the only player under 31. Chris Conradi was at that 31 and Mickey DeLucca and Steven Yancey were five shots back at 33. Greg started to run away and hide after a second round 26 for a 54 total, six shots ahead of Chris and nine up on Mickey. Greg continued to pour it on with another sub 30 round in the third round, a 29 and a 83 total, pushing his lead to 10 shots over Ken Stanfill. Greg proved himself human as the difficult deuce putt from the left side of hole five got him, as it did many players over the weekend. Greg made a five on hole five, but rallied for a 32 and a 115 total, still 10 shots ahead of Ken and Steven. As in the PPA division, the rest of the field had a lot of work to do on Sunday!!

Three time Texas Open champ Jeffrey Smith, APA winner Greg Everly, his 5th consecutive win in 2017

DAY TWO-Sunday,July 16th, 10am tee off

PPA
The field knew they had to step up their game and Jeffrey Smith needed to cool off to make the Mike Baldoza Texas Open a competitive tournament. Jeffrey started by shooting a 29 in round five, and Geoff Mosk picked up one shot with his 28, and Jeffrey led 137 to 143, a six shot lead. Brice Bergesen and Lee Messinger were still nine shots back at 146. Brice and Lee got a little hot the 6th round, both shooting 26 for a 172 total while Jeffrey had a 30 for a 167 total, the lead down to five shots with two rounds to play. Lee fell bck in the seventh round with a 32, but Brice shot a 28 for a 200 total and was now only three shots back going into the final round as Jeffrey shot another 30 for a 197 total. Geoff and Lee were seven shots back at 204. Brice got off to a slow start the final round, missing the first three holes and shot a front nine 15, while Jeffrey shot a front nine 13, giving him a five shot lead with only the harder back nine to play. Jeffrey kept acing and shot a back side 12 for the day's low score of 25 and a 222 total, winning by eight shots over Brice, sho finished with a 30 for a 230 total. Geoff was third at 232 and Mason Sjpradlin and Don Parker tied for fourth at 234. Lee Messinger's stumble the last two rounds saw him fall to fifth place at 235. The stroke play spots for the SWPT finals went to Geoffrey Mosk (his 4th), Tom Adair (his 4th) and Pat Simpson.

APA

The APA players were hoping for Greg Everly to faulter a little bit so they could cut into his 10-shot lead after 72 holes. Greg only shot a fifth round 30 but saw his lead expand to 14 shots as all the contenders barely broke par. Greg was at 145 and Steven Yancey was at 159. Greg shot another solid 30 in round six and saw his lead stay at 14 shots as Mickey DeLucca shot the day's low round with a 27 and it was Greg at 175 and Mickey at 189. Mickey shot a seventh round 35 tio drop off the pace and Greg shot another solid round, a 29, to increase his lead to a very safe 19 shots with one round to go over Steven who was at 223 to Greg's 204. Just for good measure Greg shot a final round 28 for a 232 total and a resounding 22 shot win over Mickey DeLucca, who finsihed second at 254. The real tournament in the APA was the battle for second, as Mickey barely edged Steven by one shot and Chris Conradi made a big last round charge with a 27 to finish fourth at 256. The stroke play spots for the APA for the SWPT championship went to Mickey DeLucca, Steven Yancey (his 4th), Trevor Lewin (his 4th), Ken Stanfill (his 4th), and Jack Ramsey.

	SWPT—2017										MB Tx Op
	PPA										July 15-16
1	Jeffrey Smith	23	29	26	30	29	30	30	25	222	$300.00
2	Brice Bergesen	28	28	33	28	29	26	28	30	230	$200.00
3	Geoffrey Mosk	28	30	28	29	28	31	30	28	232	$120.00	1
4	Mason Spradlin	30	30	28	34	28	30	28	26	234	$65.00
4	Don Parker	31	29	32	30	26	31	28	27	234	$65.00
6	Lee Messinger	31	28	29	29	29	26	32	31	235	$30.00
7	Jody Kimble	31	31	30	34	26	31	26	31	240	$20.00
8	Danny Tatum	33	30	28	33	30	30	31	29	244
9	Pat Simpson	32	30	29	33	30	29	30	32	245		1
10	Tom Adair	34	31	35	32	32	27	27	29	247		1
11	Matt Bellner	31	35	33	33	34	32	31	30	259

24 June 2017--Saturday-Arlington Texas--Noon tee off

Holes one and two at the beautiful Arlington Parks course
The tournament did not start until 3pm due to morning rains that lasted until early afternoon. The bad weather bug is following the SWPT around this year, with several delays due to rain. No rain in Abilene but it got to 105 degrees! The course dried out as the tournament progressed which presented a challenge for the players to adjust their shots and speed.

