Thanks to some great play, some solid help from partner Dave Pulk, and perhaps some senior tee locations that were a bit more generous at Rosemont than they should have been (controversy!), Jim Cea takes the first big lead in the 2011 Chippewa League Standings.
But the red-hot duo of Mike Simpson and Jim Krivanek are right on Cea’s heels.
Except for a few slight changes, the hole locations were left in the ‘Championship’ locations for Monday’s back-nine scramble in the Chippewa Scratch League.
Sure, a couple of them were eased slightly and the tees at 18 were moved up to their normal tee box, but the greens were still very firm and fast, and much of the setup still had putts falling away to nowhere.
But that didn’t stop the Mike Simpson / Jim Krivanek train.
Just off the front of the first green with a solid tee shot, Chris Okeson had a short little chip from the left grass bunker. He hit it just a tiny bit skinny and it took off hot. No worries: the ball hit the middle of the flagstick, scooted up in the air, dropped down by the edge of the hole, then fell in for eagle-2. And with that bit of good fortune, Okeson and partner Rob Schustrich were off to the races.
Jim Cea put his name at the top of the 2011 Chippewa Scratch League Standings this week.
Partnering with Ron Bell on Monday, the pair posted a 4-under par score of 32 on the back nine in the better ball format to nip Tom Markham and Dave Trier by a single shot.
Dave Oates holed out his second shot on the par-4 ninth hole to push him and teammate Sam Spino to 6-under par 29 in the Chippewa Scratch League’s front nine scramble on Monday.
And it still wasn’t good enough for the outright win.
