2022 Quail Championship
Congratulations to winners of the Quail Championship – Joe Arron, Ric Handler and Kent Farnsworth. Here is an insider look from our champions.
Joe Arron
Joe Arron - Quail Champion: In the championship flight, qualifying was easy because there were only 8 of us. Gene VonHootegem provided some excitement with a hole-in-one on 8 during the second round. My quarterfinal match against Clark Struve was the toughest – I never had more than a one-hole lead and had to make a tricky par putt on the 18th to beat him one-up. Clark doesn’t hit it far but he’s right down the middle every time, with a lethal short game.
Gene’s hot streak came to an end in the semifinals. The front nine was close with several lead changes but he struggled around the turn as I won 4 holes in a row from 9-12 and hung on to close him out on 15.
I had a front row seat to Dean’s quarterfinal and semifinal victories over TJ and Brad, as we played in the same foursome. He was very solid and consistent in winning both of those matches. If we had gone right back out and played the final then, it would have been a tight match. However, we were not able to schedule the final until almost 2 weeks later, and Dean had a tough day while I played better than I had in the previous 4 rounds. I rolled in a long birdie putt on 11 to go 6 up and then got up and down for par from left of the green on the tough 12th to win 7&6.
Overall, I really liked the new format and have a lot of respect for the group of very fine players in the scratch flight with whom I have the privilege of playing together frequently. It’s a different course from the back tees and a great honor to be the last one standing this year! Looking forward to the next one.
Ric Handler
Ric Handler - Flight A Champion: In the two rounds of medal play, I shot 84 and then 79, which made me the 8 seed in flight A for match play. My first match was with Jon Giffen as the #1 seed. No strokes were given because our handicaps were the same, but I had been in a foursome with him in the second round of medal play, so I had seen how well he was playing. As it turned out, I had a hot streak in the middle of my round and won 5&4.
My second match was against Chris Gatley, who hits it a lot further than I can. I was giving him 7 shots, but I managed to keep it straight most of the day. After two lead changes, we came to 18 all square. I made a chip from over the green and an 8-foot putt to win 1 Up.
The final match was against Jonathan Radin. Two years earlier, he and I had played each other in the finals of our Match Play tournament, and I had won that match 1 up on 19th hole. This time, Jon’s handicap was lower and I was giving him only 1 shot. I played the front 9 one under par and was 4 up. On the back, Jon got hot and narrowed my lead to 1. But I was able to finish par-birdie-par to win 1 up after 18.
Kent Farnsworth
Kent Farnsworth - Flight B Champion: I was able to be top seeded for Match Play after two strong days during the qualification arounds. Then I realized the challenge had just begun. Admittedly, I was in the ‘B’ field so was competing against other players who also had many handicap strokes that cushioned our lack of golf mastery. My first match was against Rick Thau who had to give me eight strokes and still managed to take the match to the 17th hole. It was a battle for every hole but my ‘free’ strokes carried the day.
The next match proved to be another real test. Wayne Richey and I were evenly matched with no stroke advantage. Again, it was neck and neck, but Wayne is a tough competitor and the match was tight going to the 17th hole.
The final match was against a new member, Dan Huber, who is going to be a real asset to the club. He is just getting back into golf and as a real challenge, I had to give him three strokes. He outdrove me by 30 yards nearly every hole, sadly not always in the direction he would have liked. We ended up tied after regulation, but on the 19th hole, the sand monster struck Dan and I came away with the win.