PPA winner Pat Simpson, his first win since 1987, APA winner Greg Everly, his 7th win of the 2017 season
PPA
Don Parker took the first round lead with a 27, with Pat Simpson and Rainey Statum close on his heels with 28's. SWPT leader in Player-of-the-Year points Lee Messinger was the only other player under 30 with his 29. Arlington Parks is a streaky course, you can make aces in bunches and on the flip side you can have maddening deuce streaks also. That is what happened to first round leader Don in the second round as he shot a 19 on the front with only one ace. Lee took advantage of that and with his 28 for a 57 was the leader after two rounds over five players at 59. It was definity anyone's tournament to win. Pat Simpson shot a solid 28 his third round, Lee fell back to a 31 and Pat, at 87, edged Lee and Mason Spradlin, who both finished at 88. It was Pat's first PPA win since he won the Tournament of Champions in Lake Charles back in 1987. Pat won the tournament on the harder back nine despite a bogey on hole 15. Pat aced 6 of the other 8 holes, including 17 and 18, to edge Lee and Mason. And Lee deuced his last 8 holes, it is that fickle of a course. Brice Bergesen and hard charging Jody Kimble finished in a tie for fourth just two shots back at 89. Because f the rain delay there was no match play and the stroke play spots went to Pat Simpson and Don Parker.

APA
Greg Everly had quite a good weekend at Arlington Parks. Every round he shot was either the best or tied for the best round, which also means he won both tournaments easily. On Saturday Greg shot 29-29-31 for a 89 and a five shot win over Mike Huckaby, who did tie Greg in the third round with a 31. Scott Myers, on the strength of his second round 29 (tieing Greg) finished third at 102. The tour final spots went to Mike Huckaby, Scott Myers and Steven Yancey. Mike's was his fourth and final spot.

	SWPT—2017					Parks			SWPT-- 2017					Parks
	PPA					24June			APA					24June
1	Pat Simpson	28	31	28	87	$140.00	1	1	Greg Everly	29	29	31	89	$26.00
2	Lee Messinger	29	28	31	88	$72.50		2	Mike Huckaby	31	32	31	94	$13.00	1
2	Mason Spradlin	30	29	29	88	$72.50		3	Scott Myers	37	29	36	102	$7.00	1
4	Brice Bergesen	31	28	30	89	$25.00		4	Chris Conradi	32	34	37	103
4	Jody Kimble	33	28	28	89	$25.00		4	Steven Yancey	33	35	35	103		1
6	Don Parker	27	33	30	90	$10.00	1
7	Geoff Mosk	30	29	33	92
8	Danny Tatum	30	32	31	93
8	Rudy Cuellar	32	30	31	93
10	Rainey Statum	28	31	35	94
11	Jeffrey Smith	31	36	39	106

25 June 2017--Sunday-Arlington Texas--10am tee off

There was a delay on Sunday also in teeing off, not weather related! We tee off at 10am and they open at 11am, so the side gate is supposed to be left unlocked for us and for whatever reason, it was not. A early worker showed up a little after 10am and we were able to start before 1130am. It was a beautiful day, only in the low 80's due to a rare late cool front, which also brought all the rain on Saturday.

Big winners on the SWPT: PPA Lee Messinger wins his 6th, APA Greg Everly wins his 7th Sunday at Arlington Parks

