Indianapolis’ Bob Stephens was one of only two players to
better par today at Meshingomesia CC during the final round of the IGA Senior
Amateur Championship. Stephens posted a
1-under-par, 71 to finish in a tie for first with Sam Till Jr. of Fort Wayne.
“I hit 17 out 18 greens today and made a couple of putts on
the back nine,” Stephens said. “This is
a tough golf course to make putts on, so luckily that was clicking for me.”
Stephens made a necessary birdie on the par-4, 18th
to force a playoff with Till. The duo
headed to the par-4, 1st, where Stephens was able to make par to
Till’s bogey. Stephens was the 2012 IGA
Senior Player of the Year, and his victory today puts him in position for
another Player of the Year title.
“I haven’t won an IGA event in a long time,” Stephens
said. “Sam is such a great player and I
am lucky everything worked out like it did.
I’m very proud of my win today.
It means a lot.”
In the Super Senior Division, it was past IGA President Larry
Nicolet who captured the title. Nicolet posted
a two day total of 6-over-par, 150 to win by one.
“I trusted my driver off the tee today,” said Nicolet of
Zionsville. “Normally I am one of those
players who throws in a double somewhere, and today I didn’t do that.”
Nicolet has been battling cancer for the past three years
and is thrilled to still be able to compete at this level.
“God gave me another day to play golf with my friends,”
Nicolet said. “My battle has made me a
stronger person and I have learned to relax on the golf course. When someone says cancer, making a three foot
putt doesn’t seem as important or as stressful as it used to be.”
Nicolet was on the IGA Board from ’95 to ’06 and served as
President in ’05. This is his first IGA
win.
“The new Super Senior events are a great addition to Indiana
golf,” Nicolet said. “I want to thank
the IGA for creating this event. It is
pretty awesome to finally beat the guys who have been beating me for the past
30 years!”