The St. Clairsville Saints Club held its inaugural golf scramble a few weeks ago on the rough course at Belmont Hills Country Club.
The tournament – which was spearheaded by 2000 St. C. High graduate Chris Baugh – featured 18 teams taking part in the scramble, best-ball event.
The title went to four familiar players in Ohio Valley scrambles. The team of Eric Gay, Adam Gay, Derek Gaudio and Shawn Monroe teamed to win the title in a playoff.
They outlasted Paul Foster, Jerry Foster, Tom Stillmack and John Campbell. Both teams carded 15-under rounds after 18 holes.
Settling for third place was the solid squad of Matt Lucki, Patrick Deemer, Zach Hanson and Jason Balcar. That foursome – with Lucki leading the way off the tee – posted an 11 under.
Lucki’s length off the tee became more and more evident by the fact that he and Wally McCabe won the tournament’s longest drive contest. Lucki was also one of the closest to the pin winners along with Ron Persuitti, former University of Pittsburgh football player Darren Dombroski and Paul Foster.
A special prize was awarded to the team of James Mahute, Rob Materkoski, Gary Clark and Steve Tadolini won the crown for best dressed
Baugh and the organizing committee would also like to thank Allie Wojchowski who handled the beverages throughout the event.
FRIENDS CHURCH SCRAMBLE
The second annual East Richland Friends Church Men’s Golf Scramble was held in September at Crooked Creek Golf Course in Morristown.
The team of Patrick Strain, Aaron May, Michael May and Jackson May won the event with the team of Rick Wilson, Jerry Wenger, George Lendon and George Lendon Jr. taking second. The aforementioned Strain won the closest to the pin prize and was one of the longest drivers along with Joe Hart.
The event wanted to thank its sponsors including: Riesbeck’s, Tim’s Custom Installation, Capstone Holding, State Farm Insurance, QWS, Quality Environmental Services, Wal-Mart, Hartland Farm and Doan Ford.
FERRY CHAMBER SCRAMBLE
The Martins Ferry Chamber of Commerce Scramble was held in August at Paradise Hills Golf Course and the event was chaired by Joe Czuchran. Winning the title was the team of Dave Stack, Brian Nemeth, Ed Kovalski and Phil Lampasone. The Chamber of Commerce also wanted to recognize their sponsors Deluxe Doors and all of the individual hole sponsors, which helped make the event another big success.
SHADYSIDE BOOSTER
SCRAMBLE
The Shadyside Athletic Boosters will hold their annual golf scramble next Sunday at Clair-Mar Golf Course in Powhatan. The cost of the event is $40, which includes a cart. There will be prizes, food throughout the event, door prizes and beverages included in the entry fee. The event begins with a shot-gun tee off at 8:30 a.m. Signups are being taken at Eddie’s Barber Shop in Shadyside or by calling 740-359-6388.
ACES
BILL STANKE used a gap wedge on Sept. 24 to ace the No. 5 hole at Crispin Center at Oglebay Park. The 89-yard Par three shot was witnessed by Chuck Jerome of Wheeling.
WHEELING RESIDENT Willie Hatcher made the most of Oglebayfest last weekend, taking part in its annual scramble at Crispin. Hatcher aced the No. 7, 190-yard hole using a 6-iron for his feat. The shot was recorded on Oct. 5 and it was witnessed by Frank Bellanco, Alan Hatcher and Dennis Klingler.
ALEX STEPHENS, a Wheeling resident – also aced a hole during the Oglebayfest Scramble last weekend. He used a 6-iron to achieve the 174-yard No. 2 hole. The shot was witnessed by Mark Dodd, Michael Kerrill and Shawn Kerinth.
WHEELING PARK WOMEN
The Wheeling Park Women’s Golf Association ended its year late last month with the Elm Grove Eagles Aerie 1891 Nine Hole Scramble.
The team of Joyce Berdine, Juanita Cress and Cindy Courtney won the title with a round of 33 in the best-ball event. Carol Varner, Nelda Cline-Houk, Judy Trosch and Becky Wetzel teamed for a 34 to take second place.
A scorecard playoff was needed before third place could be settled. A round of 35 earned Judy Kinney, Betty Swartz, Tonya Hill and Nancy Shaffer that honor.
The longest putt title was won by Jan Middleton on the ninth hole.
HIGH SCHOOL GOLF
The prep golf season wrapped up this weekend with the Ohio State Tournaments in Columbus at the Scarlet Course on the campus of The Ohio State University. We must give kudos to the Meadowbrook Colts who qualified to the Division II state tournament as a team for the first time under the watchful eye of highly-successful Coach Mel Pesuit.
The Colts were strong all season, but really came on in late September when they won the OVAC and ECOL Championships on back-to-back days. We had a lengthy talk with Pesuit during the OVAC Tournament and he pointed out that he’d never been to the state tournament as anything but a spectator, taking personal days from school to attend the event. That all changed after Meadowbrook finished second in the district to advance to the state tournament.
The Times Leader is currently working on compiling its All Times Leader Golf Team, which will kick off the paper’s post-season accolades and for the first time, the T-L team will include girls.
It’s really nice to see girls’ golf on the rise in the Ohio Valley. We did a column in this space earlier this summer about the Belmont Hills Women’s Club Champion Esta Maloney and it seemed that women’s golf in the Ohio Valley was on the decline, but the success of local females on the prep level could go a long way in getting more and more girls involved in the sport you can play for a lifetime.
COLLEGE GOLF
The Ohio State University golf team is off to a strong start in the last season with Martins Ferry native Jim Brown as the Buckeyes’ head coach. The Buckeyes won the Memphis Invitational last weekend. Brown announced this past spring that this year would be his final in the helm at Ohio State.
He also served as the tournament manager for the OHSAA State Tournament this past weekend. Not a bad year to leave OSU when you look at the Buckeyes’ golf schedule, a trip to Hawaii is scheduled for November. Columbus in November or Hawaii? You tell me.
Staskey can be reached at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com