2006 Senior Tournament

John Felker Comes From Behind to Capture GSGA Senior Tournament

NEWNAN, Ga. - Atlanta's John Felker fought off ferocious winds to card 35 points for a 103 total and a four-point victory over Randall Rozier of McDonough at the 3rd annual GSGA Senior Tournament, which was held at Orchard Hills Golf Club, May 9-11. Rozier, playing in the day's final group with Felker, scored 32 points in the final round and finished with a tournament total of 99 Stableford points.

Bruce Wood of Duluth, who won the first flight, finished in third place overall with 98 points. Jim Kamis of Marietta, the leader entering the final round, managed to only score 26 points and fell into a tie for fourth place with second-flight winner Christopher Demarco of Acworth. Dalton's Ronald Lowery and Midland's J.C. Jones finished in a tie for sixth with 95 points. Wendell Couch of Athens held his position from the end of round two and would finish eighth. In ninth was Tom Hall of Albany with 92 points overall. Tenth place went to Snellville's Nick Kirkland, who tallied 33 points in both the second and third rounds of play.

Felker started the day firing a one-under 35 on the first nine holes, good for 19 points. He carded eight pars and recorded a birdie on the 361-yard third hole. On the second nine, Felker carded a double bogey on the 11th hole and back-to-back bogeys on 15 and 16.

"I knew that I needed to have a strong finish after those bad holes," Felker explained of his mishaps, "but I struck the ball well the past couple of days and only had a couple of bad holes during the whole tournament. I hit some fairways, made some putts, never really did anything great but just stayed out of big trouble."
Felker, who celebrates his 59th birthday today, said he never even thought about the special day.

"It's funny really. I was so excited to find out that I had won the tournament that I didn't even remember that today was my birthday," Felker said with a laugh.
Willis Ward of Warner Robins captured the overall Super Senior honors scoring 98 Stableford points for the tournament. Ward captured the Super Senior crown by one point over Calhoun's Bob Nance.

"I played as well as I could have out there," Ward said of his performance in the tournament. "With the wind like it was today, I feel pretty lucky to have been able to score the number of points that I did."

Other flight included: Third Flight - Jimmy Rutherford of Cumming (75), Super Senior 2 - Clive Phillips of Peachtree City (92) and Super Senior 3 - Bob Reinhart of Decatur and Jerry Gafford of Mansfield (75).

The Stableford format awards points on a sliding scale, with one point for bogeys, two for pars, three for birdies and four points for eagles. In this format, an 18-hole score of 36 is roughly equivalent to shooting even par.

The 81-member field was divided into seven flights with three flights making up the Super Senior division. Entries were open to male amateur golfers age 55 and up who hold USGA handicap indexes of 3.0 or higher and are residents of Georgia. Players age 65 and up could choose to compete in the Super Senior division or for the overall title. The par-72 layout at Orchard Hills Golf Club is playing to 6,390 yards for the Championship through third flights and 5,952 yards for the Super Seniors.

GSGA conducts 18 statewide competitions for men and women of all age groups, three interstate matches and 17 USGA qualifying events each year. Other services include computerized handicapping, course rating and measuring, a summer-long junior sectional competitions program, Golf Georgia magazine and two college scholarship programs.

Final Results

Top Ten Overall
1 John Felker, Atlanta 333634103
2 Randall Rozier, McDonough 33343299
3 Bruce Wood, Duluth 33353098
T4 Jim Kamis, Marietta 35352696
T4 Christopher Demarco, Acworth 30353196
T6 Ronald Lowery, Dalton 34313095
T6 J.C. Jones, Midland 30333295
8 Wendell Couch, Athens 34303094
9 Tom Hall, Albany 30303292
10 Nick Kirkland, Snellville 25333391

 

Championship Flight
1 John Felker, Atlanta 333634103
2 Randall Rozier, McDonough 33343299
3 Ronald Lowery, Dalton 34313095
4 Wendell Couch, Athens 34303094
5 Nick Kirkland, Snellville 25333391
T6 C.J. Dodd, Calhoun 33282889
T6 Charles Hobbs, Blakely 28283389
T8 Bruce Connors, Newnan 26312885
T8 Mike Sikes, Acworth 29362085
10 Ron Holtzman, Roswell 33262584
11 Terry Moon, Powder Springs 31212476
12 Wesley Wilvert, Carrollton 24252170

 

First Flight
1 Bruce Wood, Duluth 33353098
2 Jim Kamis, Marietta 35352696
3 J.C. Jones, Midland 30333295
4 Tom Hall, Albany 30303292
5 Ron Eulenfeld, St. Simons Island 30282886
6 Sydney Welch, LaGrange 27322483
7 Bob Fowler, Atlanta 26272982
8 Tommy Cain, Sandersville 23282778
9 Sidney Gholson, Newnan 25252777
10 Steve Owensby, Camilla 26282175
11 Art Krudener, Gainesville 2830NSNS

 

Second Flight
1 Christopher Demarco, Acworth 30353196
2 Jerry Chastain, Jasper 25312884
3 John Salviski, Alpharetta 25243180
4 Ian Fleck, Alpharetta 28242779
5 Bob Davison, Canton 26272578
T6 Don Gray, Dalton 25212773
T6 Wayne Anderson, LaGrange 25242473
T8 Hiram Terrell, Decatur 22272069
T8 Jack Withrow, Woodstock 26212269
10 John Mahle, Newnan 22252168
11 Joseph Donahue, Cartersville 21242267
12 Royce LeVaughn, Newnan 19222162

 

Third Flight
1 Jimmy Rutherford, Cumming 24262575
2 Don Martin, Snellville 25212773
3 Richard Wilson, Columbus 23281566
4 Dail Rentz, Hiawassee 22251562
5 Larry Askey Sr., Woodstock 17251961
6 Billy Deal, Dalton 12222559
7 John Chastain, Jasper 16191954
8 Dudley Samford, Loganville 13151139

 

Super Senior 1 Flight
1 Willis Ward, Warner Robins 32313598
2 Bob Nance, Calhoun 35313197
3 Dick Martin, Alpharetta 31333296
T4 Bill Carroll, Rome 28353093
T4 Jim Saffell, Duluth 27363093
6 Don Rich, Marietta 28313190
7 James Jarrell, Columbus 31292989
8 Jim Montgomery, Alpharetta 32272786
9 Paul Cobb Jr., Norcross 27262679
10 Charles Dabbs, Marietta 20342276
T11 Ed Crump, Hartwell 3127WDWD
T11 Brendan Hayes, Roswell 2625NSNS

 

Super Senior 2 Flight
1 Clive Phillips, Peachtree City 26343292
2 Bob Beneda, Stone Mountain 31312991
3 Jerry Spurlin, Hogansville 27293086
T4 Charles Dickerson, Dunwoody 28253083
T4 Ron West, Columbus 27312583
6 Jim Moss, Doraville 27272882
7 Kenneth Newsome, Sharpsburg 25282881
8 Ed Barnes, Peachtree City 28262478
9 James Franks, LaGrange 28242577
10 Wayne Hunter, LaGrange 22202567

 

Super Senior 3 Flight
T1 Bob Reinhart, Decatur 27242475
T1 Jerry Gafford, Mansfield 26272275
3 Tom Coleman, Atlanta 18272671
4 William Cowles, Lilburn 19262166
5 Raymond Orrie, Roswell 22191960
6 Walt Rosso, Cusseta 20162157
7 Jim Rakestraw, Atlanta 16221755
8 Howard Widden, Jonesboro 17211553
9 Phil Novinger, Athens 15101641
10 David Abner, Roswell 98724