Beat goes on for Rory Brown in Bloomington City Golf Super Senior semis
Rory Brown was three up with three holes to go but quickly went from dormie to discomfort as he stood on the 18th tee.
He looked down at the fitness monitor on his left wrist and saw his once resting heartrate of 65 had ballooned to 139. Blame Bob Hasty and his comeback for raising Brown's blood pressure but it figured their semifinal in the Super Senior Championship flight of the City Golf Tournament would come down to the last hole Saturday at Cascades Golf Course.
Brown's didn't miss a beat, however. He's drive was good, while Hasty had to work out of the pines on the right of the fairway. Then Brown closed it out for a 1 up win that advanced him to the 36-hole final on Sunday against Dan Neubecker.
"I was in between clubs," Brown said. "I hit the 54(-degree wedge) and didn't get the bounce and it came up short and it chipped it up there to about 15 inches or so and Bob gave it to me.
"It was a challenge. He was outdriving me pretty far and but it also got him in trouble a couple times, too."
Brown, who won his first Super Senior title last year, was happy to survive and advance, thinking back to a similar match he had lost to Hasty in a previous battle.
"I'm calmed down now," Brown said a half-hour later. "But, you've got to be kidding me. Nothing's ever easy, and he's a (City Golf) hall of famer. I don't think he's been playing as much but his wedge game was pretty good."
Hasty, a Senior semifinalist in his last time in the City Tournament in 2021, carded six birdies on the day to five for Brown. But Brown still managed a 1 up lead at the turn and is now in his fifth City final over the past 13 years.
"I'm just trying to win each match," Brown said of his title defense. "I don't even think about it like that, really."
Neubecker pulls away
Last year, Don Chastain tripped up Dan Neubecker in a 7 over 2 seed upset and was coming off a similar win over Ike Martin. He led Neubecker 1 up at the turn but the Cinderella run ended soon after that.
Neubecker blitzed Chastain with a four-hole run of wins on 10, 11, 12 and 13 go up three and held on for a 3 and 2 victory to send him into the title round for the first time ever in a Championship flight.
"It was kind of like a tale of two nines," Neubecker said. "Don played real well on the front and I played better on the back.
"I've been starting slow this year. All my matches I was down one after the first hole, so I've been able to hang in there and try to come back and fortunately, he had some bad holes to start and I putted well on the back nine."
Credit that to a new flat stick and some work on his game.
"Just working at it, trying to improve in every way you can," Neubecker said. "I changed putters after the Medalist and it took a couple weeks to get used to that, and I'm finally putting good with it this week."
Seniors
Top seeds roar into final
Top seeds Gary EuDaly and Jim Alexander dispensed with any drama in the semifinals of the Senior Championship flight. They saved that for when they were sharing a cart back to the clubhouse after their big wins.
EuDaly, whose fourth Senior title came in 2020, took care of Matt Seifers, 6 and 5 while Alexander, the 2021 winner, handled Mark Chestnutwood, 6 and 4 to move on.
EuDaly led by four at the turn and kept on trucking to end it on 13 with Seifers playing in his first Championship flight semifinal. Alexander continues to be one of the top seniors over the past three years. He led by two after nine before his day was over on 14.
"We've played together a lot," EuDaly said. "We've gone head-to-head in the Medalist. We've gone head-to-head in the City. Heck, he's been my partner on some two-ball events.
"He's a good putter and really good with the wedges. Probably the strength of his game. And he keeps in well in play off the tee."
EuDaly made an early impression on Alexander, who still remembers a critical shot from EuDaly's first year in the City Tournament in 2002. It was during the qualifier and EuDaly was in a three-way playoff for the last qualifying spot.
More: City Golf: Teammates to tangle in Men's championship
"On No. 2, he had a second shot that hit ... he flighted it down and it hit and stopped," Alexander said. "The pin was back left and it stopped. I remember saying, 'That's a great shot. Who is that guy?' It was a great shot, extra holes, under pressure."
"You want to know the rest of the story?" EuDaly asked. "I used to carry a 65-degree wedge. I hit that off a hard pan and that came out at turbo speed. They interviewed me afterward, and I had qualified for the last (then 32nd) position. And I said, 'This just may be a stay of execution.' Because I was facing Troy Gillespie."
