The World golfers Amateur tour held its first Open in Plymouth, Indiana at the Swan Lake Resort June 30th and July 1st. 10 States were represented by players from Illinois to Florida and NY to Arizona all playing to earn an exemption to the USA National Championship and National Order of Merit points to earn the 6th spot on Team USA.
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| Bruce Gallo Illinois |
The forecast for the event was expected to be hot with temperatures reaching well into the 100’s. Unexpectedly, Friday afternoon a Tornado whipped through dropping the temperature over 30 degrees within minutes, knocking over trees and taking out the power for over 8 hours. As a result, the groundskeepers scrambled to clear the fallen trees in time for the 10:00am start on Saturday. The temperature was a comfortable 80 to 85 degrees with a pleasant breeze.
With perfect conditions and only a slight wind on the Silver course, considered the easier of the two at Swan Lake Resort was there for the taking and the players did just that. David Small from St. Louis, MO jumped out to a quick start recording a net birdie on the first 6 holes. Small finished the front nine at -6 with Jerry Edwards from Louisville, KY two stokes back at net -4. Mark Wanke from San Antonio, TX owned the back nine shooting 6 under par and storming past the field. After day one, Wanke found himself with a 7 stroke lead at net -8 over Edwards who was at -1 and five players tied for third at net even par. Wanke noted “Once I figured out this northern grass and the bent greens all my putts just started falling for me, to win I will just need to keep doing what I am doing and hopefully it will all work out”.
The final round was held on the Signature Black course at Swan Lake Resort. This course presents a completely different challenge for players and in amateur golf anything can happen. There was a sense that the WGAT Open was already won and the final round was simply a formality, but what transpired was exactly the opposite and the par five 36 hole proved to be the difference for all.
Wanke started of nicely on the first two holes holding his lead but after a triple bogie on three he opened the door and started to give hope to the field. Bruce Gallow who started 8 strokes back was net -1 under through three to move into 2nd place 4 strokes back. Wanke then went net +3 over the next 7 holes to find himself in a tie with Edwards at -2. After 10 holes there was now a log jam a top the leaderboard with 6 players all with in two strokes.
Rick Lopiccolo from New York made his move with net birdies on 12 and 13 to take sole possession of the lead at -2 but gave one back to the field on the par 3 16th with a net Bogie. With two holes remaining, Lopiccolo and Edwards were tied at -1, Mike Aybar from Miami, Florida, was in third place at even par after a monster comeback going net -5 on the last five holes and Gallow trailed by two at net +1. On the 17th, Edwards bogies while Aybar continues his birdie steak to move into a tie with Lopiccolo at -1 while Gallow remained 2 back at +1.
With the WGAT Open in Aybar’s reach he records a net double bogie to go +1 while Gallow records a net birdie to move to even par and found himself as the leader in the clubhouse. With Lopiccolo and Edwards on the 18th tee, Lopiccollo records a bogie to move into a tie with Gallow and Edwards at even par. Edwards left with a three footer to force a three way playoff missed the putt putting him in a tie for third place with Aybar at net +1.
In the sudden death playoff Gallow took care of business on the first hole shooting par to Lopicccolo’s bogie. Gallows Victory earned him an exemption to the USA National Championship with no entry fee and 600 National Order of Merit points. This puts him in first place in the standings surpassing current leader and WGAT Masters Champion Shauna Federico. Gallo in a post round interview noted he most likely will not be able to attend the last two majors. With the WGAT Players Championship rewarding 700 points for first and the WGAT Tour Championship rewarding 800 points for first place Gallows leading 850 points most likely will not hold up leaving the race wide open for the 6 available spot on Team USA. The other 5 spots will be rewarded to the Flight winners at the National Championship in September.
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