Columnist Peter Benton: Member/guest tradition continues at LVCC

Peter Benton

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2003 | 9:42 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

The capacity field of 160 contestants in last week's Las Vegas Country Club's 33rd annual Men's Member/Guest Tournament were treated to absolute idyllic weather conditions and a course that was in truly pristine shape. (This event is not only the oldest member/guest tournament in town but it is without doubt the most popular.)

Friday's practice round was a blind draw, pairing two teams for a combined better-ball competition with the top five teams earning a share of the cash pot. Also, the 12 best individual low gross and 12 best low net scores of the individuals entered qualified for "The Derby."

In Saturday's round, holes 1-9 were Chapman-Scotch, with holes 10-18 being best-ball of partners, while on Sunday the format was combined net of partners.

Playing 36 holes of consistent golf and winning as overall champions was the pairing of Marcus Erling and John Barber with a low gross score of 200.4. (In all instances members names are first.)

The J.P. Oberweis/Bob Christensen team ham-and-egged it to perfection and their score of 209 won overall low gross honors over the duo of Pat Laverty and John Tennant who came in with 214.

Carnoustie Flight winners with a net score of 203.7 was the Oberweis/ Christensen pairing, followed by Frank Larsen and Rob Mullaney at 205.8. The Laverty/Tennant team placed third with 208.1.

Tim and Sam Powers eked out a narrow victory in the Muirfield Flight, coming in with 207.8. The Russ Schroeder/David Foggia team followed at 209.3, while taking third with 211.8 was Fred (Cowboy) Coughlin and Dan Sakamoto. (In this flight, the team of Glenn Hurst and C.E. Ricketts played brilliantly the first day and had a rather commanding lead, but unfortunately the wheels came completely off the final day of play.)

Mike Singer and Michael Kaplan outdistanced the Royal Troon Flight field, coming in with 209.6. Tom Page and J.D. Dickinson were second with 215.7, while in third spot with 216.4 was the Paul Scofield/Rick Chulick pairing.

The St. Andrews Flight was won by Ryan McNamara and Jeff Canarelli. Their score of 217.6 dominated the pairings of Joe and Dom Del Grosso (220.7) and Carl Fawcett/Norman Davies (221.1). (It would be totally unfair to say that John Hunt and partner Ken Holt choked in this flight, but after firing on all cylinders Saturday, they blew their engine completely the final day of play and finished well back in the field.)

Closest-to-the-pin honors the first day (holes 3-7-14-17,) went to Russ Schroeder, J.R. Eyler, Ken Holt and Pat Laverty, while on the second day of play winners were Morgan Evans, (who aced the third hole and won for himself a new golf cart), Michael Pizzolla, Bob Christensen and Tim Powers.

In "The Derby," where two pairings with the highest scores were eliminated on the first three holes, and one each on the remaining seven, Pat Laverty and young Joe Brandise Jr., won the exciting event, parring the final hole after the Coe Power/John Hendrickson team bogeyed. Frank Larsen and Allen Vogel took third place.