Category: Events

Local legend Brady Exber wins Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown despite brutal conditions

“I like the course management aspect of golf,” Exber said when asked how he felt about a week when weather forced him to get creative.

Looking back on a week of brutally windy tournament conditions, Brady Exber admits there were holes at Las Vegas’ Paiute Golf Resort on which he didn’t even try to make par.

“I just didn’t want to make more than a bogey,” said Exber, a Las Vegas local who knows that fall weather in the desert can sometimes bring whipping winds. “I had probably two or three times, just chips from just off the green, that I knew I couldn’t get the ball to stay on the green from chipping.”

Being a Southern Nevada native, Exber is hardened to desert golf in all conditions. That, and he’s exceptionally experienced at the highest level of the game, having won countless Southern Nevada golf titles as well as the British Senior Amateur in 2014 and the Canadian Senior Amateur in 2018.

He added another title on Nov. 8 as he managed the course and the conditions to win the Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown by one shot over Matthew Avril of Vero Beach, Florida. Exber, who won with rounds of 81-79-71 for a 15-over total, dedicated his latest victory to his daughter, Jordan.

Scores: Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown

“I like the course management aspect of golf,” Exber said when asked how he felt about a week that had forced him to get creative. “Whether it’s good weather, bad weather, I like to kind of map out how I would manage the course depending on the weather so I generally – it’s hard to say I enjoyed it because it’s not really enjoyable. I understand it, I can deal with it.”

Exber, 68, barely managed to get in a practice round at Paiute after having come directly from the East West Matches on Nov. 1-3 at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas. The biannual matches pit the 18 best U.S. amateurs from east of the Mississippi with those from west of it in a mix of fourball, foursomes and singles matches.

Exber captained the victorious West team, and left Maridoe high on the concept. His team was highlighted by three-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad plus numerous other top amateurs such as Drew Kittleson and Trip Kuehne.

“It was a thrill for me to get to watch those guys play,” he said. “I just can’t believe – I really pinched myself that they even asked me to be the captain. It was just great.”

It was his first time in the captain’s position, however, and he found that part of it nerve-wracking – especially when the score was so close.

“To just be out there watching the matches and not being able to do anything other than come on guys, let’s go, you know root for your guys, it was tough,” Exber said. “It was nerve-wracking.

“I will say that our team, they played so hard and especially down the stretch, it was tight right down to the end and our guys just kind of played, out-toughed them. They were gritty.”

While Exber, back in Las Vegas this week, might have benefited from some local feel in the howling desert wind at Paiute, the top two players in the Super Senior division hailed from Kansas. Despite living in a Plains state, division winner Greg Goode noted “we don’t play in this kind of weather back in Kansas.”

Goode, from Salina, opened with 87 when the conditions were toughest, but rallied with a remarkable second-round 77 and capped it off with a closing 75 for a one-shot victory over fellow Kansan Kevin Belknap.

This was Belknap’s first national senior event, and Goode had only recently talked him into competing. It ended up being a very tough test.

“I’ve never played golf where you never had an easy shot,” Goode said, “because of the wind and the speed of the greens, you just couldn’t stop the ball from rolling when it got on the green, the wind would push it around. It really did help you live in the moment, I will say that. It helped you play one shot at a time – you weren’t thinking about anything else.”

After the first round, Goode had felt so discouraged he didn’t even look at the scoreboard until an email from the tournament director that evening that gave the day’s average score: 85.

“I looked at the scores and I thought, I shot an 87, I’m still in it,” Goode said. “I just played really solid golf the last two days.”

And ultimately, as Goode pointed out, “that’s golf.”

With the victory, Goode gained considerable ground in the Super Senior Player of the Year race. He began the week trailing Jim Starnes by roughly 1,200 points.

Neil Spitalny of Chattanooga, Tennessee, won the Legends division at the Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown with consistent rounds of 77-81-81. He was two shots ahead of Michael Paulsen of Fort Worth, Texas.

Richard Hunt of Bixby, Oklahoma, won the Super Legends division by a three-shot margins after rounds of 81-82-77.

Las Vegas local Brady Exber climbs to top of Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown

Las Vegas’s own Brady Exber certainly played like a local on Thursday at the Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown.

Las Vegas’s own Brady Exber certainly played like a local on Thursday at the Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown. As the scores indicate, conditions have been brutal at Paiute Golf Resort for two days, but in Round 2, Exber used consistency to move into a share of the lead.

