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Pro-Am — The shootout

Published 7/31/2009 in None : Other Sports

By BRETT MARSHALL

bmarshall@gctelegram.com

When a golfer has the head of his favorite putter fall off during a tournament, he will usually fall into a near-panic mode.

But panic didn't set in Thursday at Buffalo Dunes for Jeremy Leaderer, who was able to replace his putter, then went on to fire a 7-under-par 65 to capture the $1,500 first-place professional prize of the Wallace Electric, LLC, Shootout. It was the final preliminary event before today's 30th Annual Southwest Kansas Pro-Am teed off at 7:30 a.m.

"I haven't been putting well lately but the head of my putter simply fell off," Leaderer said of the mishap on his third hole. "I was able to replace it and the one in the trunk that we got was about three inches shorter than the one I was using and I remembered why I had it cut shorter -- it lets me see the line better and I guess it all just worked out."

Rules permit replacement of a broken or damaged club when it occurs during the course of play. In this case, the head fell off when he was putting and the replacement club was allowed. Leaderer was using an Odyssey 2-Ball putter to start and he replaced it with a Ping Craze-E.

"It had been about 18 months since I had last used it," Leaderer said. "I just got into a zone today and it felt great out there."

Leaderer's 65 was one shot better than Mike Zaremba and Clay Ogden each carded 66s. Ogden and Zaremba each netted $625 for their runner-up finish.

Lederer carded seven birdies and didn't register a single bogey the entire round. He had a 34 on the back nine (his first nine), then came back with a 31 on the front nine.

"One of the key putts was making a 10-footer to save par on the sixth hole," Leaderer said. "Other than that, most of my birdies came from shorter to medium distances. I was just in a good mindset all round."

For Zaremba, from Pueblo West, Colo., couldn't have been much better.

"It was just a very good, very solid round," Zaremba said. "I hit the ball in the fairway and didn't really miss any shots. I made a couple of clutch putts. The key was keeping it in play, the rough is U.S. Open-type with all the rain, it's deep and if you're not careful you don't find it out there."

Zaremba, whose birdie putts consisted from three to 12 feet, carded those on holes 2, 5, 7, 14, 15, and 16.

"I'm looking forward to it (Pro-Am)," Zaremba said. "There's two fine golf courses for us to play and the people here are good and friendly."

For Ogden, who is from Farmington, Utah, he reaffirmed the other top players by saying his round came by hitting it straight and keeping it out of the thick rough.

"I only missed one or two fairways, but that's the key here," Ogden said. "I just hit it well and so that's a good way to get yourself started. I hit a lot of good shots."

Ogden had just one birdie, at the par-5 13th, on the back nine before getting his putter rolling on the front where he birdied the first, second, third, fifth and seventh holes. The birdie on the third hole came on a rolling down hill putt from about 25 feet.

"The conditions were just ideal for scoring," Ogden said. "With the greens being a little softer than last year, I think the scores might be lower."

On the amateur side, the team of Bill Decker, Terry Rodgers and Bob Peat paired up with Ogden and produced a winning 44 points in the modified Quota Point System format. On each hole, all players teed off, they took the best drive, then played their own golf ball to completion of the hole. A bogey was worth one point, a par two points, a birdie four points, an eagle 10 points.

Each player's quota was determined by subtracting their USGA Handicap from 36. The total was either plus or minus their quota and it was totaled amongst the three amateurs and the pro.

For a complete guide to the Pro-Am go to www.gctelegram.com/pro-am.

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