Bolt thunders to Open title
BHS graduate clips Conley by one stroke
CHAD BOLT |
By Matt Hammond
Examiner Sports Editor
Chad Bolt's return to the Bellefontaine Examiner Logan
County Open was a major contrast from his first experience in the tournament.
Bolt shot a three-round 239 and finished 14th in the
1999 county tourney before embarking on a stint as a club professional.
He recently regained his amateur status and returned to the Open this
year.
This time, the 1994 Bellefontaine High School graduate
showed he has come a long way since 1999 by carding a 216 to win the 2004
Open title by one shot over tournament veteran Chris Conley.
Bolt, who entered the final round one shot behind leader
Ben Schwaderer, shot a 74 in gusty conditions Saturday at Tree Links.
"It means a lot to me to come back here and win," said
Bolt, who is a member of Liberty Hills Golf Club and resides in Hilliard.
"There are a lot of quality golfers here. It's probably one of the better
counties in the state in terms of quality of golfers."
Bolt's 216 is the second-best total in the 11-year history
of the Open. Only Schwaderer's 214 in 2001 has been better than Bolt's
effort.
CHRIS CONLEY |
"I hit the ball in the middle," said Bolt of his final
round. "I didn't lose any balls. That was my goal. With the wind the way
it was, I knew it would be a tough round of golf."
Conley finished with a 217, while Shawn Bechtel was
third at 222. Ken Day took fourth (223) and Schwaderer had to settle for
fifth with a 224 after a final round 83.
It was another near miss for Conley. He now has five
top-three finishes, but has yet to taste victory.
"I'm happy," said Conley. "Most years that score would
be good enough to win.
"My game plan was to have no double-bogeys. I accomplished
that, but I expected to make some birdies and I didn't have any."
Bolt and Conley, who also started the final round one
stroke off the lead, put themselves to the front after strong front nines
Saturday.
With Schwaderer struggling to a 42 on the front nine,
Bolt shot 36 and Conley carded a 37. That enabled Bolt to head to the
back nine with a one shot lead on Conley and a three shot advantage over
Bechtel and Troy Wilson.
Neither Bechtel nor Wilson was able to make a serious
threat over the final nine holes and the championship turned into a two-man
battle between Bolt and Conley.
Conley gained a stroke on Bolt over the first six holes
on the back side and the two golfers were tied going into the par-5 16th
hole.
Both golfers had similar putts for birdie attempts on
the 16th. Bolt made his, but Conley's came up about two inches short.
"I needed about one more roll," said Conley.
Bolt took a one shot lead to the 17th, where he put
himself in a tricky position by hitting his tee shot into the trees along
the right side of the fairway.
However, he managed to chip through the wooded area
and landed on the front corner of the green.
"I got lucky there on 17," said Bolt.
Bolt ended with a par on the hole and took his one-shot
cushion over Conley, who also parred 17, to the final hole.
After both golfers struck sterling tee shots down the
middle of the 18th fairway, Conley appeared to get a momentary break.
Conley hit a solid second shot that he kept in the fairway
about 50 yards from the green. On Bolt's second shot, he got on top of
the ball and hit a low liner into the rough on the left side of the fairway.
"Every once in awhile I roll my hands over like that,"
said Bolt. "But any time you hit a bad shot, you don't worry about it.
I just laughed it off and hit the next one."
Both golfers put their third shots on the green, leaving
themselves long par putts.
Conley had a chance to force a playoff, but just missed
his 18-footer. Bolt safely two-putted to finish off Conley and claim the
$500 first-place prize.
Despite another close defeat, Conley said his hopes
of winning the tournament will not be diminished.
"I'll keep giving it a shot," said Conley.
Jay Knight shot a final-round 75 to win the A Flight
with a 225.
Other flight champions included Mike Louden (231) in
B, 2003 tourney champ Gary Davis (233) in C, Jim Vermillion (247) in D,
Mike Dinovo (259) in E, Tom Bodi (258) in F, Gary Kerns (256) in G and
Scott Severt (270) in H.
2004 LOGAN COUNTY OPEN
Here are the final results for the 2004 Logan County
Open. All winners were awarded Logan County Area Chamber Choice Certificates.
