Golf: Sunset wins first Senior Men’s Lincoln Highway Tournament

Editor’s note: Brian Weidman played in the event and also wrote the story, but he was interviewed by Eric Ingles, who wrote the portion of the story involving Weidman.

DIXON – Sunset Golf Course shined the brightest this past weekend in the inaugural Senior Men’s Lincoln Highway golf tournament.

The Mount Morris club led after the first round of the best-against-bogey tournament Saturday at Fairways Golf Course in Rochelle, then sealed the deal Sunday at Timber Creek in Dixon. Sunset finished with a score of +139, +15 more than runner-up Indian Oaks of Shabbona.

Rounding out the field were Shady Oaks of Amboy (+120), Emerald Hill of Sterling (+113), Deer Valley of Deer Grove (+94), Timber Creek (+76), Rock River of Rock Falls (+66), and Lost Nation of Dixon (+27).

Each team counted its six best best-against-bogey totals from the two rounds. Two points were awarded for a birdie, one point for a par and zero points for a bogey. A double bogey or worse was a one-point deduction.

For Sunset, the top six players were Brian Weidman (+36), Jim Mertz (+24), Jeff Johnson (+23), Buzz Severns (+21), Paul Pazera (+18) and Pat Marshall (+17). Rounding out the lineup were Ed Higley (+14) and Ray Hawn (+8).

“I really enjoyed the tournament and I’m glad they started this for some of us old guys,” Severns said. “I knew we had a good team going in. It’s kind of sad we don’t have a lot of young guys coming up any more, but we have a good group of old guys here. We had a lot of fun.”

Medalist honors came down to a back-nine duel between Weidman and Dave Kemp of Shady Oaks. Kemp birdied the 14th hole to draw even at +29, but a key two-point swing followed on the 15th, as Weidman birdied and Kemp bogeyed.

Both players birdied the 16th hole, then Weidman clinched with a birdie on the 17th hole.

“The last four holes I kept the ball in play like I usually do, and I made some awesome putts,” Weidman said. “On 15 I made a 20-footer, No. 16 maybe a five-footer, and No. 17 was another 20-footer. That was the key. I kept the ball out of trouble and I made some very good putts. That ultimately was the difference between me and Dave.”

“The battle was fun,” Kemp said. “Brian and I have battled for 40 years, from Shady Oaks club tournaments through Rock River Classics and Lincoln Highways, and it was no different today. It’s always going to be a battle. It’s always fun. I had a blast today.”

Flight winners were Indian Oaks’ Mike Mason (First Flight, +23), Emerald Hill’s Gregg Petrosky (Second Flight, +27), Sunset’s Johnson (Third Flight, +23), Sunset’s Mertz (Fourth Flight, +24), Indian Oaks’ Ed Williams (Fifth Flight, +23), Sunset’s Severns (Sixth Flight, +21), Rock River’s Mike Mallon (Seventh Flight, +22) and Shady Oaks’ Jim Larkin (Eighth Flight, +26).

Flight runners-up were Timber Creek’s Walt Clevenger (First Flight, +22), Indian Oaks’ Keith Haag (Second Flight, +20), Deer Valley’s Todd Nelson (Third Flight, +23), Indian Oaks’ Gary Johnson (Fourth Flight, +20), Sunset’s Higley (Fifth Flight, +14), Timber Creek’s Jim Heintzelman (Sixth Flight, +20), Shady Oaks’ Steve Jacobs (Seventh Flight, +16) and Indian Oaks’ Pete Barenie (Eighth Flight, +23).

The idea for the tournament came from Timber Creek member Rick Kessen, who earlier this spring contacted all of the teams that compete in the Men’s Lincoln Highway Tournament to see if there would be interest in having a senior version of the tourney. Most came on board.

“It was wonderful, just absolutely wonderful,” Kessen said. “The weather turned out fantastic. We couldn’t have asked for any better weather. The two courses that hosted the tournament were fabulous and did a great job. They were in beautiful shape. The men’s Lincoln Highway team from Timber Creek did all of the scorekeeping on Sunday and did a great job.

“Everybody that played in the tournament, I never heard one bad word from anybody. There were no complaints, and we can’t wait for the next one.”

Next year’s event will again be held the third weekend in May, with Deer Valley hosting the first round, followed by Emerald Hill for the second round.