PPA
With the carpets dried out the scoring was quite a bit lower, about a stroke a round, than on Saturday. In the first round Brice Bergesen shot a 26 to edge Lee Messinger and Danny Tatum by a single stroke. No other players were under 30. In the second round, Jody Kimble, playing with Brice, shot a front nine 10 while Brice made two's on the first eight holes. Jody kept it going on the back side and his 24 was two shots lower than any other round ovr the weekend. That put Jody and Lee in a tie at 55, one shot ahead of Rudy Cuellar, who had a second round 26, and two shots ahead of Brice and Geoffrey Mosk. Another tight tournament at Parks! Rudy ran into trouble on the pesky 10th hole, a easy ace but not so easy a deuce from the back rail. Rudy made a 6 and was out of contention. It was a battle for the win on the back nine. Brice had the lead after 13 holes but deuced in from there to finish third at 84. Jody and Lee were tied going into hole 16, both aced, then Jody made hole 17 and Lee missed, but Lee came back to ace hole 18 and Jody missed, and they tied for first at 83. They were still tied after the 18-hole playoff. Lee lagged the hill on hole two but made a good deuce and Jody's really good looking putt lipped out. They both made twos until hole four when Lee aced for his 6th win of the 2017 SWPT season and increasing his Player-of-the-Year lead over Brice to well over 300 points. Don Parker got the medal spot and in the match play finals in sudden death Bill Shelar aced number three to edge Pat Simpson for the other spot.

Newly minted PPA Pro Bill Shelar, edged Pat Simpson on the 21st hole to win his first match play spot
APA
Greg Everly cruised for a easy win on Sunday, beating his competition in every round, for his fourth straight SWPT win. The runaway leaader in the APA Player-of-theYear standings, Greg shot his worst round of the weeend the first round, a 32, and was shocked to find himself leading. He then took care of business shooting 28-27 for a 87 and a 9-shot win over Mike Huckaby at 96. Steven Yancey shot a fine last round of 30 to win third place at 97. Steven Yancey and Scott Myers won spots for the tour finals at Webster in October. It was Scott's fourth spot.

	SWPT—2017					Parks			SWPT-- 2017					Parks
	PPA					25June			APA					25June
1	Lee Messinger	27	28	28	83	$150.00		1	Greg Everly	32	28	27	87	$26.00
2	Jody Kimble	31	24	28	83	$100.00		2	Mike Huckaby	33	32	31	96	$13.00
3	Brice Bergesen	26	31	27	84	$80.00		3	Steven Yancey	33	34	30	97	$7.00	1
4	Geoff Mosk	30	27	28	85	$30.00		4	Chris Conradi	34	35	33	102
5	Mason Spradlin	33	28	28	89	$15.00		5	Scott Myers	39	37	33	109		1
5	Danny Tatum	27	34	28	89	$15.00
7	Don Parker	32	29	29	90		1
8	Rainey Statum	34	29	28	91
8	Jeffrey Smith	30	28	33	91
8	Bill Shelar	31	28	32	91		1
11	Rudy Cuellar	30	26	37	93
12	Pat Simpson	33	34	36	103

17 June 2017--Saturday--Abilene Texas--Noon teeoff

The first ladies of Putt-Putt in Texas, Katherine Adair of Tyler and Carol Zeni of Abilene.

After having several of the SWPT events disturbed by rain this season it was nice to play with a zero per cent chance of rain for a change. The downside of that was the temperature reached 105 degrees on Saturday. Fortunatly the course in Abilene has the best water fountain in the business and there was shade every three holes so all the players survived. The high temperatures seemed to affect the shots as the scores were unusually high for the course as the day moved along. There were eleven players who made the excursion to Abilene, eight PPA players and three APA payers.

PPA winner Rainey Statum and APA winner Greg Everly

PPA

It did not seem that hot at the start of the noon tournament in Abilene and the first round leaders were Brice Bergesen and Rainey Statum with 29's. Defending champion Lee Messinger was only one shot back at 30. Rainey took over command the second round with a tournament low 27 and a total of 56 which gave him a three shot lead over Lee and four shots over Brice. In the final round Rainey could not find the aces and Lee slowly was getting closer and when Rainey missed hole 18 and Lee aced it they were tied at 89. Brice came to hole 18 with a chance to tie also but left his putt short and selted for third place at 90. Jeffrey Smith was fourth at 91. Playing in his first ever tournament as a PPA pro, defending SWPT APA champion Bill Shelar struggled until the final nine holes when he shot a 12 and moved into fifth place with a 92. In the playoff Rainey shot a 29 and Lee shot a 34. The spots went to Rainey, Bill Shelar and Mason Spradlin.

APA
There were only three players in the APA and the SWPT leader Greg Everly was one of them so he was the player for Chris Conradi and Trevor Lewin to beat. Greg in the first round shot a 30 and Chris and Trevor both shot over par so Greg had a big lead to play with. Greg ended up shooting a 96, good for a 8-shot win over Chris. With both Greg and Chris spotted out for the tour finals, Trevor won the spot.

