Eric McCardle continued his dominance of the Whidbey Golf and Country Club’s Men’s Invitational by winning his fourth straight event Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29.
McCardle won the 46th running of the event with a three-under 141.
Joe Beatty “blew away the field,” according to WG&CC head pro David Phay, to win the low net honors with a 65-66 (-13), 131.
McCardle had to come back to pick up his fourth title. He was three strokes down to Tracy Vass, 71-74, after Saturday’s first round. John Matzen stood at 74 after round one, one stroke ahead of Ron Bates.
Robert Tercero, John Henroit, Philip McKee and Toby Wilson were also in the hunt with 76’s on day one.
It took just three holes for McCardle to catch Vass on Saturday when he opened round two with an eagle, birdie and par. Another birdie on the fourth hole put him in the lead.
His tee shot on five hit the cart path and bounced out ofbounds for a double bogey, enabling Vass to regain a one-stroke lead.
McCardle recovered and finished the front nine at one-under, two strokes up on Vass and Tercero, who stayed in contention with a 33 at the turn Saturday.
McCardle gave back a stroke on 10, then an eagle on 12 helped him establish a cushion.
Tercero continued his hot day until a double bogey on 16 left him tied with Vass four back.
McCardle finished 74-67, 141. He was followed by Vass, 145; Tercero, 146; Matzen, 150; and Judd Ford, 153.
McCardle, Tercero and Ford all played high school golf for former Oak Harbor coach Matzen.
McCardle has won every Invitational he has been eligible to play since turning 18, but this year’s win may be his last. He said he is moving to Arizona to work toward starting a professional career.
In the race for low net score, Beatty was followed by Henroit, Tim Wyer and Jim Chambers at 139; and Billy Van Cleef at 142.
In flight two, Steve Robinson (157) took low gross and Chuck Yurcina (140) low net.
Flight three low gross was recorded by Ryan Elvebak (169) and low net by Mike Johnson (140).
In the gold tee competition, Marv Anderson and Marv Seelye (156) tied for low gross and Gary Boonstra and Gerald Hammerle tied for low net (140).
Other results:
Flight two gross: 2, Chuck Flajole, 162; 3, Mack Martens, 163; 4, George Schmidt, 164.
Flight two net: 2, Tom Ford, 142; 3, Arik Dahlen, 144; 4, Phil Pattison, 164.
Flight three gross: 2, Kevin McKeown, 172; 3, John Bates, 173; 4, Mike Rodgers, 179.
Flight three net: 2, Frank Murphy, 142; Andy Bullington, 145; 4, (tie) Keith Larsen, Nick Johnson, 147.
Closest to pin: hole 2, Ron Coleman, 6’1/2”; hole 7, Mike Zarraonandia, 11’; hole 13, John Geragotelis, 2’1”; hole 17, Joe Beatty, 8’.
Longest drive: white tees, Brannon Stone; gold tees, Anderson.
Skins: McCardle, hole 1 and hole 12, 3; Gordon Sears, hole 6, 3 and 2; Matzen, hole 14, 3; Dave McCool, hole 4, 2; Johnson, hole 10, 2; McKeown, hole 11, 2; Denny Behrman, hole 16, 2.
Calcutta payout: 1, team 16, Elvebak; 2 (tie), team 10, Paul
Peterson, team 24, Steve Anderson; 4 (tie), teams 26 and 27, Martin Pool; 6,
(tie) team 23, Bob Greathead, team 30, Geragotelis.
140 Club: Beatty, Vass, Henroit, Wyer, Chambers, Hammerle, Matzen, Yurcina, Johnson, Boonstra.
Deuce pot: Doug Bryson, Tom Driscoll (2), Joe Pereira (2), Peterson, Geragotelis (2), Mike Zarraonandia, Jim Boyle, Todd Melnick, Dave Wichers, Chambers, Chris Gregor, Jay Whittles, Lenny Thompson, JD Norton, Tom King, Henroit, Matzen, Chuck Krieg, Tercero, McCardle, Roger Pierce, Tom Kidd.