His second-round 7-over 79 was tied for the lowest in the division, and was one of only eight scores under 80 in the second round. Exber’s round included a birdie on the par-5 third and an eagle on the par-5 11th. Otherwise, he generally succeeded in keeping the big numbers off his card.

Exber is teeing it up in the Golfweek event just days after captaining the West team to victory at the East West Matches at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas, last week. Exber is known as one of the most prolific golfers in the Southern Nevada region, with a long list of Southern Nevada and Las Vegas titles to his name as well as USGA starts.

Scores: Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown

Exber, at 16 over, holds a share of the lead with first-round co-leader Matthew Avril, the Vero Beach, Florida, resident who won the Golfweek Senior POY Classic to start the year.

After that, the leaderboard remains tight, with two men tied for third at 17 over and three men tied for fifth at 18 over.

The top of the Super Senior leaderboard is dotted with Midwesterners, with Kevin Belknap of Wichita, Kansas, still the sole leader at 15 over. Belknap backed up an opening 79 with a second-round 80 and leads Terry Tyson of Perrysburg, Ohio, by a shot.

Greg Goode of Salina, Kansas, had the best round of any competitor on Thursday – a 5-over 77 that moved him into solo fourth.

Neil Spitalny remains in the lead in the Legends division. The Chattanooga, Tennessee, resident fired an opening 77 and despite backing up to 81, leads by five shots.

Another Las Vegas player, Steven Johnson, leads the Super Legends division after rounds of 81-80. He is one shot ahead of Greg Mokler of Timnath, Colorado.

Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown: The elements present a fierce test on opening day at Paiute

Two men from the East Coast fought their way to the lead at the Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown.

Amid the whipping wind they found in the desert on Wednesday, two men from the East Coast fought their way to the lead at the Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown. After a tough opening day at Paiute Resort’s Snow Mountain course in Las Vegas, Doug Stiles of Athens, Georgia, and Matthew Avril of Vero Beach, Florida, share the lead in the Senior division.

Across all four divisions, scores soared in the opening round. The field averaged 84.9 for the opening 18 holes as the wind blew 25-40 mph and the day began at a crisp 40 degrees.

Stiles and Avril both landed at 8-over 80 for the day. Avril didn’t make a birdie, and while Stiles made two, he also had a couple of big numbers on his card. Still, both men made the most of the day and managed to take a one-shot advantage on five players tied for third at 9 over.

Scores: Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown

Among the big group at 9 over is Brady Exber, who is teeing it up this week in his Las Vegas hometown after captaining the West team to victory at the East West Matches at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas, last week.

In the Super Senior division, it isn’t all the surprising that Kevin Belknap from Wichita, Kansas, leads the pack with a round of 7-over 79. Belknap, from the windy plains, fired one of just three rounds under 80 on Wednesday. He leads Stevie Cannady of Pooler, Georgia, by a shot. Cannady, who won the Golfweek Super Senior National Championship in July, birdied the 11th but double-bogeyed the 18th.

The two best scores of the day came from the Legends division, where Steve Cribari of La Quinta, California, and Neil Spitalny of Chattanooga, Tennessee posted rounds of 76 and 77, respectively.

Behind Cribari and Spitalny, the next-best score in the division came from Michael Paulsen of Fort Worth, Texas, who had 82.

In the Super Legends division, Greg Mokler of Timnath, Colorado, leads with 80. Steven Johnson of Las Vegas and Richard Hunt of Bixby, Oklahoma, are right behind him with rounds of 81.

Bev Hargraves enters the Golfweek Senior Desert Showdown eyeing the completion of a year-long POY quest

The 73-year-old started thinking: What might happen if he teed it up in more tournaments?

Bev Hargraves seems to always be in contention, and after so many top-10 finishes in senior amateur events, the 73-year-old started thinking: What might happen if he teed it up in more tournaments?

To start 2024, Hargraves sat down with his wife and pitched an idea. He wanted to play more tournaments to see if the extra starts would launch him to the top of the Golfweek National Senior Rankings for players in his age group (70-74 years old) and land him Legends Player of the Year honors.

It would be a commitment, for sure.

Hargraves still has an insurance agency back home in Little Rock, Arkansas, and works eight to 10 hours a day. He underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in 2021 and has been battling prostate cancer for the past few years. The latter necessitated him front-loading his competition schedule a bit this year.