	SWPT—2017					Abil-12			SWPT-- 2017					Abil-12
	PPA					17June			APA					17June
1	Rainey Statum	29	27	33	89	$120.00	1	1	Greg Everly	30	32	34	96	$26.00
2	Lee Messinger	30	29	30	89	$70.00		2	Chris Conradi	37	33	34	104	$13.00
3	Brice Bergesen	29	31	30	90	$40.00		3	Trevor Lewin	38	36	35	109		1
4	Jeffrey Smith	33	28	30	91	$20.00
5	Bill Shelar	33	31	28	92		1
6	Mason Spradlin	32	32	34	98		1
7	Tom Adair	33	32	35	100
8	Joel Woodall	32	35	34	101

17 June, 2017--Saturday--Abilene Texas--3pm teeoff

PPA winner Lee Messinger with APA winner Greg Everly

PPA
With the temperature well over 100 degrees something strange happened: the ball would not go into the hole. The low score for the day in the PPA was a 30, done six times, we think the first tournament ever without a player under 30 for at least one round. Jeffrey Smith was the first round leader with, of course, a 30. Lee Messinger and Mason Spradlin were one shot back at 31. In the second round while Jeffrey was shooting a 35, Lee, Tom Adair and Rainey Statum were all shooting, of course, 30's. Lee was at 61, one ahead of Tom and three ahead of Rainey, Mason and Brice Bergesen, all at 64. In the final round Rainey, Lee and Tom were all even going into hole 16. Tom and Lee both aced while Rainey got a slide, missed the triangle and made a bogey. Tom then made a bogey on hole 17 to put Lee up by one, but then Tom aced hole 18 to tie Lee at 93. Rainey also aced hole 18 to tie Mason for third at 94. In the playoff, on a day with high scores, Lee, even with a bogey on hole 9, shot a 25 to easily beat Tom for the title. The spots went to Tom Adair, Rainey Statum and Mason Spradlin, his fourth.

Tom Adair playing hole 10 in the PPA playoff To be winner Lee Messinger watching Tom on hole 9
APA
Greg Everly was the only player to break 30 in the afternoon tournament with a first round 29, putting him one shot ahead of Chris Conradi at 30 and Trevor Lewin at 35. Chris had a second round of 37 which dropped him four shots back of Greg as Greg also struggled with a 34, he was at 63. Both players shot 31's the final round for a 94 for Greg and a 98 for Chris, who barely edged Trevor for second. Trevor won the spot for the finals, his third.

	SWPT—2017					Abil-3pm			SWPT-- 2017					Abil-3pm
	PPA					17june			APA					17June
1	Lee Messinger	31	30	32	93	$120.00		1	Greg Everly	29	34	31	94	$26.00
2	Tom Adair	32	30	31	93	$70.00	1	2	Chris Conradi	30	37	31	98	$13.00
3	Rainey Statum	34	30	30	94	$30.00	1	3	Trevor Lewin	35	32	32	99
3	Mason Spradlin	31	33	30	94	$30.00	1
5	Jeffrey Smith	30	35	31	96
6	Brice Bergesen	33	31	34	98
7	Bill Shelar	32	33	35	100
8	Joel Woodall	35	36	33	104

20 May 2017--Saturday--Longview Texas--Noon teeoff

Rain continues to follow the Southwest Putting Tour, as heavy rains were forecast for Saturday and only a slightly less chance of heavy rain on Sunday. The rain started early on Saturday and the start of the tournament was delayed from noon to 1pm to allow the course to drain out enough to play all 18 holes. Holes 12 and 13 were troublesome, but thanks to Lee Messinger and Pat Simpson taking turns sweeping water out of the way both holes were very playable by tee off time. The players actually enjoyed a pleasant afternoon with no rain around at all.

