Annual benefit golf tournament held for CFVH

PLAINS – As golfers teed off and clubs swung, the sixth annual Clark Fork Valley Hospital Foundation Benefit Golf Tournament was held on Sunday, September 1 at the Wild Horse Golf Course.

The event typically is capped at 18 teams, leaving two teams per 9-holes.

This year there were 16 teams of four golfers and one partial team of three golfers with a grand total of 67 tournament participants.

In order to help even the playing field, Wild Horse Superintendent Sean LaDeaux said a rare combination of the Florida Drop-Out and Progressive Scramble formats are used.

“As in most scrambles you may pick up your worst balls and place them one club-length (six inches on the green) from the team’s best ball to proceed from next,” explained LaDeaux. “The Florida Drop-Out format entails all four team members teeing off from their respective tees. But whomever’s best ball you utilize to proceed from next cannot participate in the teams’ next golf shot.”

This prevents the teams from relying heavily upon a particular golfer, otherwise known as the ringer. The rule helps incite more teamwork for the golfers.

For this event, there was an additional set of tees added to the traditional four teeing areas, which rank longest to shortest: blues, white, reds, and golds. The additional tee, a set of black tees is set on the golf course in front of the gold teeing area.

“The second format added to this particular event’s golf mix is the Progressive Scramble. The second format includes all four team members to tee off from their respective tees,” said LaDeaux. “If the team pars the hole, then the team stays on the particular color of tees on the next hole. If the team does well and birdies or eagles the hole, they move back a color in regards to the teeing area. And in the same respect, if the team bogeys the hole, they get to move up to the next color in teeing area.”

LaDeaux explained that a par is generally expected of good golfers, while a birdie is one under par and an eagle is two under par. A bogey is a plus one.

A two-way tie for first place went to a Plains team – Dusty Burgess, Dallas Burgess, Justin Terrell and Bryce Dayley, and a Thompson Falls team – Michael Baxter, Ryan Ostwald, Kevin Sparks and Kelly Kovarik, each team grossing a score of 58. In order to speed up the event in case of a tie, a tiebreaker was decided by comparing the scorecards through holes 10-18 and 13-18 and 16-18 if needed. After the comparison was made the Thompson Falls team took the lead, putting the Plains team in second. The third team was Gary Revier, Jack Revier, Jeff Revier and Jordy St. Germaine with a gross score of 59 points.

Hole prize winners included Rob Meidinger for the men’s long putt; Barry Fowler for the men’s short drive; Dallas Burgess for the closest to the pin; Susan Benner took the women’s long fairway drive, while Justin Terrell took the men’s long fairway drive; Sean LaDeaux took the closest to the pin on the green and Susan Benner took the closest to the pin not on the green; Kelly Gieser for the women’s long putt; Erika Lawyer for the closest drive to the fairway bush; and Dusty Burgess for the closest drive to the sand bunker but not in the hazard.