May 30–GREENVILLE — Seven teams, including defending champions Jerry Ransom and Keith Bonham, will be vying for top honors in the championship flight at
the 12th Annual Dale Weaks Memorial Golf Tournament. The championship, first and second flights tee off at 7 a.m., with the third and fourth flights starting at about 1 p.m. The tee times will be reversed for Sunday’s final round, with the third and fourth flights going off first followed by the remaining three flights. Last year’s tournament, played in September, was affected by the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Players in the top three flights dealt with gusty winds and a steady rain for the first round and the other two flights had their first rounds washed out. With the sun out and the wind down, the scores improved for the final round. Ransom and Bonham, who’d shot a six-under 66 on the first day, finished with a 63 for the second round to win by four shots with their 129 total. “It was a good team,” said Bonham, who quarterbacked the Greenville Lions to a bi-district football title in 1960. “We made a couple of long putts. We played good golf.” Second place last year at 133 went to Mike Weaks and Bodie Madkins. Weaks is paired this year with long-hitting Chad Arnold in the championship flight while Madkins will play in the first flight with Alan Hawkins. Steve Payne and Jeremiah Gilbert, who tied for second place at the Oak Creek Charity Memorial tournament last summer, is another team to watch in the championship flight along with Matt Neyra and Matt Chapman. Neyra finished second and third in two Oak Creek tournaments last year.
Last year’s first flight winners, Brandon Adams and Mike Beddow (65-66-131), moved up to the championship flight. The team to beat in the first flight now consists of Roger Carwile and Jerry Jolley, who won the Oak Creek Charity first flight last summer with their rounds of 68 and 63. Another team to watch in the first flight are Webb Hill regulars Zach Newell and Alfonso Rodriguez.