PPA winner Brice Bergese (#60 on SWPT), APA winner Greg Simpson PPA matches Don Parker vs Byron Kirby, Pat Simpson vs Jody Kimble

PPA

Local pro Matt Bellner and Jody Kimble from Ft Smith Arkansas were the first round leaders at 29, with Brice Bergesen one shot back at 30. No player got anything going in the second round and Brice had a 29 good for a 59, and that gave Brice a two shot lead over Matt and the SWPT points and money leader Lee Messinger, both at 61. Brice aced five of the first six holes to widen his lead to four shots going into the back nine and when he made number 13 and 14, he had a four shot lead still on both Matt and Lee, with only four holes to go. Brice got a little too aggressive on hole 17, went to the back rail, missed, then missed from down the hill, made a four to cut his lead to only one shot. Both Lee and Matt missed hole 18 and Brice's two was good enough to squeak away with a win, shooting 89 to Lee's 90 and Matt's 91. Matt won the stroke play spot. Match play spots went to Don Parker and Jody Kimble.

Making this deuce putt was critical for Gary "The Bush" Plain in his match for a spot against Trevor Lewin
APA
Lake Charles course owner Greg Simpson came out with the day's low round, a 28 to take a three shot lead over Trevor Lewin at 31 and Charles Cox at 32. With a front nine 12 the second round Greg raced out to a 8 shot lead over Trevor after 27 holes. Unfortunately for Greg he followed that great front with bogies on number 11 and 15 and no aces for a 20 and a 32. Both Trevor and Charles also shot 32, so Greg's lead was at 3 shots. Greg played a very steady 15-15=30 his last round for a 90 and a 4-shot win over Trevor at 94. Charles Cox hung on for third place at 96. Greg won the stroke play spot and the match play spots went to Gary "the bush" Plain, see photo, and Charles Cox.

	SWPT—2017					Longv			SWPT-- 2017					Long
	PPA					20May			APA					20 May
1	Brice Bergesen	30	29	30	89	$140.00		1	Greg Simpson	28	32	30	90	$26.00	1
2	Lee Messinger	31	30	29	90	$90.00		2	Trevor Lewin	31	32	31	94	$13.00
3	Matt Bellner	29	32	30	91	$55.00	1	3	Charles Cox	32	32	32	96	$13.00	1
4	Pat Simpson	35	28	29	92	$30.00		4	Mike Huckaby	34	32	33	99	$7.00
5	Byron Kirby	32	30	32	94	$20.00		5	Chris Conradi	36	30	34	100
6	Tom Adair	31	32	32	95	$10.00		6	Charles Tarbell	35	32	34	101
7	Danny Tatum	36	27	33	96			7	Gary Plain	36	37	31	104		1
8	Jeffrey Smith	32	34	31	97
9	Rudy Cuellar	33	32	35	100
10	Jody Kimble	29	37	35	101		1
11	Don Parker	36	34	33	103		1

21 May 2017--Sunday--Longview Texas--10am Teeoff

We thought we had seen the last of the rain because the weather turned out so nice later on Saturday, but much more rain came Sunday morning before we could tee off, resulting in a two plus hour rain delay. Six of the 20 players thought we could not get the tournament finished in time and had to drop out. We played, the course was very wet, hole 12 unplayable, puddles remained on some holes because there was a light rain throughout the tournament. The amazing thing was the stroke average was almost 3 strokes lower in the PPA than on Saturday. I can only guess that the course playing so slow took some of the bogies out of play. But we got the tournament in and the weather turned nice as we were leaving to go home, of course!

Lots of work to get the course ready Pat Simpson's putt to tie for first place was too hard

PPA
Because of the weather delay the PPA was down to only 8 players and four of them shot 28 the first round! Byron Kirby, Jody Kimble,Danny Tatum and Pat Simpson. No other player shot better than 32. Jody Kimble, who came in next to last on Saturday, then shoots a second round 26 for a 36 hole total of 54. That gave him a four shot lead over Lee Messinger, who also shot a 26 his second round and was at 58, along with Pat. Jody's four shot lead dwindled during the third and final round as he shot a 32 for a 86 total. Lee barely missed tying him and was at 87. Pat Simpson had a great chance to tie and barely missed hole 10, then aced hole 11 to pull within one shot with one hole left to play. Hole twelve was pretty much unplayable because of standing water. A player could take a two on it or try to play it. Pat had to try and play it and took a really good effort hitting the ball hard through the water but missed and had to settle for a tie for second with Lee. Danny Tatum was fourth with a solid 90. Jody won the stroke play spot, his third spot, and Don Parker won his second spot in match play and Matt Bellner defeated Pat Simpson on the last hole to win his fourth spot.

