With an impressive 7-under 30 on the back nine and the
tournament’s low round of 66, Sam Till won his Senior Amateur division of the
Pepsi Indiana Golf Championships by a clear lead of three shots at Broadmoor CC
Tuesday. His two bogeys on the front were negated when he eagled the par-5, 12th
hole following a birdie at the par-3 11th. “I made eagle and still
couldn’t get the honors on the tee!” joked Larry Nicolet, who was paired with
Till. Till explained that he was able to hit everything close all day long,
hardly leaving himself any difficult putts for birdie or par.
The next best score overall was a 68 by PGA Professional
Fred Mattingly, who won his PGA division. And Bill Schumaker took the Senior
PGA division with a 71.
The only division that called for a playoff to decide the
champion was the IGA Amateurs. Brett Widner and Joe Mahurin both fired rounds
of 71. Back at the first tee for the playoff, Widner striped his drive down the
middle of the fairway, while Mahurin pulled his a little left into the rough.
Widner stuck his approach to 8-feet past the hole on the green, but Mahurin had
a tough shot at the green and missed short left. Despite a great chip to a mere
foot, Widner made his birdie putt and celebrated his first IGA-PGA win ever.
“I’ve been playing really, really well lately,” he explained. “I’m very happy.”
And he has been playing well – he has finished runner-up in three recent IGA
events: the McDonald’s Series #3 and #4 and the IGA Team.
The Pepsi Golf Championships is an invitational for the highest
point winners from the current IGA-PGA season. Monday’s round was rained out
and the championship was shortened to 18 holes.
See complete results here.