Dave Bates, tournament director of the Romain Buick Senior City Golf Championship, joked with champion John Kaposta that his two-day score of 99 was a new tournament record as scorekeepers posted the number at the Fendrich clubhouse Sunday. The leaders' tee times were pushed back and the final round cut to nine holes after late-morning storms prompted a delay that lasted longer than an hour. With the tournament shortened to 27 holes from 36, the 53-year-old Kaposta shot a 33 on Sunday to finish six strokes ahead of the rest of the field at Fendrich. As he waited for the final scores to come in at the clubhouse, Kaposta said a short day at what marked the tournament's 10th year played to his advantage. "It gives the field less of a chance to make up ground," said Kaposta, the 2008 Senior City Champion and 1984 Men's City Champion. "But you've still got to go out and play a good nine holes to win.
Kaposta received a $600 gift certificate for winning along with the Jerry Schreiber Cup, named after the nine-time Men's City champion who finished with a 116 in this weekend's tournament. The eventual winner distanced himself quickly over the competition Sunday after an opening-round 66 at Helfrich Hills positioned Kaposta a shot ahead of Tim Heath and two ahead of Dave DeLong. "He doesn't really make mistakes. He waits for you to come and make a mistake," said Tim Heath, whose second-round 38 was five strokes off Kaposta's 33. "Everyone had to play up to him today because he was leading, and then we made mistakes." Heath's 105 put him in a three-way tie for second with DeLong and George Nord. Defending champion Robin Rubrecht was fifth with a 106, and Bates, Joe Stellern and Tom Haines all shot 107.
It wasn't until Kaposta sat 1-under after the eighth hole Sunday that he thought a win was a sure thing. "A big part of tournament golf is controlling your emotions," he said. "I was nervous the whole day, and I'm sure everyone else was. It's about being able to play while nervous." George Nord won the Frances Fleming Flight (ages 50-54) by defeating Tim Heath in a two hole playoff. Rubrecht won the Billie Martin Flight (ages 55-59), Bates the Bob Hamilton Flight (ages 60-64), Ed Nicholson the Richie Moore Flight (ages 65-69) and George Green the Ed Wolf Flight (ages 70+) at three over par. The 18-hole course at Fendrich had already been narrowed to nine because recent flooding left some holes unready for tournament play. Players worked through the nine-hole layout once instead of twice after weather again affected the tournament. Bates said the tournament was an overall success — both as someone who was forced to play a shorter round and as a tournament director who had to help make that call. "We had to kind of go on the fly, but we had established a scenario in case this happened," he said. "We thought there might have been additional showers coming, so we couldn't really try to stretch it out to the last element of darkness."
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