Shortly after he competes in this week’s Golfweek Desert Showdown at Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort, Hargraves will begin a 45-day stretch of radiation treatment that will take him off the national senior amateur circuit.

“What I want to do is to see how I play in Las Vegas and if I can possibly wrap up the Player of the Year,” Hargraves said.

Hargraves won his age division earlier this year at the Golfweek Player of the Year Classic, giving him a huge boost in his quest. He also won the Legends title at the Low Country Senior and tied for second at the U.S. Senior Challenge, a state team event for which he serves on the board.

Golfweek National Senior Amateur Rankings

All of that has Hargraves sitting atop the Legends rankings, with a 1,120-point lead on Don Donatoni of Malvern, Pennsylvania. Expect Hargraves to keep a close eye on the standings even as he undergoes radiation. He has considered the possibility of suspending treatment to squeeze in one more tournament in December.

“If I need to, I’ll do it.”

Through the years, Hargraves’ competitive nature clearly hasn’t changed much, and neither has his game.

“Historically my driving has been the best part of my game,” he said. “I’m not long but usually in the fairway. The part that helps me in every tournament is my short game, chipping and putting, which has always been good.”

The latter he still credits to Paul Runyan, a World Golf Hall of Famer for whom he had the good fortune to caddie during the Mohawk Open, a pro-am played in the 1960s at his home golf course, Helena (Arkansas) Country Club.

“He was a short game guru and he’s the one who kind of taught me different techniques on chipping and putting,” Hargraves said of Runyan.

Hargraves first came to the game as a caddie at 9 years old and began playing two years later. He never had a lesson but observed while he caddied. He took advantage of the opportunities that came to him, like a front-row seat to Runyan.

Regardless, Hargraves’ golf resume is full. He has won more than 80 individual titles in Arkansas, served in various leadership roles in his state association, regional associations and even the USGA (notably, Hargraves was a member of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Committee from 1991 to 2006). He has traveled domestically and abroad to compete in tournaments.

Until this year’s run at player-of-the-year honors, Hargraves, who played collegiately for the University of Arkansas in the 1970s, has typically played just five or six national tournaments a year. As he has gotten older, golf has become the sport in which he remains physically competitive. As a younger man, he liked to compete in baseball, football or anything else that satisfied his natural competitive drive.

When Hargraves turned 45, he turned his focus to playing in the U.S. Mid-Amateur, and he qualified for five of those. He attempted qualifying for the U.S. Senior Amateur at age 56 and has played six of those. He last qualified for a U.S. Senior Am in 2017.

“One thing I do want to do, and it will be hard to do, is qualifying for the U.S. Senior Am,” he said of goals that still remain on the table.

As always, Hargraves continues to seek out the highest level of competition. It’s his “why.”

“I like to compete against the best,” he said.

Mara King, Junzhe Wang finish atop crowded leaderboard at Golfweek International Junior

Mara King and Junzhe Wang leaned on their putters to win at Celebration Golf Club.

A year ago at the Golfweek International Junior Invitational, Mara King took the first-round lead and, despite being outplayed in the second round, still finished in the top 5. Those memories were still fresh enough in King’s mind that when she made the return trip to Celebration Golf Club in Celebration, Florida, this week, she was able to use them for motivation.

“I think I’ve put myself in the position to be in contention enough that this year I kind of was calm enough to know I was capable of doing it,” said King, who lives in nearby Lake Mary, Florida. “Last year I placed well, and I’ve played a lot of tournaments here and I’m comfortable here so, played well.”

For the second year in a row, King opened the tournament with even-par 72. But on Sunday, she came back with a 2-under 70. That was good for a two-shot victory over Sahana Chokshi of Jacksonville, Florida.

Scores: Golfweek International Junior

Even better, King birdied her final two holes Sunday to create that margin of victory. It’s a testament to the focus she displayed in a close competition. Despite knowing scores were tight, King tried to focus on herself and ignore the leaderboard.

“I just know the best I can do is all I can do,” she reasoned.

King’s card was a bit colorful in the first round, and it included two bogeys and a double-bogey on the back nine. Still, King did more than enough to make up for it – she had nine birdies on the weekend.

King credits her putting, but also noted she scrambled well.

“If I missed a green or hit a bad tee shot I could recover well and I think that saved me from a lot of bogeys happening,” she said.

King, a senior at Lake Mary High School, has been committed to Penn State since last October. She’s in the thick of her high school golf season and hasn’t competed in a national event since August, when she played the AJGA Junior at Toftrees and placed third.

