Ok now that I’ve gotten my disclaimer out of the way.

Each week I’m also going to have spotlight on a member of the tour. This way people can get an inside look at some of the “golfers” that play on any given weekend. This way, new players on the tour can get a feel on who some of these golfers they hear about but don’t know who they are. This will also give some insight on members lives outside of the tour.

Here is what i need to get off my chest:

So Tuesday we had the North Carolina and Indiana primaries. Obama wins big in North Carolina and Clinton wins narrowly in Indiana. Obama basically nixed the gains clinton made in Pennsylvania and the other states that she has won over the past month by winning big in North Carolina.
Question i ask is: Why is Hillary still in the race? Its almost near impossible to beat Obama for the nomination. And seriously, quit crying about Florida and Michigan. They broke the rules and Obama took his name off the ballots in those states. Two states aren’t going to make or break the election. Just give up Hillary, u can’t win. The public has spoken.

Quickly before we get to the spotlight, the PGA is at Sawgrass this weekend. My prediction to win, Boo Weekley. Guy has played well this year with already a win under his belt (Verizon classic). My question is, who goes Tin Cup/Hollywood this weekend on 17. I want to see it, i like tragedy and want to see someone, especially a pga tour pro plop 8 or 9 balls in the drink.

This weeks Tour Spotlight: Myself
For those of you who are new to the tour, you may have heard the name Hollywood in passing. Well that is me. My real name is Eric Kautz. I am 29 year old west sider from the farming community of Harrison, OH. I currently am employed at Comair Airlines, but thats changing and a few weeks I will be employed with Fifth Third Bank. This is my third year on the OVGA tour. I have one win under my belt (Swingspeed Radar open, Fairfield/2006) and been the bridesmaid at many of our OVGA tour events. I am also a good luck charm. Usually golfers that play with me weekly one member of the foursome, excluding myself, win or play extremely well. My most recent charm, Rick Lingo and the Tour Championship at Elk’s Run last year for his first career OVGA tour win (He did hit all 14 fairways might I add).
My most memorial moment on tour. Geez, i have seen so many things in my 2+ years on the tour. Guess that would have to be the deed that got me dubbed Hollywood from Myrtle Beach in ‘06. If you really want to know, ask anyone, even myself. It will give u a good laugh.

Thats this weeks edition of Hollywood’s Spotlight. Good luck to everyone this weekend.

Our congratulations also go out to OVGA Board Member Jim Volpenhein and OVGA EZ Go Sponsor Representative Dave Macke for taking the winners to a 3^rd playoff hole before finally finishing second in a hard fought contest.

Mark Borngrebe returned to the top of the leaderboard for the first time since August 26, 2006 with a 2 shot victory with a 2-under 69 (net).  Borngrebe also had the low gross of the day with a 75.

Palmer Flight

Michael Frank and Dan Furlong ended the day at -7, 64 (net), but it was Frank prevailing in a scorecard playoff to capture his first career OVGA victory.

Hogan Flight

Bill Gabriel won his second career OVGA tournament with a -5, 66 (net) to finish three shots ahead of Bob Stewart and Eli Rendon.  Gabriel’s other win came on July 28, 2007 at Sugar Ridge in the Miller Lite Championship.

Lopez Flight

Phyllis Bare (74) managed to hold off Heather Bronner by a shot to claim her first Lopez Flight victory.  Bare also carded the low gross in the Lopez Flight with a 99.

Trevino Flight

Dan Furlong captured his 2nd Trevino Flight win of the year.  His 64 (-7) was good enough to finish 5 shots in front of Mark Borngrebe, Jim Cachat, Bob Stewart and Eli Rendon.

