Trafton Wins City Senior In Three Way Playoff

Steve Trafton won the City Senior Championship in a three man playoff after finishing regulation play tied with Kevin Dahl and Jerry Thorn at 143, one under par. 

The threesome started the playoff on the first tee.  Thorn hit his tee shot slightly right and had to play a punch shot under the trees, which he navigated quite well, winding up just of the left hand side of the green.  Trafton hit his tee shot down the middle, leaving only a short wedge to a back right pin. Trafton's wedge carried past the pin but spun back to about 20 feet short of the hole.  Dahl's tee shot was also right, leaving him the option of going over or under the trees.  He chose to go over and hit a good shot but it was long and wound up on a bare lie with a difficult pitch shot. 

Thorn then played his pitch to about five feet and Dahl left his pitch shot short of the green.   Dahl was unable to convert his remaining chip into a par and was eliminated from the playoff.  Trafton then putted his ball to about six inches and tapped in for a par, leaving Thorn with a pressure par putt to continue the playoff.  Thorn, always a good putter, then rolled it in and they went to the par five second to continue the playoff. 

Shown here hitting his tee shot, Trafton displayes the swing the produced a long and straight drive, positioning him in the middle of the fairway with the green reachable in two.  Thorn also hit the fairway within reach of the green.

Playing their second shots downwind, Thorn left his second shot just short of the left hand bunker, creating a difficult pitch over the bunker to the back left pin.  Trafton then hit his second shot which landed on the green but ran through the green and down the slope about 90 feet from the pin. 

Both players were faced with pitch shots from fluffy lies and neither player was able to hit the green with their third shot.   Thorn having dumped his in the bunker and Trafton his left his 30 feet short of the putting surface.  Thorn, then faced with a bunker shot from soft, deep sand,  blasted out to about 20 feet.  Shown here playing his 4th shot, Trafton played his pitch to about five feet.  Thorn putted first and lipped out, having hit an excellent putt.  Trafton then rolled in his putt for the victory and the celebration ensued.  Trafton adds the City Senior Title to his resume to accompany his City Championship title. 

The day's high winds and high temperatures made the scoring conditions difficult and as a result the scores were higher than the previous days play when conditions were perfect.    Dahl's 71 and Terry Huchens 70 were the only two sub par scores for the day.

First round leader Mike Allen was even par for the day through 14 holes and had a one shot lead over Trafton.  However he finished bogey, bogey, triple bogey, bogey.  Needless to say, he was disappointed.  When asked what happened he indicated that he really did not know but suspected that the accumulation of competitive play from the previous weekend at Terra Vista, where he finished second, and the Hannon Cup Matches on Monday and Tuesday combined with the day's heat and wind finally caught up with him.  He said "It was like I ran out of gas out there and became disfunctional.   I fluffed a chip on 15, three putted 16, made a bad decision on my second at 17 and played too aggressive resulting in a disaster.  Then missed a two foot putt for an 8.  By the time I got to 18 tee I just wanted off the course.  Very disappointing finish.  But, congratulations to Steve.  He played well and perservered."

Richard Welch won the super-senior division by two shots over Bart Antle and Jim Grubbs.  Welsh shot 78-73 = 151 to win by two shots over Antle and Grubbs.

Senior Division Results

Total Score Player
70 – 73 = 143 Trafton, Steve (won in playoff)
71 – 72 = 143 Thorn, Jerry
72 – 71 = 143 Dahl, Kevin
68 – 78 = 146 Allen, Mike
73 – 74 = 147 Baldree, Mark
71 – 76 = 147 Thomas, Jim
69 – 79 = 148 Reynolds, Peach
73 – 75 = 148 Dehaven, Greg
74 – 74 = 148 Munson, Chuck
75 – 73 = 148 Foster, Ray
73 – 76 = 149 Lundell, Lester
81 – 70 = 151 Hutchens, Terry
77 – 75 = 152 Ormond, Rob
76 – 76 = 152 Day, Scott
75 – 78 = 153 Scott, JP
81 – 72 = 153 Wood, Steve
76 – 77 = 153 Brader, David
73 – 80 = 153 Roche, Steve
79 – 74 = 153 Attaway, Jerry
79 – 74 = 153 Vanzura, Lester
77 – 77 = 154 Gustafson, James
76 – 79 = 155 Clagett, Billy
79 – 76 = 155 Tomicki, John
82 – 74 = 156 Hinton, Marshall
83 – 73 = 156 Bell, Alan
79 – 78 = 157 Feldman, Noble
78 – 79 = 157 Johnson, Clay
82 – 75 = 157 Miller, William
80 – 78 = 158 Bertram, Mike
75 – 83 = 158 Jedlicka, Rusty
78 – 80 = 158 Lovett, Bob
77 – 82 = 159 McCalla, Kevin
77 – 83 = 160 Treager, Dan
82 – 80 = 162 Douglass, Jan
83 – 79 = 162 Durkin, Sean
81 – 83 = 164 Spotts, Craig
81 – 85 = 166 Tonahill, Smith
81 – 85 = 166 King, Daniel
84 – 83 = 167 Grissom, Gary
94 – 88 = 182 Fitzpatrick, Mike

Super Senior Division Results

Total Score Player
78 – 73 = 151 Welch, Richard
72 – 81 = 153 Grubbs, Jim
73 – 80 = 153 Antle, Bart
77 – 78 = 155 Spigarelli, Rick
76 – 80 = 156 Walsh, Larry
75 – 83 = 158 Nichols, Randy
79 – 81 = 160 McCafferty, Dennis
81 – 80 = 161 Jeffries, KC
79 – 84 = 163 Warren, Phil
80 – 85 = 165 Bedoya, Simone
88 – 78 = 166 Remey, Bob
84 – 84 = 168 Leonardis, Tom
87 – 83 = 170 Brady, Dick
90 – 86 = 176 Ryan, Jim

 

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