Columnist Peter Benton: LVCC holds club championship

Peter Benton

Wednesday, May 16, 2001 | 10:03 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

The Las Vegas Country Club's club championships concluded last week with some surprising -- and some not-so-surprising -- results.

In the championship flight, Pat Laverty was victorious after some very tense battles. His unnerving driving, crisp iron plan and clutch putts whittled down foe after foe.

Laverty defeated, in order, Coe Power, 2-up; J.P. Oberweis, 2-1; Bruce Ashworth, 3-2, and in the very exciting final, Charlie Pape, 2-1.

Runner-up Pape, played particularly well, but unusual mistakes cost him dearly against Laverty. Pape knocked off big Fred "Cowboy" Coughlin, 5-4 in the first round, defending champion Tommy Martin, 4-3, and in the semifinal, Bill Bolton, 3-2.

Guile, a little luck and some tenacious play took Steve Rice to the final of the first flight, where he defeated Frank Larsen in an exceedingly exciting battle, 1-up.

Despite a close match in the first round where he defeated Allen Vogel, 1-up, Ron Hansen sailed through the second flight to defeat Wayne Corona in the final, 5-4.

Marcus Erling surprised everyone -- including himself -- by breezing through the third flight before dispensing Paul Stutzman, 4-3, to capture the top honors.

Fourth flight victor Milt Honek, who gave no quarter in any of his matches, won over Byron LeBow in the final, 3-1.

Rhonda Mushkin, the 1999 club champion, who was defeated in last year's club championship by Laurie Durant, avenged that loss, winning her final match this year by nipping Durant, 2-up, to regain the title.

Playing like a little pit bull in all her matches, Pat Corona sailed through the ladies first flight before eliminating Velma Fernandez in the final, 3-2.

Hayes' share of the $200,000 purse was $40,000 -- a far cry from the $4.5 million purse and $810,000 that Robert Damron picked up in last weekend's Classic.

Scheduled for Saturday, July 14, at the Las Vegas National Golf Club, this 4-man scramble event has a $150 per person entry fee.

All proceeds benefit the Retail Beverages Association Youth Education Program with further information available by catching Lillian McMorris at 313-5257 or 808-8421.