Columnist Peter Benton: LVCC Pro-Member features fierce competition

Peter Benton

Wednesday, March 21, 2001 | 10 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

The weather was terrific, the course was in wonderful condition and the competition fierce in the recent Pro-Member tournament played at the Las Vegas Country Club.

Format for this 18-hole event was that after each team selected the best tee shot, players played their own ball until holed out, while the professionals played their own ball. One best ball gross and one best ball net was used for scoring purposes.

The team of Tom Storey (unattached) and Patrick Duty (South Shore) along with members Brad Wallin and Gary Plumlee eked out a narrow victory with a score of 121.

One stroke back at 122 was the foursome of Joe Lescenski (Anthem), Matt Bennet (Rhodes Ranch) and member Paul Nelson and Allen Vogel.

Taking third place with 125 was Jim Neighbors (Palm Valley), Wes Weston (Shadow Creek), Glen Raynes and Lynn Weidman.

In the individual pro sweep, Weston and his even-par round of 72 edged Dave Barnhart (unattached) and South Shore's Duty, who came in with 73s.

The host pro, John Creaney, along with Jerry Roberts (Spainsh Trail) and Bennett followed with two-over-par 74s.

Allenby's seven wins are as follows: 1993 Optus Players Championship, Australia; 1994 Honda Open, Europe; 1996 One2One British Masters; 1996 French Open; and last year's Shell Houston Open and Advil Western Open. He prevailed in this year's Nissan Open via a six-man playoff.

I found his 7-for-7 playoff record not only intriguing but downright incredible. Other than Tiger Woods, whose playoff record is 5-1, nobody comes close.

Playoff records of some notable golfers are as follows: Jack Nicklaus, 13-10; Arnold Palmer, 14-10; Bruce Lietzke, 6-6; Ray Floyd, 5-10; John Cook, 3-3; Freddie Couples, 5-4; Hal Sutton, 4-2; and Lee Trevino, 5-5.

Now, if per chance you are wondering who may have the worst playoff record, look no further than Ben Crenshaw who is 0-8 in playoffs. Jeff Sluman's not much better, being 0-5, and Greg Norman is 4-7. Others who have rather abysmal records: Gary Player, 3-10; Bob Murphy, 1-5; Gene Littler, 3-8; Davis Love, 1-6; Mark Calcavecchia, 0-3; and Tommy Aaron, 0-4.