She has a Florida Junior Tour event coming up next month and hopes she’ll earn a spot in the Sally, a prestigious women’s amateur event, in January.

Junzhe Wang after winning the boys' title.
Junzhe Wang after winning the boys’ title.

In the boys division, Junzhe Wang prevailed in a similarly close competition. Wang, who attends the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, finished 36 holes at 3 under, which was one shot better than both Haikal Putera and Nathan Le-Nguyen.

Wang fired rounds of 70-71. He began his weekend with back-to-back birdies on Saturday and he ended the first round with a birdie, too. The second round began a little slower – with Wang making three bogeys in his first four holes, but he played the rest of the round in 4 under to win the tournament.

“Just kind of like play it one shot at a time, try my best,” Wang said. “If I won or would not, it doesn’t really matter to me. Just try my best is all that matters.”

After his victory, Wang noted that he had made some clutch putts and that his iron play helped him considerably.

In September, Wang won a Florida Junior Tour event at Duran Golf Club in Viera, Florida. Wang, who will graduate high school in 2027, hopes to play college golf in the U.S. but hasn’t made any commitments.

Golfweek senior POY update: Super Legends division remains a tight race; Kevin VandenBerg continues Senior division runaway

This late in the season, the top players often have separated themselves in Golfweek’s senior player-of-the-year races.

This late in the season, the top players often have separated themselves in Golfweek’s senior player-of-the-year races. And while that is certainly the case in some age groups, the race remains tight in the Super Legends division. Only 110 points separates leader Johnny Blank of Frostburg, Maryland, from George Owens of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Blank is trying to end a third consecutive season as the Super Legends Player of the Year. In 2023, he finished 1,635 points ahead of Bill Engel of St. Augustine, Florida. Engel, the former Commander of the White Sands Missile Range, is 830 points behind Blank. John Osborne of Vero Beach, Florida, is wedged into that mix too, trailing Blank by only 380 points.

Blank has competed largely in the Southeast this season, logging the most points for winning his division at the SOS Spring Classic and Super Senior in February.

Golfweek awards Player of the Year honors for each of four age divisions: Senior, Super Senior, Legends and Super Legends. Winners will be recognized Jan. 16 at the Golfweek Player of the Year Classic at Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate.

George Owens
George Owens

In the Super Senior division, top-ranked Jim Starnes has racked up many of his 7,547 points in the Southeast as well, but he has also made two trips west with impressive results.

Starnes, of Fort Myers, Florida, leads Greg Goode, of Salina, Kansas, by 1,297 points. Starnes reaped big points for his victories early in the year at the Florida Azalea Senior and the Lowcountry Senior Amateur. His trips west to the Golfweek Senior Amateur in Palm Desert, California, and the Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior in Walla Walla, Washington, both produced top-5 finishes.

Starnes finished 2023 third on the points list for his division, and in 2016 he was named the Senior Player of the Year as the top points-getter.

Golfweek National Senior Amateur Rankings

To claim a POY title is a labor of love that requires men like Starnes to tee it up frequently and to play well. For Starnes, that means 22 to 25 national senior starts, plus a half dozen four-ball events and a few Florida State Golf Association events.

His has long been a name to know in senior golf: Starnes qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2016 and 2021.

Perhaps no one knows the term “labor of love” better than Kevin VandenBerg when it comes to winning player-of-the-year honors. VandenBerg has a nearly 3,000-point lead in the Senior division and has POY honors all but locked up for the second consecutive year.

Kevin VandenBerg
Kevin VandenBerg. (Photo: Ron Gaines/Golfweek)

VandenBerg aged into senior competition when he turned 55 in 2021. He has not slowed down since. In 2023, VandenBerg, of Pulaski, New York, teed it up in competition 44 times between Golfweek senior events, Society of Senior events, local tournaments and USGA qualifiers.

He’ll beat that number this year. VandenBerg told Golfweek he has already competed 44 times – finishing first, first, second, second and third in his past five starts – and has six more events planned before the end of the calendar year.

VandenBerg will be inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame on Oct. 27 for a career that includes his sweep (in the summer of 2000) of Michigan’s three major amateur tournaments: the Michigan Amateur, Golf Association of Michigan Championship and the Michigan Mid-Amateur.