APA champion Mike Huckaby, PPA champion Jody Kimble Some holes were unplayable, as Matt Bellner demonstrates

APA
While there were some really great scores shot in the PPA on Sunday afternoon, it was not the case in the APA. There was only one round recorded lower than a 32, a 31 by the leader in all categories in the SWPT stats, Greg Everly. The first round leaders were at 33, not a bad score on the soaked course, between Mike Huckaby and Chris Conradi. Chris followed with a second round 32 and a 65 total, one better than Mike, and two better than Greg. No one could make any sort of move in the final round and Mike came from behind and shot a final round 32 for a 98 total and a one shot win over Greg Everly, who also shot a final round 32. Third place went to the second round leader Chris who fell back with a 35. Mike Huckaby won the stroke play spot, his 3rd, and in match play Gary Plain won his fourth spot and Saturday winner Greg Simpson won his second spot.

	SWPT—2017					Longv			SWPT-- 2017					Long
	PPA					21May			APA					21May
1	Jody Kimble	28	26	32	86	$120.00	1	1	Mike Huckaby	33	33	32	98	$26.00	1
2	Lee Messinger	32	26	29	87	$55.00		2	Greg Everly	36	31	32	99	$13.00
2	Pat Simpson	28	30	29	87	$55.00		3	Chris Conradi	33	32	35	100	$13.00
4	Danny Tatum	28	32	30	90	$20.00		4	Gary Plain	37	32	32	101		1
5	Byron Kirby	28	32	32	92			5	Trevor Lewin	35	35	32	102
5	Don Parker	33	30	29	92		1	6	Greg Simpson	35	40	33	108		1
7	Brice Bergesen	34	33	31	98
8	Matt Bellner	38	34	36	108		1

6 May 2017--Saturday--Tyler, Texas--Noon

The players, even if they did not know it, got a special treat on Saturday at Tyler by playing course 2. They got to experience what it would have been like playing in a Putt-Putt tournament in the early 1960's, on a course with a original loop the loop that was played, a target hole that gave everyone fits, and lots of holes where it took a high quality putt just to have a chance at a hole in one. The result were high scores, but also it was to experience what players from 50 years ago probably felt when playing the same cours. The course in Tyler was built in 1958 and the layout is the same now as when it was built. In so many tournaments now the player is unhappy with a miss because he expects to ace every hole. At Tyler #2 the fun is hitting a very good putt and actually having a chance for the putt to go in; some good putts go in, a lot don't. It puts a premium on patience and knowing when to be aggressive and when to accept a deuce. Some players complained, most accepted the challenge for what it was and had a great time. The weather was spot on perfect, the Adairs were great hosts as usual, and kudos to Jeffrey Smith, Lee Messinger and Chris Conradi, the three players who tied for the low score in six rounds, each with a single 29!

Greg Everly playing the target hole SWPT win #82 for Jeffrey Smith Chris Conradi wins APA, wins 4th spot

PPA--Noon
Matt Bellner was the first round co-leader along with defending SWPT champion Jeffrey Smith with rounds of 30. Brice Bergesen was one shot back at 31. SWPT 2017 leader Lee Messinger had trouble making his first ace. He made all 2's through hole 12, then a 3 on hole 13. Finally on the target hole he hits into the small center ring for a ace. . . . wait a minute, it does not bounce out, it spins out!! and goes into the second ring. Lee makes his first ace on hole 16 and shoots a 35. Jeffrey had the low round of the tournament in the second round, a bogey free 29 and a 59 total, two up on Brice and five up on Matt and Mason Spradlin. No player shot better than 31 the last round and Jeffrey cruised home with a 31 and a 90 total, four better than Brice. Mason was third at 95. East Texas players won all the tour final spots: Mason Spradlin, Matt Bellner and Tom Adair.

APA--Noon
If the course was hard for the PPA members it was even more so for the APA members as only one player was able to break 100, and that was Chris Conradi, his tournament highlighted by a second round 29, two shots better than any other APA score on Saturday. Greg Everly was the first round leader with a 31 but a second round 36 put him in second place five shots behind Chjris. Gary Plain came from behind to catch Greg for second place with a third round 32. Chris ended up with a 96, Gary a 100 and Scott Myers also caught Greg for third place at 101. Chris won his fourth and final tour final spot, and Gary Plain and Scott Myers each won their first.

