The 2009 Indiana State Open ended Friday, July 10 with a fantastic round of 63 by Aaron Monson to claim the title.
First let’s recap Round Three, which ended Thursday after some morning rain and some real nifty pin placements. The course bit back after the first two rounds in which there were a lot of players under par. The tees got shoved back and course was a little softer, so it was playing longer. A lot of the players were talking how tough the finishing holes were playing. So the course got some respect back after the birdie fest the first two days.
At the end of the third round, it looked like it was just going to be a two-horse race between Chris Baker and Erich Johnston after Andy Winings fell back with score of 74. Johnston was leading Baker by one shot, at 13-under par. Monson was at 6-under.
Round Four began Friday with warm, humid temperatures. Monson go hot early and stayed hot as he shot a bogey-free 63. He birdied holes 1, 3, 8, 9 ,10, 12, 14, 15 and 16. He then two-putted from a different county on No. 18 to shoot 15-under for the tournament and then wait for the last group, with Johnston needing a birdie to tie. Johnston just missed his birdie attempt, and Monson won the 2009 Indiana State Open as an amateur. He just missed the course record of 62 set by Mike McCullough in 1999 during the Comfort Classic senior tour event.
Now that the tournament is over, the course is going to be setup similar to the Open championship this weekend. So book a tee time and come out and play the Open setup.
I want to welcome Allison Fouch to the blog team. Allison is a very talented LPGA player, and everyone should enjoy her blogs from the U.S. Women’s Open.
As for me, I have a birthday party to attend on Saturday – my own. So the next time I blog, it will be my first as senior. Hopefully my AARP card arrives, and I can get some discounts.
Fairways and greens to everyone, and my only birthday wish is for one-putt greens.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
The first two rounds of the Indiana Open are in the books, and it has been a birdie fest here at the Brickyard, to say the least.
With the course being in excellent shape and little wind, the Brickyard was defensively from the young guns. These young guys bomb it over 300 yards consistently, and with fairways running fast, the par 5’s were short and the long par 4’s manageable.
As for my score, it all came to down to putting. I shot a pair of 75’s for a 150 total, missing the cut by two shots. Of course, I three-putted 17 and 18 to miss the cut, but I hit the ball well and just made a couple of mistakes that cost me from playing the last two days.
As the third round began Thursday morning, rain moved in and finally tapered off around noon. The tees have been pushed way back, and the pins are tucked nicely, so the scores could go up.
The leaders after the first two rounds were Chris Baker, Hooters Tour winner this year, and Andy Winings. Andy is the son of BG Winings, who is the golf professional at the Trophy Club in Lebanon, Ind. BG and I were college teammates at Ball State and have been playing together for the last 20 years, and every once in a while he takes me fishing.
Both Chris and Andy have turned professional since completing college, and I am sure they will be going to Tour School. There are quite a few good players chasing them, and it should be quite a shootout coming down the stretch on Friday.
We really need to give praise to our superintendent, Jeff Stuart. He has the course in championship condition, just like when we had the Champions Tour. So thank you to Jeff and all of his staff for providing such great playing conditions.
Remember that the course is open for play after the Indiana Open field has teed off, and the tournament layout also will be available over the weekend to test your skills.
Since this is my last event as a “regular” professional versus a senior, I can only say “goodbye to the back tees” on a regular basis. I am going to work on my putting, as it really let me down this week.
Until tomorrow afternoon, I will report back on the finish as I am headed out to watch the leaders play the back nine.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
It just wasn’t meant to be.
Senior Open qualifying was last Tuesday, July 2, and it was my debut as a senior. On Sunday and Monday before the qualifier, I went to Lake Forest, Ill., to play in the Chicago Children’s Memorial Hospital Pro-Am. I have played in this event for about five years or so, and it is one of the largest fundraisers for the hospital, raising more than a million dollars from this event.
I thought it would be a good idea to get some competitive golf in before the qualifier. I played Sunday and Monday and played pretty well.
Three of us – George Arvanitis of the Country Club of Indianapolis, Jason LePage of Broadmoor Country Club and myself – flew up to Chicago and back through O’Hare Airport.
We all checked our golf bags at O’Hare, tipped the skycap and headed in to get on our flight back to Indy. We left on time and got to Indy by 10:15 p.m. and went to the baggage claim area and waited for our clubs.
Well, of course, the only set of clubs not to make it was mine. I explained the situation to the baggage rep for United, and he said that the clubs were still in Chicago and should be on the next flight at midnight. I told him to call me, and I would come back and pick them up.
Of course, no phone call. On Tuesday morning, I am calling the baggage number with my claim number, and the clubs had still not been located. Plan B was now in effect because I know now that my clubs are gone.
I started putting together a set of some clubs that I may have used most recently maybe five years ago. I didn’t have the driver that I had been using most of the year or the putter I had been using with a lot of confidence.
Bottom line: I just didn’t have any confidence in the set of clubs I put together. To say the least, I was very frustrated.
I ended up shooting 78 and missing a playoff by six shots. There were two players tied at 71 for medalist honors, Scott Morris and Steve Rogers, and two players tied for the last spot at 72. The two players in a playoff for the last spot were Russ Cochran and Quinn Griffing. Russ got the last spot when he birdied the first playoff hole and Quinn made a par.
Congratulations to Scott, who is a professional out at Ironwood here in Indy, and Steve, who played his college golf at Indiana University. Russ is from the Champions Tour, and Quinn is from Fort Wayne, Ind.
The frustration showed in my first few holes as I bogeyed numbers 2 and 4 and did not hit an iron shot till hole No. 7. I settled down and realized that my original thought of having to shoot 68 or 69 was way too low. The wind was blowing, and the pace of play was really slow, so I figured I needed to shoot even par to have a chance.
I three-putted the ninth hole to shoot 3-over on the front nine and still felt like I had a chance. I made a bad par on 10 as I drove it about 10 feet from the green and did not get it up and down for a birdie, which would have got me started.
I made pars on 11 and 12 and then hit a terrible shot on the par-3 13th and made a triple-bogey. From there I knew it was over and made pars the rest of the way out to shoot 78.
It was just one of those days where nothing positive happened to get my round going, and my confidence was ruined by playing without my usual clubs.
That day is over, and now we turn our attention to the Indiana State Open being played here at the Brickyard starting Tuesday, July 7 through Friday, July 10. This might be the strongest field ever with a lot of college players and also players who just turned pro after completing college.
Some notables considered older guys also are here, such as four-time champion Jeff Cook, Bill Schumaker, Denny Ford, Todd Smith and myself. Although I will not be 50 until Saturday, July 11, I am now one of the old guys.
I hope to be blogging daily and reporting on the action. The golf course is in excellent shape, and we had some rain on the Fourth of July to soften up the course and make it play longer. But more importantly, the rough will be long and lush. I think the scores will be low, and it will probably take 10-under to win the tournament, if not better.
Other staff members here at the Brickyard that are playing in the Open are Jeff Williams, my assistant professional, and Sam Foley, business development manager.
Good luck to all this week. The course will be open to the public Thursday and Friday after Open play, so book a tee time and see how you fare on a tournament course.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
The Indiana Open concluded this week and unfortunately I did not make the cut. In my first round though I did achieve my goal which was to shoot 75 or better. I started off strong by making birdies on the 3rd and 5th holes to get to two-under-par but closed out the front nine with a bogey on Hole 9.
A side note to this round is the fact that our tee time was delayed over 2 hours. We did not tee off until 4pm and did not finish the round until 9 pm. Any way on the back nine I faltered and got a little tired and bogeyed three out of the last four holes to shoot 75.