94th annual Bloomington City Golf Tourney: What you need to know
It's hot. It's July, which means it's time for the 94th annual City Golf Tournament at Cascades.
Action tees off Saturday and again Sunday at 7:30 a.m., and will pick up again next weekend.
Here's what you need to know going into this year's competition, which will include 116 area golfers:
Matches to watch
First day, the 8-9s all have a real toss-up look to them with Charles Osborne taking on 2018 champ Brian Muehlhaus in the Men's division; Lance Ringler vs. Chuck Vernon in the Seniors and George Finley vs. Robin Harper in Super Seniors.
Elsewhere in the Men's the 7:50 group features two big hitters in No. 7 Mitch Oard, a three-time champ, and North boys' coach Harrison Carmichael.
More: Year after year, Oard keeps his edge in City Tourney
At 7:40, 2020 champ Nick Burris will take on 2019 semifinalist and former two-time junior champ Sam Wise, whose second round of qualifying was a 72 that featured five birdies and an eagle.
But if the seeds hold, Day 2 could bring tasty matchups between No. 4 Jason Bannister, one of the top golfers for the University of Southern Indiana, and 2020 champ Nick Burris.
The Senior field feels like a toss up outside of Alexander and three-time champ Gary EuDaly, the No. 2 seed. They are the only former Senior champs among the 16.
If Finley, at 80 who continues to have no problem shooting his age, can pull out a win, he'll likely end up with a rematch from last year's quarters with Martin. Perhaps the odds are just catching up with the long time tourney veterans, who had seldom crossed paths in tourney plays for many years.
In the Super Seniors, Dan Neubecker looks like a tough out in the lower part of the bracket. No. 3 Rory Brown did end his qualifier with a 68, but he will have to get by three-time champ Rick Miracle and then possibly another in Ron Shiflet, to have a chance to play Neubecker.
Defending their titles
Champions back are Jace Day (Men's), Jim Alexander (Seniors) and Ike Martin (Super Seniors).
2021 City Golf: Jace Day pulls away for Bloomington city golf title
The last repeat winners were Oard (2012-13) in the Men's; Bob Hasty in the Seniors (2012-13), and Rick Miracle in the Super Seniors (2018-19).
Last year, Day beat Burris 4 and 3; Alexander topped Steve Hinds 2 and 1 and Martin beat Bill Pfrommer 5 and 4.
Young man's game?
At 37, Doak Henry Jr. is the 'old guy' in the top four seeds, with three current college golfers Jace Day and Jason Bannister of USI and Logan Vernon of St. Mary of the Woods. No. 5 Nick Burris is just finishing up grad school, No. 6 Brad McLaughlin isn't quite 30 and No. 7 Mitch Oard is all of 31.
That said, Henry is the only player having made it to the semifinals the past three years.
V vs. V
A rematch of the 2018 semifinals is on tap at 9:10 with the pairing of brothers Mike and Robbie Vernon. Mike had ruled the roost but saw Robbie, an eighth seed, pull off the 2 and 1 upset.
2108 tourney: Robbie beats big brother in battle of Vernons
There are four Vernon's in Championship flight play again this year, with Mike's grandson Logan in the men's and brother Chuck in the Seniors.
No women, juniors
Surprisingly, for the first time since 1952, there will be no Junior competition in the City Tournament.
The Women's bracket will also go unfilled for the third time in the past four years.
The City Tournament requires a minimum of four players to create a bracket and only a couple younger pre-high school players had committed.
Two of the high schoolers who entered, Petre Lee and Simon Deliyannis of Bloomington North, competed in the Men's division.
Greens fee
Cascades will present a bit of a makeover this year, with the new zoysia fairways maturing, taller heather to catch wayward shots and maybe some new pin placements.
"It's in non-essential areas," Cascades club pro Aaron Craig said. "But some are in play so if you hit a bad shot, there's no easy out. So you get rewarded for a better shot."
The lack of rain has left some hard pan but the fairways themselves are withstanding the drought. Cascades needs to water them just once or twice a week. The former grass needed a drink as much as twice a day.
Expanding the greens on the Quarry and Pine layouts has given Craig and his staff more options in where place the 4¼-inch cup everyone is shooting for. The players got a taste of it two weeks ago in the qualifier.
"It's helped with some different pin locations a ton," Craig said. "Some of them they've never seen or couldn't remember the last time they did, which is great."
Depending on how heavy the course is begin used, cup locations will be changed three to six times a week not only to provide variety but also to even out the wear and tear on the greens.
The tournament will see different hole locations on every green all four rounds.
"During a tournament, we try to have six easy, six medium and six hard locations," Craig said.