In the Legends division, Bev Hargraves of Little Rock, Arkansas, leads Don Donatoni of Malvern, Pennsylvania, by 950 points. Hargraves notably won his division at the 2024 Golfweek Player of the Year Classic.

International Senior Amateur: Jack Hall charges as Atlanta makes a run at Kentucky for team title

As Hall torched the back nine, he not only climbed 29 spots on the individual leaderboard at the International Senior Invitational, he pulled his three-man team right up along with him.

Jack Hall made his only bogey of the day right after making the turn at Cartersville (Georgia) Country Club. He did more than erase it with five subsequent birdies in his final eight holes.

As Hall, of Savannah, Georgia, torched the back nine, he not only climbed 29 spots on the individual leaderboard at the International Senior Invitational, he pulled his three-man team right up along with him.

Hall helped move the Atlanta team seven spots higher in the team competition and into a tie for third. Entering the final round of the tournament, Hall & Co., trail the leading Kentucky team by only four shots with a team representing North Georgia squarely between them.

Scores: International Senior Invitational

The International Senior Invitational, in its second year at Cartersville Country Club, features 30 three-man teams competing in a three-count-two format. A team and an individual champion will be crowned after 54 holes.

Hall, who posted the lowest score of any competitor on Friday, has had quite the year and is competing in Cartersville just a few weeks after finishing in the top 3 at the Canadian Senior Amateur and reaching the second round of match play at the U.S. Senior Amateur. He’s had a handful of other top finishes so far this season, including a T7 at the Trans-Miss Senior and a third-place finish at the Jones Cup Senior.

Billy Mitchell, who has made several recent runs into match play at the U.S. Senior Amateur, is captaining the Atlanta team and contributed a 3-under 69 on Friday. Hall and Mitchell’s combination was tough to match in the play-three-count-two format.

Consider that the Atlanta team outscored North Georgia by four shots in the second round after North Georgia counted rounds of 69 and 70 from Bob Royak and Doug Hanzel, respectively. Both men are past U.S. Senior Amateur champions.

All are chasing the team from Kentucky, which reached 10 under par on Friday as Tony Wise continues to light up Cartersville Country Club. Wise, of Georgetown, Kentucky, has posted rounds of 69-68 and is tied for first individually with Kevin VandenBerg of Pulaski, New York. VandenBerg is the top-ranked player in the Golfweek Senior National Rankings.

The International Senior Invitational at Cartersville (Georgia) Country Club. (Photo by Ron Gaines)
The International Senior Invitational at Cartersville (Georgia) Country Club. (Photo by Ron Gaines)

Wise did not make a bogey on Friday, and to help matters, teammate Buddy Bryant of Pewee Valley, Kentucky, contributed a round of 68 as well.

The New York team, with help from VandenBerg’s solid play, is tied for third with the Atlanta team.

The international part of the field is well-represented at Cartersville, too. Team Ireland, led by Joe Lyons, the two-time Irish Senior Men’s Amateur Close champion, is fifth in the team standings at 4 under. Lyons, who won the individual trophy at this event last year, has contributed rounds of 70 and 74.

International Senior Invitational: Ireland’s Joe Lyons returns; three past U.S. Senior Am champs to tee it up

Joe Lyons has officially entered his travel golf season.

Joe Lyons has officially entered his travel golf season. It just so happens that it falls opposite the travel season for most players in his part of the world.

Lyons, co-founder of Lyons Links, which operates luxury golf and sightseeing tours in Ireland and the United Kingdom, lives a life that revolves around the game. Now in the offseason, Lyons, 52, of Galway, Ireland, will play for the Team Ireland at this week’s International Senior Invitational at Cartersville (Georgia) Country Club.

The tournament, in its second year of a three-year run at Cartersville, features 30 three-man teams competing in a three-count-two format. Several states across the U.S. will be represented by a team as will England, Scotland, Germany, Canada and, of course, Ireland.

A team and an individual champion will be crowned after 54 holes, and Lyons happens to be the returning individual champion.

Lyons has been a golfer since he was 9 years old and pours energy into both his own game and his work in golf. From April to September, he sprinkles tournaments into his schedule around the obligations that come with being a golf tour director amid the peak golf travel season.

“I am lucky enough to have an exceptional team around me that makes sure our clients are looked after during those months and allows me to compete in a select number of men’s amateur and seniors events during the summer in Europe,” he wrote by email.

Lyons’ resume is robust. Notably, he has won the Irish Senior Men’s Amateur Close Championship each of the past two years and in February, won the Spanish International Seniors Championship.

