Tenth at the Ryan Wells Memorial at Innisbrook

August 16-17, 2008: Playing 6600 yards on two courses at Innisbrook Resort, Gary finished tied for tenth at the Ryan Wells Memorial Tournament at the Island and the North Courses. The tournament is put on by the Ryan Wells Foundation in memory of a young man who was killed in a tragic accident. The awards ceremony was a touching event as Mr. Wells, Ryan's father presented all awards: http://ryanwellsfoundation.com/events.html

The first day was on the Island Course with a rating of 76 and a slope of 141 thus being the toughest course most people ever heard of. On the first day Gary was playing well and conservatively when he put a ball in position on the seventh hole a par five and then came a major downpour. Although no one was playing, he put on the rain suit and hit the second shot into a pond. Bill Newton and I were in the gallery about 75 yards away and we could barely see him in the rain and never did see the ball! He proceeded to take a double bogie and two others to shoot 80. Lee McCoy, a fellow competitor in the Tampa area for eight years shot a great score of 75 to take the lead. On day two Gary thought being four back was not out of the tournament and then proceeded to hit his first shot of the day (a four iron layup on a short par four, ie. a birdie hole) deep into a swamp with the alligators. He took a penalty drop about 170 yards out and in ankle deep Bermuda rough. He hit a great shot (probably an eight iron) out of the rough over the flag to the fringe about 20 feet from the flag and missed the putt-chip for a bogie 5. His fellow competitor Dustin Dingus birdied the hole and within six holes Gary had made three more bogies to go four over and Dustin made two more birdies to go three under for a seven shot difference. It didn't look good. However, by the 16th hole Gary had birdied two holes and parred all the rest to get to two over for the day. The last hole (number five) is a birdie hole with an island green, but Gary hit his tee shot behind a tree and had to punch out. He then hit a great wedge to eight feet, but missed the par put to shoot three over 73 and lose to Dustin by one shot on the day. It was a nice comeback, but not enough as tenth place was "out of the money." So we went home empty handed. Lee McCoy shot a 72 and won the tournament--some fine golf on tough courses.

Here are the official results:
http://golf.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=golf&cdn=sports&tm=41&f=10&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.juniorgolfscoreboard.com/