A couple of weeks ago, the third annual Bellaire Touchdown Club Scramble was held at Fairway River Links Golf Course in Rayland.

The tournament was a huge success and a lot of fun for the nearly full load of 36 teams.

The team of Mike Tennant, Trent Schambach, Eric Goddard and Tony Stocklask teamed to win the event at 19-under. Not sure if that surprises anyone when you figure Schambach is a Division I golfer at Marshall.

The Bellaire Touchdown Club wanted to express its sincere thanks to all of its sponsors including: Ziegenfelders, Bellaire American Legion, Sons of Italy, the Bellaire and Martins Ferry Dairy Queens, Stonebridge Bar and Grill, Burger King, Bauknechts/Altmeyers, Vivid Graphix, Frizzi’s Market, West Texas Roadhouse, Health Plan, Bellaire VFW, Jim Robinson, Muxie’s, Pownall Contracting, Stoney Hollow Tire, Valley View Alpaca, McDonald’s (Highlands), Bellaire Sports Foundation, Hughes Xerographic, Save Rite Pharmacy, G & L Heating, Buffalo Wild Wings, Central Grille, Kucera Plumbing, Belmont Savings Bank, Ohio River Valley Elks, Honda Direct Line, Sam’s Club, Sonny Boy Restaurant, Rigas Restaurant, Delbert’s Distributing, Devendra’s, Gulla’s Lunch, Steak & Shake Restaurant, Eddie’s Barber Shop, Matt’s Tiger Pub, United Bank, Freddie Hocker and Bella Pizzeria.

Personally, I played in the tournament with a team made up of Shawn Valloric, Dale Lewis and WTOV-9’s Rob Metzger.

Let’s just say, thank goodness we had Lewis on the team or we would have been in a heap of trouble.

I believe we finished 5-under and left some shots on the course, but as I’ve figured out in my scramble days, if your team doesn’t have a guy who can hit the ball a real long way off the tee and a hot putter, you’re just not going to score very well. You might have four shots to play with, but four duffs off the tee won’t work too well.

Oh well, as I’ve written in this space before whenever I enter a scramble it’s never with any visions of grandeur, but to have a good time, which we did. All of us contributed in some way to our total (even though it wasn’t too low), but three of the four guys played last year and didn’t play as well.

Maybe I made the difference? Nah, probably not.

ACES

THOMAS OWINGS, Jr. carded a hole-in-one at BecWood Hills Golf Course on July 1. The Wheeling Island resident used a 23 degree Mizuno Hybrid on the 150-yard par three 14th. The show was witnessed by Mark King who is a resident of Dallas, Tx.

STEVE JONES of Barnesville aced the 15th hole at Red Oaks Golf Course in Bloomingdale on Wednesday, July 7. He used a sand wedge on the 121-yard par three. The feat was witnessed by Bud Lucas and Zeke Zealaski.

OGLEBAY ACES

DR. JOHN Pokas recorded his first-ever career ace on June 11 on the challenging Arnold Palmer designed course. He used a pitching wedge on the 120-yard ninth hole. The shot was witnessed by Gary Clark, James Mahute and Rob Materkoski.

DAVE TYLER, of Sterling Heights, Michigan, aced the No. 4 hole on the Jones Course on May 8, using a 9-iron for the 134-yard shot.

JASON ROBINSON, of Cross Lanes, W.Va., aced the No. 11 hole on the Jones Course on June 24. He used a 6-iron for the 194-yard approach. The shot was witnessed by John Ross and Trent Schambach.

RON JOHNSON, of Wheeling, aced the No. 11 hole on the Jones Course with a Hybrid 5 for the shot that was playing 162 yards. It was witnessed by Brian O’Konski, Steve Keding and Dom Granata.

MYONG GRAHAM, of Odenton, Md., aced the No. 7 hole on the Jones Course. He used a driver on the 150-yard shot, which was witnessed by Joseph Adamiak and Carol Yarnall.