“Strangest experience this year was winning the Spanish Seniors Amateur and being prevented from bringing the trophy home on the plane as it was not in line with the airline’s ‘baggage policy,’” Lyons wrote.

Luckily, he noted, he had no such issue bringing home the trophy he won at this event a year ago for lowest individual and it now sits in a place of pride at his home.

Lyons’ golf life spans many arenas, from competitive senior golf to top-notch golf tourism, but he also continues to fly the flag for fiftysomethings by remaining competitive among a younger generation of golfers. Scroll the results of this year’s Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin in Ireland and there, in the top half of the 288-man field, you will find Lyons’ name. He fired rounds of 76-75 but missed the match-play cut.

When asked what goals remain for his game, Lyons, who is ranked among the top-20 players age 50 and over, listed winning the U.S. Senior Amateur or British Senior Amateur Championship when the time comes (he won’t be eligible for either until he turns 55). He also noted he would love to win low amateur at the Senior Open Championship.

With such lofty sights, Lyons is among good company at the International Senior Invitational. The field includes three past U.S. Senior Amateur champions: Doug Hanzel (2013), Bob Royak (2019) and Rusty Strawn (2022).

Kevin VandenBerg, the top-ranked player in Golfweek’s National Senior Amateur Rankings, is also in the field, and so is Mike McCoy, the 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion who captained the 2023 U.S. Walker Cup team.

Savannah De Bock ends drought with Golfweek Red Sky Classic title. Where can she lead Eastern Michigan from here?

Savannah De Bock, a top international talent from Belgium, could help lay a foundation for a revitalization of the Eastern Michigan women’s golf program.

Josh Brewer sees in Savannah De Bock the quality all good players have: An unfailing confidence in her own game.

“She thinks she’s holing every shot she can get to the hole,” said Brewer, the new women’s golf coach at Eastern Michigan. “If it’s a hybrid or a putt, she really thinks she should make it.”

De Bock, from Belgium, spent the spring semester at Georgia, playing for Brewer. She transferred to Eastern Michigan for her sophomore season to follow a coach she felt she connected with and now, she could help lay a foundation for a revitalization of the Eagles’ women’s golf program. Here’s a player who could be a contender on the Annika Award Watch List and in the conversation for other postseason honors – as Brewer says, someone who can “cause some headaches for the Power 4 schools.”

De Bock’s fall season began last month at big venues, like Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, which hosted the 2015 U.S. Open and the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur. De Bock tied for eighth there at the season-opening Leadership and Golf Invitational. She was six shots out of first and her week included a quadruple bogey on the 18th hole because of “a bad shot that led to another bad shot that led to another bad shot,” she said.

“I learned from it,” De Bock said, “We can see that this weekend was much better.”

On a high-altitude Tom Fazio layout for the Golfweek Red Sky Classic in Wolcott, Colorado, a week later, De Bock didn’t make worse than bogey (and had only four of those) on her way to winning her first individual title in two years. De Bock’s 15-under 54-hole total at Red Sky Golf Club is one off the tournament record, and a mind-blowing amount under par for a big golf course set at 8,000 feet with fast, undulating greens.

“Some of the pins were really hard, but I had done a very good practice round with the coaches so I knew where to aim on the greens and what zones to avoid,” De Bock said. “We had a very strong strategy on the par 5s to know when to attack and when not to.”

A second-round 65 at Red Sky is De Bock’s personal best in competition, and she only realized that after counting up all the birdies at the end of the day. She’d posted 66 in tournament play plenty of times, most notably when she won the European Ladies Amateur Championship in 2022.

Just talking about that championship reminded De Bock of the drought she’d been in ever since that title. It was something she’d talked about recently with Brewer.

“I was just like holy cow, I cannot win a thing,” she said. “I was feeling a little blue about it.”

When De Bock arrived in the U.S., Brewer said she fired at every pin. Her victory at Red Sky is evidence of her being more open to a different game plan – and having the ability to execute it. De Bock has also improved her club-head speed since arriving in the U.S., which has made her an increased threat.

De Bock doesn’t just want to play the tour someday, she wants the whole experience. Asked for her goals in golf, she listed the LPGA grand slam and holing the winning putt for Europe in the Solheim Cup.

“I just want to get really great at it,” she said of golf, referencing little goals, too, like scoring records.