The deceptive par 3 ninth is one place where he can get a lot more creative as most players look to keep their ball below the hole to avoid downhill putts.
"The expansion has added a few locations that can be on the challenging side," Craig said. "It's already a difficult hole, but now we can put it a little more to the left or the right which brings the bunkers into play."
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
CITY GOLF TOURNAMENT
SATURDAY'S TEE TIMES
PHIL TALBOT MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
7:30 a.m.: [1] Jace Day vs. [16] Justin Fox; [8] Charles Osborne vs. [9] Brian Muehlhaus
7:40: [4] Jason Bannister vs. [13] Tyler Jordan; [5] Nick Burris vs. [12] Sam Wise
7:50: [2] Doak Henry vs. [15] Chad Osborne; [7] Mitch Oard vs. [10] Harrison Carmichael
8:00: [3] Logan Vernon vs. [14] Matt Newman; [6] Brad McLaughlin vs. [11] Darren Fuller
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
8:10: [1] Jim Alexander vs. [16] Brett Daniels; [8] Lance Ringler vs. [9] Chuck Vernon
8:20: [4] Todd May vs. [13] Gary Walls; [5] Tim Gillespie vs. [12] John Kaser
8:30: [2] Gary EuDaly vs. [15] Gary Blackwell; [7] Brad Leach vs. [10] Charles Combs
8:40: [3] Mark Chestnutwood vs [14] Ross Grimes; [6] Matt Till vs. [11] Steve Sims
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
9:00: [1] Ike Martin vs. [16] Fred Cooksey; [8] George Finley vs. [9] Robin Harper
9:10: [4] Mike Vernon vs. [13] Rob Vernon; [5] Jeff Smith vs. [12] Dick Meacham
9:20: [2] Dan Neubecker vs. [15] John Cantwell; [7] Don Chastain vs. [10] Dave Devitt
9:30: [3] Rory Brown vs. [14] Rick Miracle; [6] Ron Shiflet vs. [11] Joe Beane
SENIOR REGULAR
First flight
9:40: [1] Burke Geene vs. [8] Matthew Grubb; [4] Craig Spanburg vs. [5] Constantine Deliyannis
9:50: [2] Brian Wilson vs. [7] Dan Smith; [3] Joe Davis vs. [6] Benjamin Brown
Second flight
10:10: [1] Drew Antilla, bye; [4] Jan Bond vs. [5] Rick Scherer
10:20: [2] JD Cowden vs. [7] Paul Scank; [3] KwangRok Kim vs. [6] Ramesh Venkataraman
SUPER SENIOR REGULAR
First flight
10:30: [1] Steve McDonald vs. [8] Steve Layman; [4] Rand McKamey vs. [5] Doak Henry Sr.
10:40: [2] Kirby Gann vs. [7] Tom Dukes; [3] Marty Hutsell vs. [6] Sam Jantaraweragul
Second flight
10:50: [4] Steve Englert vs. [5] Mark Deal; [3] Ron Rodda vs. [6] Lou Watkins
Byes: [1] Gary Walters; [2] Charlie Gill
SUNDAY'S TEE TIMES
PHIL TALBOT MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
7:30-7:40 a.m.: Quarterfinals
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
7:50-8:00: Quarterfinals
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
8:10-8:20: Quarterfinals
MEN'S REGULAR
First flight
8:30: [1] Seth Stanik vs. [8] Chris Stedman; [4] Petre Lee vs. [5] George Adams
8:40: [2] Simon Deliyannis vs. [7] Cameron Cochren; [3] Cole Trueblood vs. [6] Matt Jacobs
Second flight
8:50: [1] Darin Woodley vs. [8] Brad Scroggins; [4] Nate Herr vs. [5] Jeremy Wise
9:00: [2] Robert Wise vs. [7] Kevin Gallagher. [3] Dillon Donovan vs. [6] Justin Stacks
Third flight
9:20: [1] Ryan Belcher vs. [8] Jason Storm; [4] Hunter Desilets vs. [5] Jordan Santa
9:30: [2] Cole Parker vs. [7] Bobby Duvall; [3] Jozey Hill vs. [6] Dominic Santarossa
Fourth flight
9:40: [1] Young Oh vs. [8] James Richardson; [4] Anthony Willis vs. [5] Jae Ho Choi
9:50: [2] Nick Zwissler vs. [7] Bryan Rafano; [3] Brian Wise vs. [6] Matthew Wilson
Fifth flight
10:00: [1] Joe McWhorter Jr., bye; [4] Mac Biever vs. [5] Chuck Breslin
10:10: [2] Wayne Thacker vs. [7] Jim Bothwell; [3] Ichang Park vs. [6] Kevin Greve
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 94th annual Bloomington City Golf Tourney: What you need to know
