Jonathan Alden Wins Men’s City In Exciting Finish

 

Jonathan Alden survived a back nine meltdown to capture the Men’s City Championship by one shot over Brian Noonan, Seger Howell, Ben Carter, and Charles Neel White.

When the day started, Alden was at 14 under par and had a four shot lead over Seger Howell at -10 and and five over Brian Noonan at -9.  This threesome was several shots clear of the field.

After they played the front nine Alden was at 13 under, Howell was 11 under and Noonan was 9 under for the tournament.

Then began the steady and sometimes sudden demise of the final group over the back nine.

It started on 10 where Howell made double bogey and dropped to 9 under.   Over the course of the next several holes the group made a few bogeys along with several pars.

They arrived at the par five 16th with Alden at 11 under, Howell at 9 under and Noonan at 7 under.

After their tee shots on the 16th, Alden played his 200 yard second shot to the green from the right rough.  The ball hit short, almost rolled onto the green and then rolled back into the water hazard.

The water hazard was marked yellow and as a result he had to drop short of the hazard even though his ball crossed the margin of the hazard up by the green.

He dropped and attempted to play his fourth shot onto the green.  It was a delicate shot of fifty yards to a front pin over water to a hard green with the wind behind him.  He tried to be too precise and dumped it into the water.

He dropped another ball and pitched his 6th shot over the green.   He failed to get up and down, resulting in a quadruple bogey 9.  Not good.

Meanwhile, Noonan went for the green on his second shot and knocked it into the water hazard.  He proceeded to make bogey.

Howell played his second shot from the right rough, caught a flier that finished  well over the green, chipped on and made par.  Exiting the 16th green, Howell was -9, Alden -7 and Noonan -6.  A four shot swing on the leaderboard.

While all this was transpiring, up ahead of the leaders, Ben Carter had recovered from a third round 79 to shoot 68 and post six under par for the tournament, including a birdie on the final hole.  Charles Neel White was also in the clubhouse at 6 under par after posting an even par 72, including a bogey on the 18th.

On the long par four 17th, with a strong wind quartering into the players from the left,  Alden hit the green in regulation and two putted for par.  Noonan was short of the green in two but chipped and putted well to made a par four.

Howell missed the fairway left, hit his second shot left, chipped on and two putted for bogey.   Headed to the 18th, Howell lead by one at -8 with Alden at -7 and Noonan at -6.

On the difficult par four 18th, Noonan had the honors and played driver up the right side of the fairway to about 145 yards from the green.  With the left to right wind, this was perfect position.

Alden chose to play aggressively since he was a shot behind and selected a driver for the tee shot.  He managed to hit the narrow, tree lined fairway finishing on the left side about 145 yards out.

Howell, with a one shot lead and obviously playing to make a par, selected  a hybrid from the tee.  He pulled it left into the water hazard about 200 yards short of the green.

Howell dropped from the hazard and faced a long shot partially blocked by trees to a green surrounded by bunkers and water hazards.  His third shot required a hook to negotiate the trees and he overdid it. His ball went into  the water hazard on the left side of the green.   Although it was in the hazard, it hung up in the grass and was playable.

Now he faced a difficult downwind lob shot onto the green in an effort to make bogey and finish at seven under par. He played his 4th quite well but the wind pushed the ball past the hole to about 15 feet.

Alden played his second shot from the left of the fairway with a strong left to right wind and put it into the bunker to the right of the green.

His third was played back against the wind and was not too difficult except for the circumstances.   He exploded out to about six feet.

Noonan, who needed to make birdie, played a poor second shot from the fairway and left it 10 feet short of the putting surface. He pitched his third to about three feet.

So, now it all hinged on Alden and Howell’s putts.  Each had a putt to finish seven under par.  Howell from about 15-18 feet, Alden from six feet.  If they both missed, it meant a five man playoff with Alden, Howell, Carter, Noonan, and White.

Howell putted first and putted well.  But his putt lipped out and he made double bogey to finish at six under.  He was understandably disappointed and frustrated with his bogey, double bogey finish.

So,  after four days of play and posting  rounds of 68-64-69, suffering setbacks on the back nine including a quadruple bogey, Alden, who had seemingly given away his chance to win the tournament, had a six foot putt to capture the championship.

He lined it up and knocked it in.

While friends and supporters congratulated him alongside the 18th, he was heard to comment.  “I’m not sure but I think I won.”

With all the changes in the leaderboard over the closing holes, it’s understandable that he had difficulty keeping up with the scoring.  The action was hard on the players but exciting for the spectators.