In the short term, De Bock hopes to get back to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, a tournament she played in 2023 but missed the cut. At Eastern Michigan, Brewer has built a competitive, coast-to-coast schedule that can get her there. De Bock is currently 86th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking but has been as high as 35th. A prominent alum has helped provide the resources for that schedule and beyond.

In May, GameAbove announced a $6.5 million commitment to the Eastern Michigan golf programs. Eastern Michigan alum Keith Stone is the Chairman of GameAbove, a brand encompassing charitable giving, capital investments, sports entertainment, and media ventures, and has donated $34.5 million to the university since 2019, with $14.5 million being earmarked for the golf programs, according to a university release.

The donation has afforded Eastern Michigan’s golf programs myriad opportunities, from increased staffing to facilities to travel funds. It’s a program waiting to be built and Brewer, having spent 12 seasons at Georgia and four seasons as an assistant coach at USC before that, is always game for a challenge.

After his first interview with Eastern Michigan, Brewer tossed out a thought: Why not Eastern Michigan?

“It’s kind of stuck and been our mantra. Like, why not? Why can’t we be one of the top programs? We have everything we need besides, I say, the logo,” Brewer said, referencing Eastern Michigan’s mid-major status.

“It’s a unique challenge and I want to prove that it can be done no matter where you’re at, no matter what part of the country.”

Inaugural Put Me In Coach Invitational brings a vibe and an opportunity to the back of college lineups

Sometimes all it takes is an opportunity. The aptly named Put Me In Coach Invitational is exactly that – with a soundtrack to match.

Sometimes all it takes is an opportunity. The aptly named Put Me In Coach Invitational is exactly that – with a soundtrack to match.

The tournament name just makes sense, said Ball State head coach Mike Fleck, when you look at what a new early-fall event for individuals is offering. Individual events – or the expansion of full-field events to allow for extra individuals on the tee sheet – is a trend right now in college golf.

“It’s an individual event for guys that are trying to find their way into the lineup that are maybe in a different position than maybe your top players and it’s just a cool, catchy, ‘Hey, Coach, pay attention to me and put me in. If I play well, put me in coach.’”

In the tournament’s first iteration on Sept. 15-16 at Delaware Country Club in Muncie, Indiana, the catch-phrase made popular in the 1980s John Fogerty song “Centerfield” was on a loop pre-tournament, mixed into the playlist as players warmed up on the practice facilities. Sure there was a vibe, but there was also business to do.

Scores: Put Me In Coach Invitational

Michael Weber of Miami University (Ohio) and Virgilio Paz of Missouri tied for first in the 54-hole, both finishing at 1 under before Paz won in a playoff. It’s the first college title for Paz, a junior who transferred from New Mexico last year.

While Paz and three other Missouri teammates were competing in Muncie, the Tigers also took a team to the Canadian Collegiate in Ontario.

https://twitter.com/GolfweekRingler/status/1835747126694781214

“Before the tournament started we had a team meeting making sure everyone acknowledged that we are representing University of Missouri and the SEC just as much as the other guys are,” assistant coach Paola Cortes-Ortiz said. “The course required a lot of patience, smart decisions and commitment and that’s exactly what the guys competed with.”

Delaware Country Club, an old-style club, didn’t give up much with only 12 players logging a round under par. Fleck called it an easy golf course for spectators to get around and one that’s always in pristine condition.

Next year, as the Put Me In Coach Invitational returns to Delaware CC, the tournament will also expand to include a women’s division. That will come on the heels of Delaware Country Club hosting both the Indiana Open and Indiana Women’s Open in 2025.

“I think it’s hugely important,” Fleck said of the Put Me In Coach concept. “These kids are getting on campuses and we’re getting qualifying rounds going. There’s just a little bit different vibe obviously when you’re playing in a tournament environment in a setting versus when you’re qualifying though an intersquad match.”

Golf is unique among college sports in its lack of a bench. The whole roster doesn’t travel and that can leave as many as three to five players at home missing out on the experience of tournament golf.

Among the 30-player field, 21 players were true freshmen. Fleck, who started four players and two of them freshmen, noted the tournament was a particularly good way for those players to get their feet wet in college golf.

The Put Me In Coach Invitational expands on Golfweek’s long-running college tournament series which spans Divisions I through III and includes both fall and spring events.

“I’m really excited about this event – it adds to our lineup of college events and trying to provide more opportunities for college golf,” said tournament director Lance Ringler of Golfweek.