By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
Although Sunday morning’s weather was troublesome, the Lake Monticello Men’s Member-Guest tournament ultimately was completed as scheduled on June 11. Heavy rain caused the start time on Sunday to be moved from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., but by the end of two rounds of nine holes, the weather was excellent. The Member-Guest this year was played on a net score only basis
The team of Kyle Gravitt and Donald Gravitt won the first flight, labeled the Augusta flight, easily with 32 ½ points out of a possible 50, which put them in the shoot-out for the championship. They won the shoot-out quickly and went home with very impressive glass trophies. This was the Gravitt’s second win at the Lake Monticello men’s Member-Guest. They previously triumphed in 2018. This year, the Gravitts established a solid three-point lead over their closest competitors during the twenty-seven holes played on Saturday and upped their lead to six and a half points on Sunday. Second place in their flight went to the team of James Beach and Jim Forkovitch.
The winning team in the second flight of the tournament, the St. Andrews flight, was Mike Mundell and Andrew Mundell, with 33 points. They also established a solid lead on Saturday, leading their flight by four points after 27 holes. They also built their final lead to six and a half points on Sunday. Second place in St. Andrews went to the team of John Roeder and Tom Stafford who came in with 26 ½ points
The third flight in the tournament was the Southern Hills flight. The winners in this flight were Alan Stewart and Derek Stewart. They built a virtually insurmountable six-point lead on Saturday and coasted home to a four and a half point final lead over the team of Mitchell Moon and Jason Moon. The Stewarts recorded 34 ½ points while the Moons accumulated 30.
In the fourth fight, labeled the Country Club flight, The winning team of Chris Farris and Patrick Farris ran away from the competition. They accumulated 23 out of a possible thirty points on Saturday. They won easily, by six points. Second place in the flight went to the team of Ted Moser and Rick Quintero.
The Quail Hollow, fifth flight, was the only one where the contest for flight champion went down to the wire. After Saturday’s play, the team of L. David Sipe and Bob Weber was tied for last place in the flight. However, an impressive showing on Sunday vaulted them from last in the flight to first. They scored seven points in both ten-point matches on Sunday. With a total of fifty points in play the average score would be 25. In all the other flights, the winning team recorded 32 ½ to 34 ½. The Quail Hollow flight was so closely contested that the winning score was 28. Second place in the flight went to the team of Gene Brady and Steve Kambourian. Flight winners and flight runners-up received trophies.
The Member-Guest tournament at the Lake Monticello golf course is always a friendly event with many teams consisting of family members, as can be seen from the successful teams noted above. Course conditions were excellent this year, and aside from the rain delay on Sunday morning the weather cooperated again.