(* < denotes won playoff; # < took tie breaker)
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
Chad Bolt $500 70-72-74 < 216
Chris Conley $400 71-71-75 < 217
Shawn Bechtel $380 73-70-79 < 222
Ken Day $300 75-72-76 < 223
Ben Schwaderer# $200 68-73-83 < 224
Troy Wilson 76-70-78 < 224
Brian Conley 76-69-81 < 226
Tim Peck 74-73-83 < 230
Nick Sieg 77-71-83 < 231
A FLIGHT
Jay Knight $220 74-76-75 < 225
Dave Linville $180 78-71-79 < 228
Mike Vetorino $140 76-74-79 < 229
Tony Drain 73-79-78 < 230
Michael Strayer 77-75-80 < 232
Scott Robinson 76-75-82 < 233
Matt Strayer# 77-74-84 < 235
Gary Downing 73-79-83 < 235
Josh Smith 79-72-89 < 240
B FLIGHT
Mike Louden $200 74-79-78 < 231
Denny Lane $140 76-77-85 < 238
Keith Jackson $100 74-82-83 < 239
Greg McClellan 81-73-86 < 240
Max Bixler 81-75-86 < 242
Rick Nolan# 76-78-90 < 244
Jeff Goings 81-76-87 < 244
Rob Louden 79-78-98 < 255
Zach Wischmeyer 80-77-88 < 245
Dave Lyons 78-79-WD
C FLIGHT
Gary Davis $180 77-81-75 < 233
Brian Bates $120 78-83-80 < 241
Rush Eichholtz $80 76-82-84 < 242
Kevin Armstrong 80-78-88 < 246
Mike Conley 79-81-87 < 247
Latrell Clark# 80-79-90 < 249
Alan Southard 78-81-90 < 249
Ken Jenkins 75-85-91 < 251
Mitch Lingrell 81-80-91 < 252
Mike Norviel 78-81-99 < 258
D FLIGHT
Jim Vermillion $160 81-82-84 < 247
Aaron Lightle $100 81-84-84 < 249
Russ Hogue $60 82-80-88 < 250
J.J. Kratzenberg 82-81-88 < 251
Doug Rutan# 85-81-86 < 252
Cliff May 83-80-89 < 252
Scott Sebring# 81-84-89 < 254
Bill Appel 81-82-91 < 254
Ed Heminger 86-77-92 < 255
E FLIGHT
Mike Dinovo* $160 86-83-84 < 253
Darwin Mabra $100 87-81-85 < 253
Darrin Leichty# $60 87-82-87 < 256
John Anderson 88-83-85 < 256
Jerry Norris 87-83-87 < 257
Greg Moore 84-86-88 < 258
Justin Dinovo 88-82-89 < 259
Steve Rice 80-88-95 < 263
Jessie Haley# 87-82-95 < 264
Justin Miller 81-90-93 < 264
Kale Stemble 87-85-93 < 265
Chris Bailey 84-87-95 < 266
F FLIGHT
Tom Bodi $160 94-79-85 < 258
Steve Zirkle $100 86-90-83 < 176
Don Hensley $60 87-87-86 < 260
Larry Lattimer# 89-85-88 < 262
Justin Warner 83-91-88 < 262
Bill Haley 84-92-91 < 267
Jim Mason 83-92-93 < 268
John Early 85-92-96 < 273 Tedd Lannert 84-93-99 < 276
G FLIGHT
Gary Kerns $160 89-89-78 < 256
Bob Hughes $100 90-90-88 < 268
Jim Stoodt# $60 88-91-90 < 269
Jay MacDonald 97-82-90 < 269
Shawn Fuerst 90-88-95 < 273
Keith LeVan# 88-90-97 < 275
Chris Louden 91-90-94 < 275
Tom Cooksey 89-91-97 < 277
Allan Kerns 95-83-103 < 281
H FLIGHT
Scott Severt $160 90-94-86 < 270
Ryan Nolan $100 100-87-84 < 271
Daren Titus $60 92-91-91 < 274
Darin Vermillion 98-86-92 < 276
Chad Perk 95-88-95 < 278
Bob Wilson 96-89-94 < 279
Gary Thomas 91-98-93 < 282
Corey Van Hoose 92-93-99 < 284
Tony Brown 100-88-100 < 288
Roy Shawver 93-90-106 < 289
Bob Chapman 99-87-106 < 292
Rex McCullough 100-89-103 < 292
Ed Douglas 92-95-DQ
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