	SWPT—2017					Tyler			SWPT-- 2017					Tyler
	PPA					6May-12			APA					6May-12
1	Jeffrey Smith	30	29	31	90	$120.00		1	Chris Conradi	33	29	34	96	$26.00	1
2	Brice Bergesen	31	30	33	94	$70.00		2	Gary Plain	35	33	32	100	$13.00	1
3	Mason Spradlin	32	32	31	95	$30.00	1	3	Greg Everly	31	36	34	101	$7.00
4	Matt Bellner	30	34	34	98	$20.00	1	3	Scott Myers	37	31	33	101	$7.00	1
5	Tom Adair	32	35	32	99		1	5	Ken Stanfill	33	41	40	114
6	Lee Messinger	35	32	33	100
6	John Kropinak	35	31	34	100

6 May, 2017--Saturday--Tyler, Texas--3PM

A quick lunch and the players were back on the course for the afternoon tournament. The weather continued to be beautiful and the players were all vowing to score better the second time around on the course that gives up holes-in-one so reluctantly. The course would win again.

Hole 15, with the famous target hole in the backgroun Lee Messinger won for the 4th time, Greg Everly for the 3rd time

PPA--3PM
About the only player to get a little revenge on course 2 was Lee Messinger, who improved six strokes over his first round in the early tournament, going from 35 to 29, one of only three shot the entire day. His 29 remarkably gave Lee a four shot lead over Matt Bellner and a five shot lead over Brice Bergesen, who survived three bogies in a row on holes 12, 13 and 14, and Mason Spradlin and John Kropinak, all at 34. Lee followed with a 30 and was in at 59, six shots ahead of Brice and Tom Adair. Lee easily won as four of the seven players shot 32's the last round, Lee's giving him a 91. Brice and Tom fought for second place and Brice cut Tom by one, 97 to 98. Jeffrey Smith came back from a 36 first round to claim fourth at 99. SWPT final spots went to Tom Adair, Mason Spradlin and Matt Bellner, the second spot for each of them.

APA--3PM
With Dwain Willett not in Tyler for the tournaments, Greg Everly reclaimed first place in the Player of the Year points with his win in the 3pm tournament. Greg shot very solid and steady rounds of 31-31-32 for a 94 and a five shot win over Gary Plain, who kept it real close for two rounds but fell back with a final round of 35 and a 99 total. The two tour final spots went to Gary and Scott Myers, the second for each of them.

	SWPT—2017					Tyler			SWPT-- 2017					Tyler
	PPA					6May-3			APA					6May-3
1	Lee Messinger	29	30	32	91	$120.00		1	Greg Everly	31	31	32	94	$26.00
2	Brice Bergesen	34	31	32	97	$70.00		2	Gary Plain	33	31	35	99	$13.00	1
3	Tom Adair	35	30	33	98	$30.00	1	3	Scott Myers	34	35	35	104		1
4	Jeffrey Smith	36	31	32	99	$20.00		4	Chris Conradi	34	36	36	106
5	Mason Spradlin	34	34	32	100		1
6	Matt Bellner	33	35	33	101		1
7	John Kropinak	34	33	36	103

29 April, 2017--Saturday--Dallas Texas

The Dallas course was a thing of beauty, bluest water we have ever seen

The Southwest Putting Tour returned to the Dallas Coit Road course for the first time since 1998. Jeffrey Smith is the defending champion. We were expecting a good turnout but the weatherman had something to say about that. The forecast for Dallas on Saturday was the same as in Memphis and the Western Open the previous Saturday, heavy, dangerous thunderstorms all day starting about noon. The storms actually mostly missed the course but between Dallas and Tyler there were tornadoes which resulted in several deaths. So we played with only 6 PPA and 6 APA players and everyone had a good time. We got to play an amazingly good course, with freshly painted bumpboards, some new tee mats and some new carpet. Dallas will definitely be in the SWPT rotation in the future.

