Shelbyville, TN – Riverbend Country Club hosted the inaugural Cooper Steel Pro-Am. The 6,461-yard layout was protected by tough greens that were fast and undulated. Players were still able to make a lot of birdies, with 168 in round one and 179 in round 2. Both rounds got off to a great start with sunny skies which led to the great scoring conditions. 92 players competed in a plethora of different contests. The main contests were those that encompassed the team. The River Division was a One Gross Best Ball for each hole for the team score and the team was comprised of one PGA Professional and three scratch amateurs. In the other team contest named The Bend consisted of one PGA Professional, two scratch amateurs and one River Bend Country Club Member where one Net Best Ball for each hole made up the team score.
The River Division was a very close fight with the team of Casey Flenniken, PGA, Rick Mays (a), Bob Rice (a), and Dave Burris (a) winning with an impressive (-22) 122 total. Standing on the final hole they knew they were going to have to birdie it to give them a chance to win. All four team mates hit great drives and followed that up with great approach shots. The four players were all on the green in regulation. After studying the green for a second, they were ready to capture the last birdie of the day. Unfortunately, the first three to putt all burned the edge of the hole. This left PGA Professional Casey Flenniken with a 15-foot putt for the win. The pressure was on and everyone on the team knew it. Without missing a beat Flenniken confidently stepped up and drained the birdie right in the heart of the hole. The team ended up winning by this one last birdie over the team of Snell/Turnbow/Bell/Trimble who finished with a score of (-21) 123.
In the Bend Division Audie Johnson, PGA, Casey Moore (a), Tyler Cox (a), and Barry Childers (a) held on to their round one lead. Both the first and second place teams both shot (-11) under par in round two which gave Johnson/Moore/Cox/Childers the win based off their round one score. They had a two-day total of (-26) under par and a 118 total. They were able to claim the victory over Talkington/Armstrong/Tyminski/Insell who shot (-25) under par.
Players also competed in individual stroke play competitions which ran concurrently with the team contests. The Regular Professional Champion was Casey Flenniken, PGA with an impressive (-9) 135 total, clearing the field by 7 strokes. Flenniken along with Jared Melson, PGA were using this event as a final tune up before they head to play in the PGA Professional Championship which starts this Sunday April 28th. Flenniken and Melson will be joined by Johan Kok, Walt Chapman, Brian Wood and Matt Brock from Tennessee. These individuals all qualified last year at the Tennessee PGA Professional Championship.
In his first ever individual stroke play event in the Senior Division, Chris Dibble, PGA won the Senior Professional division with a (-3) 141 total. In order to compete in the Senior Professional Division players must be 50 years old.
The scratch amateur division went to the home town hero Whit Turnbow. A long-time member Turnbow was able to navigate the course with seven birdies in round 2 which gave him a two day total of (-4) under par and the win over second place finisher Ryan Terry.
In the senior scratch amateur division, we had a tie atop the leaderboard. Bob Rice and Dave Burris both fired a two-round total of (-1) under par.
The final contest was the River Bend Country Club Member Division. This was the only net division where Barry Childers won with a very impressive score of (-7) under par for the two rounds.
In Round One of the True Temper Skins Game, six skins were awarded. Kevin Snell won one with his eagle on number 6 and Mark Houser, PGA won one with his birdie on 17. Marshall Talkington won two skins with birdies on 8 and 13 while Glenn Hudson, PGA won two as well with birdies on 9 and 12. There were three skins awarded in Round Two. Adam Forgey, PGA won one with a birdie on 7 and Mark Houser, PGA took home two more with birdie on 13 and eagle on 14.
We would like to thank all of the participants as well as Riverbend Country Club – Randy Helton, PGA and his staff for hosting the event. We would also like to thank Cooper Steel for being the Title Sponsor of this event. The event could not have been as successful as it was without them.