SCOTT WILLIAMS, of Orem, Ut., aced the No. 13 hole on the Palmer Course. He used a 7-iron on the 137-yard shot, which was witnessed by Dale Adams and Brad Mayne.

WEST VIRGINIA

JUNIOR OPEN

Thadd Obecny continued his fine summer of golf this past week, winning his age group in the West Virginia Junior Amateuer at Raven Golf Club at Snowshoe Resort in Snowshoe.

Obecny fired back-to-back rounds of 73, which not only won his age group, but also earned him a share of the overall medalist honor.

Wheeling resident Cole Hand won the 10-12 year old age group with a two-day score of 158, which is 14 over par. He tied for 15th overall.

Wheeling’s Marshall Hone finished seventh overall with a 153 and Shayne Wilson also took part. Moundsville was represented by Eli Lambie and Jacob Hicks.

WHEELING PARK GOLF

Several club tournaments were held during the Fourth of July weekend at Wheeling Park. The Undo’s 60-69 year old medal and handicap tournament was held. Bob McLaughlin won the title by six shots with a round of 63. Paul Carney and Duane Lescalet tied for the handicap division with a round of 63.

The Glen Starkey-Orie Robinson Tournament was held on July 5 as well. Bruce Grover won the with a round of 72 and Bob Riser won the handicap division with a round of 65.

The Sharpsky Printing event – held for players 49 and younger – was held also on July 5. Bill Fox won the medal round with effort of 67. Ron Heatherly fired a 68.

The Wharton’s Auto for 50-59 year olds was held. John Artimez and Gary Mercer shared the medal title with a round of 67. Glen Starkey won the handicap crown with a round of 63 after his eight-handicap was figured in.

The club resumed play this past Wednesday with the Eagle #1891 event. Gary Cooey won the nine-hole tourney with a round of 30. Ron Heatherley posted a 30 after his 2-handicap was subtracted for that title.

BROWN HONORED AGAIN

Martins Ferry native Jim Brown – the now retired head golf coach at The Ohio State University – continues to be recognized for the work he did in his 36 seasons at the helm, which included a NCAA Championship and 36 Big 10 Championships just to name some of his success.

It was announced early this month that Brown would serve as the honorary co-chairman of the 2009 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational.

Brown’s replacement at OSU has been named. Oklahoma State assistant coach Donnie Darr has been named the 10th head coach, while Ohio native Chris Yoder returns to the Buckeye State after serving on the coaching staff at Wake Forest University.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Beallsville Golf Team Scramble

The Beallsville High School Golf Team will host its 6th Annual 4-Man Golf Scramble on Saturday, August 1, at the Switzerland of Ohio Country Club near Beallsville, starting with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. The cost is only $40 per golfer, which includes greens fees, carts, refreshments, lunch, and prizes. All proceeds will benefit the 2009 Beallsville H. S. Golf Team. Call Cliff Marcum at (740) 926-9197 or The Switzerland of Ohio Country Club at (740) 926-9985 to reserve a spot for your team.

Barnesville Hospital Scramble

Work is well under to plan to the annual Barnesville Hospital Scramble at Belmont Hills Country Club. The tournament is scheduled for Aug. 10 and it will begin with a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. The cost is $120 per player and that includes golf, cart, contests, door prizes, mulligans, beverages on the course and a meal.

The tournament also announced it will once again partner with Doan Ford in Morristown. If a player aces the second hole, a par three, he or she would drive away with a new vehicle.

Doan Ford is a part of golf because the same precision and skill the game takes is what’s required in the building of automobiles.

To be a part of one of the premier golf scrambles in the Ohio Valley, please visit www.barnesvillehospital.com for more information or contact Jeff Britton, Joe Jeffries or Dave Phillips at 740-425-3941.

Martins Ferry

Chamber Scramble

The Martins Ferry Chamber of Commerce’s annual golf scramble will be held on Saturday, Aug. 8 with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start at Paradise Hills Golf Course. The event will offer prizes to the top three teams and it will feature hot dogs and snacks at the turn as well as a post-round dinner. There will be hole-in-one prizes as well as a skins game and contests for longest drive, longest putt and closest to the pin. For more information or to register a team please contact the Chamber at 633-2565.