PPA winner for the third time in 2017, Lee Messinger APA winner Greg Everly won for the second time

PPA
Defending champion from 19 years ago, Jeffrey Smith, got off to a slow start with a 17 on his first nine holes, but came back strong with a back nine 11 for a 28 and a share of the first round lead with Danny Tatum and Lee Messinger. Guest player Robert Johnson, the 2003 National Champion from North Carlolina, was fourth at 31, Danny tacked on another 28 in the second round for a leading score of 56 for two rounds, with Lee at 57, Jeffrey at 58 and Brice Bergesen at 59. We did a shotgun start because of the impending very bad weather and Danny started on hole 15, a "y" hole. Danny quickly lost the lead when he somehow made a 7 to start his last round. That was not the highest score of the day, Pat Simpson took 8 blows on the sidehill eighth hole. Lee took advantage big time of Danny's misfortune and shot a 12-13=25 his final round for a 82, winning by seven shots over Brice at 89. Danny fought back to a 34 and a tie for third with Jeffrey. Danny and Jeffrey had a 18-hole playoff for a tour final spot and Jeffrey won, shooting a course record 23. Danny Tatum then won the match play spot by beating Pat Simpson.

APA.

The APA tournament went to Greg Everly with a easy win. No other player beat Greg in any of the three rounds. Greg was tied after the first round by Trevor Lewin, both at 30, with Ken Stanfill in third place at 33. Greg shot another 30 the second round and had a two shot lead over Trevor and a five shot lead over Ken. Greg made sure no one was going to come from behind and catch him by shooting the days low APA round with a final round 26, good for a 86 and a 8-shot win. Trevor finished in second place and was the medalist for the tour final spot. After a disastrous front nine of 19, Ken turned it around with a back nine 12 and edged Chris Conradi for third place, 96 to 97. Chris went on to beat Steven Yancy for the match play spot.

	SWPT—2017					Dallas			SWPT-- 2016					Dallas
	PPA					29Apr			APA					29Apr
1	Lee Messinger	28	29	25	82	$100.00	1	1	Greg Everly	30	30	26	86	$26.00
2	Brice Bergesen	32	27	30	89	$60.00		2	Trevor Lewin	30	32	32	94	$13.00	1
3	Danny Tatum	28	28	34	90	$10.00	1	3	Ken Stanfill	33	32	31	96	$13.00	1
3	Jeffrey Smith	28	30	32	90	$10.00	1	4	Chris Conradi	35	32	30	97		1
5	Pat Simpson	38	32	25	95			5	Steven Yancey	37	33	30	100
5	Robert Johnson	31	33	31	95			6	Dwain Willett	36	32	36	104

30 April 2017--Sunday--Dallas Texas

Looking from the second hole towards the third hole

There was some overnight rain to dampen the course (actually made the four newly carpeted holes play better), the winds shifted 180 degrees (still strong winds) and the temperature was hovering about 50 degrees at the start of Sundays tournament.

APA winner for the 3rd time in 2017, Dwain Willett, PPA Jeffrey Smith has two wins this year 81 total

PPA
Danny Tatum was playing great on Saturday when he made a 7 on the first hole of his last round, so he was determined to come out firing on Sunday morning and he did, shooting a 25 for a four shot lead over Saturday winner Lee Messinger and Jeffrey Smith. Brice Bergesen was in fourth place at 30. After nine holes of the second round Danny had increased his lead to five shots. Jeffrey then shot a 13 on his back nine to go with a 13 on the front for a 26 and after 36 holes Danny was at 52 and Jeffrey was at 55 and Lee still close at 56. Jeffrey got locked in the last round and when he does he usually does something special. He missed hole four on the front nine and shot a 10 to take a two shot lead over Danny. Jeffrey then aces five of the first seven holes on the back side to put the tournament away. He laid up for a bogey on number 17 and shot a 24, good for a 79. Danny was second at 83 and Lee third at 84. Danny and Pat Simpson won spots for the tour finals.

Lee Messinger, Trevor Lewin and Ken Stanfill near hole number one

APA
Player of the Year leader coming into the Dallas weekend was Dwain Willett and he was not too happy about his 104 and last place finish on Saturday. Dwain shoots a 26 in the first round to open up a four shot lead on Saturday's winner Greg Everly Ken Stanfill was in third place at 31. Dwain faltered a little bit with a second round 32, allowing Greg to pull within two shots. Greg then posted his third straight 30, and fifth in six rounds for the weekend, but Dwain responded with a solid 29 good for a 87 and a three shot win. Chris Conradi had three straight 32's for 96 and a third place finish. Chris and Steven Yancey won stroke play spots and Ken Stanfill won the match play spot.

SWPT—2017