To see the complete leaderboard including statistics for the round, click here.

 

 

In a close race with Greg Smith, Chris Hartenstein won the low senior honors.  Hartenstein was under par for most to  tournament and started the day at three under par.  But like so many he fell prey to the high winds on Sunday and finished at four over par for the tournament.  That is still good playing.

Although disappointed at having lost by a shot and contemplating what could have been, Ben Carter, Brian Noonan and Charles Neel White were gracious enough to pose for this photo and managed to muster up a smile.  They played well over four days.

The average score for the field on Sunday was 77.11.  The same field averaged 74 on Saturday.  The difference was that the wind blew hard on Sunday and the golf course was set up to play more difficult in the final round.  Steve Hammond, who set up the course had said “We  will give the players a couple of shots on Saturday an take them back on Sunday”.  His predictions proved to be accurate.

Congratulations to the City of Austin Golf staff for conducting a well run tournament.  The pace of play was excellent for the most part, the courses were in good condition and the pin and tee locations were well thought out.  The staff at all the courses were courteous and helpful.  Thanks to you from all the players.

Pos	Player	Today	Thru	Total	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Jonathan Alden	+7	F	-7	68	64	69	79	280
T2	Ben Carter	-4	F	-6	66	68	79	68	281
T2	Charles Neel White	E	F	-6	73	73	63	72	281
T2	Seger Howell	+4	F	-6	68	70	67	76	281
T2	Brian Noonan	+3	F	-6	67	67	72	75	281
6	Barrett Sandefur	-2	F	-5	65	73	74	70	282
T7	Joe Ramos	-1	F	-4	72	68	72	71	283
T7	Nathan Shilling	-1	F	-4	70	70	72	71	283
T7	Jake Hendrix	+3	F	-4	71	67	70	75	283
T10	Jay Reynolds	-1	F	-1	71	72	72	71	286
T10	Matt Wernecke	+1	F	-1	71	72	70	73	286
T12	Jeremy Williams	E	F	E	70	71	74	72	287
T12	Cyrus Turner	E	F	E	72	72	71	72	287
T14	Hudson Ross	+3	F	+1	69	72	72	75	288
T14	Lucas Mylet	+4	F	+1	73	69	70	76	288
16	Robert Evans	+7	F	+2	71	71	68	79	289
T17	Daniel Martinez	+1	F	+3	69	75	73	73	290
T17	Devon McCarley	+1	F	+3	70	73	74	73	290
T17	Nick Ratliff	E	F	+3	72	74	72	72	290
T17	Shane Morris	+2	F	+3	73	71	72	74	290
T17	Nickolai Esau	+6	F	+3	72	70	70	78	290
T22	Ryan McGinley	+1	F	+4	77	66	75	73	291
T22	Josh Luongo	+5	F	+4	72	68	74	77	291
T22	Layne Park	+4	F	+4	71	74	70	76	291
T22	Tucker Tovar	+6	F	+4	70	70	73	78	291
T22	Chris Hartenstein	+7	F	+4	68	70	74	79	291
T27	Steve Paterson	E	F	+5	72	70	78	72	292
T27	Greg Smith	+6	F	+5	69	73	72	78	292
T27	Gerry Diaz Sr	+8	F	+5	67	74	71	80	292
30	Zachary Slayton	+2	F	+6	72	75	72	74	293
31	Forest Miller	+2	F	+7	72	72	76	74	294
T32	Gavin Moreland	+8	F	+9	70	72	74	80	296
T32	Paul Romero	+7	F	+9	73	75	69	79	296
T34	Thomas Holtzman	+7	F	+10	72	73	73	79	297
T34	Dillon Hamm	+8	F	+10	70	76	71	80	297
T36	Mike Allen	+5	F	+11	74	76	71	77	298
T36	Trevor Thurow	+7	F	+11	78	68	73	79	298
38	Cody Price	+2	F	+12	78	73	74	74	299
T39	David Ey	+4	F	+13	76	71	77	76	300
T39	Mitchel Fagan	+6	F	+13	73	71	78	78	300
T41	Peach Reynolds	+3	F	+14	77	76	73	75	301
