Saturday March 7, 2020
Sky Creek Ranch Golf Club
The DFW Tour's most recent stop on the 2020 Am Tour season was at Sky Creek Ranch Golf Club for the Keller Open on Saturday. Neither the temperature nor the leaderboard ever reached the seventies, as SCR was the clear winner on this occasion. That said, eight individuals were able to garner victory by outlasting their flight competition on a breezy spring day.
After a long layoff to work on her game, Denine Taylor returned to the Tour in style on Saturday in Keller, taking top honors in the Snead flight. Taylor birdied the eighth hole on her way to a 95, which bested Snead flight Race to Nationals leader Marty Simmons by four shots.
The Jones flight was tight through 14 holes Saturday, as Steve Pearson and Pete Partain were neck and neck. After a torrid finish featuring two birdies and two bogeys, Pearson slammed the door for an 88 and his first win of the season. Partain's 95 secured second, and Jeff Ackerman won a scorecard playoff at 100 for the last spot on the podium.
The closest flight was Sr. Sarazen, as Zane Latham and Mike Cox required extra holes to crown a winner. After both shot 90 in regulation, Latham was able to fend off Cox for his first win of the season. A birdie on eight went a long way toward elevating Latham to the top.
The Sarazen flight was awfully close as well on Saturday. Matt Rush found himself one behind Michael Betzale with two difficult holes to play at Sky Creek Ranch. With two clutch closing pars and a 92, Rush earned his first Tour win of the season by three shots over Betzale. Rush's final-nine 43 was also tops in the flight.
83 was the magic number again for Myle Gallemore in the Sr. Hogan flight. After finding victory two weeks ago at Indian Creek with 83, Gallemore posted the same at Sky Creek Ranch and earned his second consecutive win. Playing the last four holes in one under par, Gallemore slammed the door by three over Stephen Lamb and Jalil Daneshfar, with the latter coming out on top of the scorecard playoff.
Only one player birdied the par-three 14th on Saturday, and that deuce was a springboard to Nationals. Rick Houchins earned his third win of 2020 at Sky Creek Ranch, punching his ticket to Sunriver in the process. With a total of 84, Houchins earned the Hogan flight title by four shots over third place finisher Clint Dacy, with Jeff Workman cashing a second consecutive runner-up fnish in between them.
The most consistent player on the course was Scott Harper. Posting matching nines of 40, Harper locked up his second win in as many starts in Palmer flight. After winning a February playoff at The Big Game, Harper had a more comfortable path to victory this time, making two late birdies and winning by six over Tour rookie Adrian Walmsley.
Jose Sanchez traveled a long way to the Keller Open on Saturday, and despite a near disastrous finish, came out on top of the Championship flight competition in this particular road game. The Palm Springs Tour player made eight down the last hole, but it only served to make the final tally look closer than it really was, as his 83 bested Dane McSpain by a shot in the end.