Greg Guinn takes Senior Division Title
Clarksville, TN – Entering Sunday’s final round at the Wendy’s Invitational at Swan Lake Golf Course, Austin Peay State University junior Dustin Korte knew he’d need to turn in a near flawless round to have a shot at winning Clarksville’s first major amateur golf tournament of the year.
18 holes later, Korte not only had a shot at winning the tournament, he had a shot at making history.
After firing an opening-round 70 Saturday, Korte turned in the lowest round in Wendy’s Invitational history Sunday, stringing together eight birdies to finish with a two-day 133 and a one-strike win over his former APSU teammate Brian Balthrop.Despite trailing for virtually the entire tournament, the 20-year-old Korte seemed to get stronger as Sunday went on, posting birdie after birdie as he continued to climb up the leaderboard.
“After 11 or 12 holes I was four under for the tournament and said to myself that if I could get within two shots of (Balthrop) with three holes to go I could tie or win,” Korte said. “That’s when it just clicked. I played about as solid as I could have today.”
Playing in the next-to-last group, Korte said he tried to stay focused on his game while also keeping tabs on Balthrop’s round.
“I kept asking the guys to find out where Brian was and what he was shooting. Some guys don’t like to know (the scores of their opponent) but I kind of like to know.”
After sinking a birdie putt on No. 18 to get to 9-under, Korte put the pressure on Balthrop, who turned in a great 5-under Sunday round of his own that included four birdies on the front nine.
With Korte already in as the leader in the clubhouse, Balthrop just missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have forced a playoff for the tournament championship.
“It means a lot, especially to beat someone as good as Brian,” Korte said. “I played against him my first year or two years in college. Once he gets in that mindset and gets his confidence going, it’s hard to beat him.”
Perhaps more importantly, the win also ensured Korte an automatic berth into September’s Mann Smith and Cummings Tournament of Champions, which adds to an already packed summer schedule for the upcoming Govs senior.
“I’m going to be playing a lot of events here over the next few weeks,” Korte said. “I’ll be playing the Waterloo Open in Iowa as well as the US Amateur qualifier in Iowa City. Hopefully I qualify for that but if not, we’ll just start getting ready for next year’s season.”
Rossview High School senior and UT-Martin signee Tyler Guy posted a Sunday 67 to move into fourth place with a two-day 138.
Todd Greene, who took a share of the lead after a birdie on No. 1 fired an even 71 on Sunday to finish with a two-day 140 and sole possession of fifth place.
Clarksville High School standout Hunter Richardson, who entered the day one shot back of Balthrop for the tournament lead, struggled on the back nine and finished three over on Sunday.
2011 Wendy’s winner Greg Guinn won this year’s Senior Division title with a two-day total of 134 that included a blistering Sunday 65.
“It was a lot of fun,” Guinn said of the two-day tournament. “I wasn’t 100 percent entering this weekend so I decided not to defend the Open title that I won last year and the Senior Division title was one of the tournaments I hadn’t yet to win in town. That was fun to get off of the list.”
The Clarksville Golf Association will now take a one-week break before resuming play at the Commanding General’s Tournament at Cole Park June 2nd-3rd.
Details for all upcoming tournaments can be found at www.clarksvillegolfassociation.org.
2012 Wendy’s Invitational Results
OPEN DIVISION
Championship Flight
DUSTIN KORTE 70 63 133
BRIAN BALTHROP 68 66 134
TUCKER WALLACE 69 69 138
TYLER GUY 71 67 138
TODD GREENE 69 71 140
BILL SITES 73 69 142
HUNTER RICHARDSON 69 74 143
JUSTIN BURNEY 71 72 143
JEFF CHANDLER 72 72 144
KOREY SMITH 70 75 145
TYLER PHILLIPS 72 74 146
JAMIE SCHACHT 73 74 147
JONATHAN SEWELL 72 81 153
1st Flight
GRAHAM SLEIGH 74 66 140
DON PARSONS 80 66 146
BOBBY YINGLING 75 73 148
DOUG GOLDEN 74 75 149
JAMIE WEBB 75 75 150
ROB CLOUSER 74 76 150
HUNTER RYE 78 72 150
STEVE BLACKWELL 75 76 151
PAYTON WILLIAMS 76 77 153
KELLY HOLLIDAY 74 80 154
JAKE PETERSON 78 76 154
MARK BLACK 78 76 154
CLEVE GUINN 76 79 155
WESTON SARTAIN 77 85 162
CHUCK WALLACE 78 87 165
2nd Flight
WES PARSONS 79 72 151
CHIP TURNER 81 75 156
COLIN WELKER 80 77 157
HOLLY BATEY 82 80 162
ROBERT LANGFORD 90 74 164
TYLER BALL 81 83 164
JUSTIN PAN 84 80 164
FARRELL SWINDELL 83 87 170
PERRY SCACHETTI 83 89 172
MATTHEW RUCKER 84 90 174
RICKY BRISKEY 83 97 180
3rd Flight
ALAN VAILLENCOURT 86 80 166
CHRISTIAN MOORE 87 80 167
HASKELL FINK 88 79 167
JOSH MCWHIRTER 89 82 171
MIKE HYAMS JR 87 86 173
TY KOELKER 85 88 173
JUSTIN SEAY 85 89 174
TIM FITTING 87 89 176
TYLER BRITT 89 90 179
TIM JARRETT 89 90 179
NICK EMERSON 94 88 182
SEAN O’MALLEY 94 91 185
KEVIN KAUFFMAN 100 93 193
JOHN ROMERO 105 92 197
MATTHEW HINTON 116 115 231
SENIOR DIVISION
Championship Flight
GREG GUINN 69 65 134
BRAD VANKIRK 70 69 139
MARCUS SARTAIN 73 71 144
MIKE TAYLOR 71 74 145
MIKE WELKER 75 71 146
RICK RICHARDSON 74 72 146
TOM HARTZ 74 73 147
BOB CARTWRIGHT 77 70 147
BRUCE WALKER 75 73 148
TOMMY SHEARON 73 76 149
JIM BRANNEN 77 73 150
JOHN TOWELL 75 77 152
AARON RYE 77 78 155
TED CROZIER JR 72 84 156
JIM MASHBURN 77 83 160
JEFF CAMPEAU 77 84 161
1st Flight
JOHN IGNACIO 78 73 151
RICHARD ASHBROOK 78 74 152
JEFF WHITLOW 79 74 153
DANNY BARNES 79 75 154
FIERCE OLIVER 80 74 154
HAROLD HENSLEY 78 77 155
RON JACKSON 78 77 155
RONNIE SEAY 80 76 156
TOM EDWARDS 78 80 158
LARRY MCLEOD 79 79 158
BILL WILKINSON 83 77 160
WALTON SMITH JR 82 79 161
DICKY SEAY 84 80 164
RON GRAY 85 79 164
DENNIS KOLB 86 80 166
MIKE O’MALLEY 88 84 172
BOBBY PROCTOR 84 90 174
RON SLEIGH 89 85 174
ERNIE BRIGGS 92 84 176
SAMUEL MAXWELL 89 89 178
WILLIS BRYANT 96 86 182
FRANK FACHILLA 97 98 195