T41	Rob Ormand	+5	F	+14	74	73	77	77	301
T41	Teddy Wheeler	+7	F	+14	76	77	69	79	301
T41	Chris Shive	+8	F	+14	71	78	72	80	301
T45	Colin Massey	+3	F	+15	73	73	81	75	302
T45	Matt Riley	+4	F	+15	74	75	77	76	302
T45	Kellen Gray	+4	F	+15	77	77	72	76	302
T45	Nathan Schwarz	+6	F	+15	70	78	76	78	302
T45	Gene Black	+6	F	+15	73	78	73	78	302
T45	Gavin Trevino	+6	F	+15	70	77	77	78	302
T45	John Perez	+7	F	+15	74	70	79	79	302
T45	Nick Erickson	+9	F	+15	75	73	73	81	302
53	Dalton Doerr	+7	F	+17	77	75	73	79	304
T54	Scott King	+6	F	+18	75	78	74	78	305
T54	Michael Ramirez	+9	F	+18	74	77	73	81	305
T54	Patrick Shanahan	+10	F	+18	74	72	77	82	305
T57	Brian Bettis	+7	F	+19	78	72	77	79	306
T57	Robert Specjal	+11	F	+19	70	74	79	83	306
T59	Nathan Neal	+5	F	+20	80	72	78	77	307
T59	Nicholas Hoisington	+6	F	+20	72	76	81	78	307
T59	Bryan Boyd	+8	F	+20	76	74	77	80	307
T59	Austin Chung	+8	F	+20	79	71	77	80	307
T59	Randy Reynolds	+10	F	+20	71	76	78	82	307
64	Tommy Norris	+6	F	+21	75	75	80	78	308
T65	Steven Eckelman	+6	F	+22	75	78	78	78	309
T65	Laffit Arenas	+10	F	+22	78	74	75	82	309
67	Rodney Thompson	+6	F	+23	77	73	82	78	310
68	Gabriel Vallejo	+13	F	+25	72	77	78	85	312
69	Benjamin Kornfuehrer	+14	F	+29	77	76	77	86	316
70	John Breen	+21	F	+32	80	73	73	93	319
Missed Cut
MC	Kevin Marshburn			+12	76	79			155
MC	Marc Carrizales			+12	78	77			155
MC	Charles Young			+12	76	79			155
MC	Chandler Otto			+12	80	75			155
MC	Harrison Giles			+13	79	77			156
MC	Matthew Jungman			+13	77	79			156
MC	James Grubbs			+13	78	78			156
MC	Ravi Coutinho			+13	74	82			156
MC	Brent Post			+14	76	81			157
MC	Rithy Khem			+14	80	77			157
MC	Sean Durkin			+14	78	79			157
MC	William Dietlein			+14	82	75			157
MC	John Newberry Jr			+15	77	81			158
MC	David Bales			+15	75	83			158
MC	David Collura			+15	78	80			158
MC	Trevor Spring			+15	78	80			158
MC	Stew Ford			+15	78	80			158
MC	James Schonian			+16	72	87			159
MC	Justin Long			+16	79	80			159
MC	Aaron Marshall			+16	81	78			159
MC	Chris Lyles			+16	79	80			159
MC	Elliott Reese			+16	78	81			159
MC	Major Gammill			+17	78	82			160
MC	Lee Vaughn			+17	78	82			160
MC	Jerry Thorn			+17	74	86			160
MC	Michael Millikin			+17	78	82			160
MC	Justin Gilg			+18	78	83			161
MC	Justin Ruiz			+18	82	79			161
MC	Terry Hutchens			+18	77	84			161
MC	Lee Krassner			+18	79	82			161
MC	Bryan Neuhaus			+19	85	77			162
MC	Hunter Skelton			+19	85	77			162
MC	Chad Henderson			+20	80	83			163
MC	Myron Jordahl			+22	84	81			165
MC	Cubby Gillingwater			+23	82	84			166
MC	Christopher Pearson			+23	87	79			166
MC	Tim Nugent			+25	83	85			168
MC	Paul Joran			+26	89	80			169
MC	Bob Ballou			+26	85	84			169
MC	Jerry Holmes			+27	88	82			170
MC	Kenny Ames			+28	87	84			171
MC	Jay Vinson			+30	86	87			173
MC	Dennis Sokol			+33	89	87			176
MC	Anthony Noble			+36	84	95			179
MC	Christian Eidenschink			+39	97	85			182
MC	Jeremy Benavides			+65	111	97			208
WD	Bill Sill			+13
WD	Lucas Garza			+18
DQ	Steve Wille			+15
DQ	Rick Nedry			+25
DQ	Brandon Tibbetts
NC	Jason Stoddard			+14
NC	Clint Howell			+21
NS	Tyler Ware			+5
NS	Bradley Patterson			+7
NS	Monte Glosson			+12
NS	Nick Wilson			+14
NS	Rob Heiser			+15
NS	Daniel Alba