Pleasant Valley Country Club

The club’s annual Ladies’ Association Annual Invitational is set for Wednesday, Aug. 12 at Kings Creek Golf Course (formerly Pleasant Valley Country Club). All clubs and leagues in the area are invited to attend the event, which will feature a Hawaiian Luau theme. There will be individual low gross/low net games. The cost is $60 per a player and the deadline to enter is Aug. 5. For more information contact Barb Williams at 1-724-947-9114 or Glenda Virtue at 1-304-748-1672.

River Scramble Slated

River football golf tournament will be held at Riverside Golf Course on Aug. 1. To enter a team contact Sherry Lallathin at 740-483-1358. The cost of the tournament is $200 per team. Includes golf, cart, meal, beverages and prizes.

Grand Vue Park

The Moundsville park will be holding a match-play tournament in July. The field is limited to the first 32 paid players and the cost is $30 for non-pass holders and $20 for pass holders. The tournament is open to male and females of all ages. The qualifying rounds are currently in progress and the first-round is slated for July 20. There will be cash prizes for the top two entrants. For more information or to register plase call 1-304-845-9810 ext. 402.

Valley Hospice Scramble

The second annual Valley Hospice Foundation Golf Scramble will be held Monday, July 20 at noon at the Steubenville Country Club.

A scramble format with blue tees will be followed in the shotgun start tourney sponsored by Colainnai Construction, Hancock County Savings Bank, GraeCon Construction, and First Choice America Federal Credit Union. Lunch will be available at 11 a.m., prior to the start of the tourney. A steak dinner will be served at 6 p.m.

Prizes include cash credits at the club pro-shop. First prize is $500, second prize is $300, and third prize is $200. A variety of raffle prizes valued at a total of $2,000 will be awarded throughout the tournament.

Proceeds from the event will help the foundation ensure the mission of Valley Hospice, a non-profit entity, including charitable assistance for patient/families, community bereavement services, and maintenance of its two care centers located in Steubenville at Trinity Medical Center East and at Liza’s Place in Wheeling.

To register and for further information contact RJ Konkoleski, Valley Hospice Foundation executive director, at (740) 859-5650.

OVGA STANDINGS

(Entering This Weekend’s Stoney-Hollow)

1. Bryan Myers, 88; 2. Gary Schrickel, 85; Rico Simonetti, 79; 4. Tom Stillmak, 75; 5. Bob Potts, 72; 6. Mike Ricci, 57; 7. Dave Frey, 55; 7. Larry Lis Jr., 55; 9. Paul Kurtz, 53; 10. Joey Seabright, 52; 11. Randy Walker, 51; 12. Mike Wetzel, 44; 13. Ron Helms, 43; 14. John Bailey, 40; 15. Zak Yochum, 36.

BRITISH OPEN

The Open Championship gets under way this week at Turnberry’s Ailsa Course. This marks the third time that the course will host The Open Championship. It’s only other times were in 1977 and 1994. It’s a par 70 layout, which will be a stiff challenge to the players, but as I’ve written in this space before, these guys need a challenge. It’s a major championship for goodness sakes.

My picks for the Masters and U.S. Open have been off, but narrowly. I am one who doesn’t go out on a thin limb too often, and I don’t think this is the tournament to start, so I am going to stick with my gun and pick Tiger Woods.

The guy’s been so close in the previous two majors, but his putter has let him down. I look for him to lead the way in fairways and greens this weekend and his putter will be solid. I am thinking a week-long score in the six-under range will get it done.

I do expect Padraig Harrington – the defending champion – to be in the mix and don’t be shocked if Lucas Glover finds himself on the first page of the leaderboard. His game is suited to the majors and if you notice he’s not really gone away since he won the Open three weeks ago.

It’s going to be quite a week across the pond. The only bad part is having to wake up at like 6:30 a.m. to be able to watch most of the action. Oh well, it’s worth it especially if Woods is in the hunt.