CTP Winners - $90

Ron Spencer on #7

Paul Kern on #13

Skins Winners - $50

Michael Frank on #5

Joe Vlachos on #6

Curt Wuellner on #12

Tom Camacho on #14

This is an opportunity for members of the GCGA to play a private country club without being accompanied by a member of that club. Since this is a new program there are a limited number of spots (84) you must be at least 18 years of age to participate. This event is open to men, women, and seniors and you may play any set of tees you like. If you have any questions please contact Todd Johnson at (513) 522-4444 or tjohnson@gcga.org.”

Dues paying members of the OVGA are elligble for these events as we are a GCGA Club Without Real Estate. The field is already set for Monday, May 12th at Clovernook Country Club. OVGA members participating in this event include Phyllis Bare, Michael Gaines, Bryson Mullins, and Criss Titschinger.

The next open day is schedule for Monday, June 30th at Western Hills Country Club. Phyllis Bare and Criss Titschinger will also participate in this event, but there appear to be plenty of spots open.

If these events are successful, there will likely be two more events this year. The cost for each event is $50 and includes green fees and cart. Players must be over 18 on the date of the event and be an Amateur. There is no handicap limit.

As stated above, you can register online at GCGA.org for the events. You can also contact Todd at GCGA with any questions. I hope more can join at Western Hills and represent the OVGA proudly!

Also, the tee times are moving up.  Instead of 11:45, the first groups will go at 11:20 and every group after will follow in 10 minute intervals.  We are still running in a wave start (off #1 and #10) so our final group will go at 1:00 instead of 1:05.  I will send out the start times and pairings again via email tomorrow along with the Event preview.  If anyone has questions please feel free to fire away.

I also wanted to remind everyone that the deadline for Beckett Ridge (May 10) and Yankee Trace (May 11) is Tuesday, May 6 at 12:00.  Please have your tee times selected and your payments in by this date.  Any matches postponed from Vineyard will be made up on these dates so please get back to me if you haven’t done so already and let me know which date your match will take place.

Lastly, we will soon have trophies to go with the gift certificates for the every event’s flight winners.  These will be retroactive to Opening Day and we should have them hopefully by Beckett Ridge.

Again, thank you for everyone’s understanding concerning Vineyard!

Chad

PACE OF PLAY

While relatively good for the first few events, it’s always good to cover a few simple things that we’ve seen. 

#1 - Always play ready golf.  There is no “honor system” in the OVGA when it comes to hitting your shot.  The old tour saying is, he who’s ready first, hits first. 

#2 - Play your shot before helping someone else look for their ball.  If you delay hitting your shot to help someone look for their lost ball it holds up play.  Go ahead and hit your shot and then go help.  

#3 - Once you leave the tee box or position of your last shot to advance there is no going back should your ball be lost or OB.  This holds up pace of play.  If you think there is a chance that your ball is lost or OB please hit a provisional.  If you leave the tee box and find your ball is lost, you may drop where the group feels the ball is lost and play your shot from there.  But you incur the regular stroke and distance penalty + another stroke.  In other words, your dropped ball would constitute the landing spot of your provisional ball (3rd shot) so you would be hitting 4 from there.

CHEATING - RULES 

Cheating will not be tolerated.  It’s your responsibility to know the rules and to count your strokes correctly.  We’ve already had an instance of incorrect scoring be reported to the scoring table following a round.  There is no reason to cheat or not know the rules concerning balls OB.  If we find that people are cheating to earn skins or CTP we’ll remove both side games thus eliminating the need to fudge scores.  Lord knows we aren’t playing for large checks at the end of the tournament and most of us are out here for the enjoyment of the game…be honest.

ARRIVING AT THE COURSE 

Please try to be at the course 30 minutes before your tee time.  There may be cases were the course lets us out early so be prepared to go within that 30 minute window around your tee time.

A lot of what you see here is preemptive on our part.  I’ve been very impressed with everything to this point.  We’re constantly striving for perfection with our tournaments.  So please help us by doing your part when you can and by passing along any info that could help us do so.