Who just happened to be the three-time defending champ at the time. During the two weeks before match play began, the legendary Paul Gates was at the Bloomington Country Club getting EuDaly primed to pull the upset.
More: All-time City Golf champions
"'Gary you can do this, you can do this. Fairways and greens. Fairways and greens,'" EuDaly said. "So I go off for my match and I'm coming up nine and have a nice up and down. Paul walks up, 'How you doing? "I'm 1-over par.' 'Alright, you're in this thing.' I said, 'Paul, he shot 30. I'm six down.'"
BLOOMINGTON CITY GOLF TOURNAMENT
Saturday's results
PHIL TALBOT MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Jason Bannister d. [4] Logan Vernon, 5 and 3
[2] Jace Day d. [6] Drew Todd, 19 holes
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Gary EuDaly d. [4] Matt Seifers, 6 and 5
[2] Jim Alexander d. [6] Mark Chestnutwood, 6 and 4
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Rory Brown d. [5] Bob Hasty, 1 up
[6] Dan Neubecker d. [7] Don Chastain, 3 and 2
MEN'S REGULAR FLIGHTS
First: [1] Daniel Melwid d. [4] Brad Scroggins, 7 and 6; [6] Devin Price-Presslaff d. p2[ Nate Herr, 6 and 5. Second: [5] Matt Newman d. [1] Charles Osborne, 2 and 1; [3] Brad McLaughlin d. [7] Andrew Conder, 6 and 5. Third: [1] Chris Stedman d. [5] Matt Jacobs, 19 holes; [7] Jason Storm d. [3] Nick Zwissler, 1 up. Fourth: [1] Russ Wilkie d. [5] James Richardson, 2 and 1; [3] Eli Prather d. [7] Michael Spangler, 2 and 1. Fifth: p4[ Kyle McWhorter d. [1] Brian Wise, WD; [2] Wyatt Birch d. [3] Inchang Park, 5 and 4.
SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHTS
First: [1] Joe McWhorter d. [5] Mike Vernon, Jr., 7 and 6; [3] Burke Geene d. [2] Robert Milam, forfeit
SUPER SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHTS
First: [4] Steve McDonald d. [8] Doak Henry Sr., WD; [7} George Finley d. [6] John Cantwell, 4 and 3. Second: [8] Gary Walters d. [4] Michael Thomas, 1 up; [7] Jim Shea d. [6] Craig Spanburg, 1 up. Third: [4] Mark Deal d. [1] Steve Englert, 2 and 1; [3] Rand McKamey d. [2] Steve Layman, 2 and 1
JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
[1] Ryan Decker d. [4] Lyle Henry, 7 and 6; [3] Ike Wilkie d. [2] Nash Henry, conceded.
SUNDAY TEE TIMES
PHIL TALBOT MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
7:30 a.m.: [1] Jason Bannister vs. [2] Jace Day, 36 holes
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
7:38: [1] Gary EuDaly vs. [2] Jim Alexander, 36 holes
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
7:46: [1] Rory Brown vs. [6] Dan Neubecker, 36 holes
MEN'S REGULAR FLIGHTS (18 holes)
7:54 (First): [1] Daniel Melwid vs. [6] Devin Price-Presslaff
8:02 (Second): [3] Brad McLaughlin vs. [5] Matt Newman
8:10 (Third): [1] Chris Stedman vs. [7] Jason Storm
8:18 (Fourth): [1] Russ Wilkie vs. [3] Eli Prather
8:26 (Fifth): [2] Wyatt Birch vs. [4] Kyle Whorter
SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHTS
8:34 (First): [1] Joe McWhorter vs. [3] Burke Geene
SUPER SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHTS
8:42 (First): [4] Steve McDonald vs. [7] George Finley
8:50 (Second): [7] Jim Shea vs. [8] Gary Walters
8:58 (Third): [3] Rand McKamey vs. [4] Mark Deal
JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
9:06: [1] Ryan Decker vs. [3] Ike Wilkie
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: City Golf: Beat goes on for Brown in Super Senior semis