David Smith won his first OVGA event, firing a 1-under 69 (net) for a one shot win over Justin Bonomini (70).  Ron Alvey (71) finished two shots back.  Saturday was Smith’s 2nd career OVGA event following up his debut at Windy Knoll last year.  Bonomini had low gross for the tournament with a 74.

PALMER FLIGHT

Mike Greivenkamp recorded his first career OVGA victory in his 23rd event.  His 3-over 73 (net) was a shot better than Bruce Nourse (74) and two shots better than Venkat Devireddy, Tom Haley and Michael Frank (75).  Nourse was the only player to break 90 gross with an 89, but it was Greivenkamp’s day in the sun.

HOGAN FLIGHT

What a day for Dan Furlong.  He makes his OVGA debut, wins a skin and finishes three shots in front to earn his first career victory.  Furlong’s 4-under, net 66, was 3 shots better than Charles Felts who posted an equally impressive net 69.  Bill Hansell and Tim Haverkos tied for 3rd, 8 shots back (74).

TREVINO FLIGHT

And not to mention that Furlong also took the Trevino Flight much in the same manner as the Hogan Flight.  Winning the OVGA’s 50 and over flight by three shots over Felts.  Greivenkamp finished 7 shots back in 3rd.

LOPEZ FLIGHT

Sometimes it pays to be the only one in your flight.  Heather Bronner claimed her first Lopez Flight win with a net 77.  She also finished tied for 7th in the Hogan flight.

CTP WINNERS ($51)

Charles Felts, Bill Weitzel

SKINS WINNERS ($31)

Dan Furlong, Joe Wieland, Jim Cachat, Tom Camacho

The top seeds for the tournament are Elliott Cuff (2.9), Justin Bonomini (3.5), Scott Middleton (3.6) and Darrin Bollenbacher (4.5).  The average handicap entered into the tournament is 12.9. 

Last year, Tom Camacho defeated Ed Thompson to win the tournament.  Past winners include Joe Vlachos (2005) and Jerry Inebnit (2006).

To see the complete bracket please click the link below…you can also make predictions about who you think will win each match:

http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=268448&tclass=

Round #2 of The Great Parks Challenge will be the Championship Greens All-American Open on May 3rd 2008 at The Vineyard. This is a very special event in that it really 3 events in one. Round 2 of the Great Parks Challenge, Round 1 of the OVGA Match Play Tournament and the Kick Off for Operation Sand Save.  Here how the leader board (Top 10 only) looks after 1 event.  Net Scores - 1.   Bill Shannon-66, 2.   Michael Bowen, James Frisby, Tom Haley, Tim McDonald-70, 6.   Paul Hay-71, 7.   Mike Greivenkamp, Rich Coleman, Michael Fischer-72, 10. Alan Traylor, Steve Brooks, Tom Camacho, Chad Stewart, Bart Krebs-73

The two holes that stand out are the 3^rd and the 4^th. The 3^rd is a 606 yard par 5 that will be the third longest hole on tour for 2008 (and if you want to get technical, it’ll probably be the 2^nd longest since we don’t actually play the tips at Stonelick). There’s nothing fancy about the hole. An elevated tee leads to a hole that plays slightly uphill. The driving area and layup areas are wide, but then narrow the greedier the player gets. It’ll take three long, straight shots to hit the green in regulation. Last year, this whole averaged 6.98 – close to two strokes over par – and yielded only one birdie (Bert Phillips).

There’s no rest after that beast. Next is the 442 par 4 4^th. This hole is all up hill and last year played into the wind. The player has an option of fairways with which to play. The left fairway is the safer option, but provides a more difficult second shot. To play the smaller fairway to the right, the player must contend with the creek on the left and O.B. on the right. The author’s playing group contained two of the tour’s longest hitters. One hit driver, 2-iron hybrid and was still short of the green. The hole also played to a two stroke over par average of 6.03. And like hole 3, only yielded one birdie (Michael Heim). Most players will be happy to take bogey and move on to the next hole.