Arlene, Davis win Old Capital

The big story at the 44th annual Old Capital Invitational golf tournament wasn’t a hole-in-one (there was one), a first-time winner (there was one of those, too) or how two new holes played under tournament conditions.
No, the story was a tropical storm named Arlene.
Arlene had traveled hundreds of miles in her short, three-day life. She wasted no time in making her mark wherever she went, leaving those she impacted cursing her name and cleaning up her mess.
And it was because of her ‘ and the overwhelming amount of rain that she packed ‘ that the Old Capital was trimmed to an 18-hole event for the final two flights, a 27-hole journey for the second through fifth flights, and a 36-hole adventure for flights six through eight.
Neal Davis, a transplant from Louisville who now lives near Lanesville, shot a 68 in a round that stretched from Saturday to early Sunday morning. With the final day washed out with only seven holes completed, the tournament reverted to first-round scores, giving Davis the three-stroke victory.
Davis was the fourth first-time champion in the past five years.
‘I hit all 18 greens in my first round and got four of the putts to fall,’ Davis said. ‘That was pretty much it.’
Davis got 15 holes in on Saturday before play was halted due to ‘ what else? ‘ rain.
He woke up bright and early at 4:30 Sunday morning to complete his first round, marking par on No. 16, a birdie on No. 17 and another par on 18.
The birdie on No. 17 went with other red numbers on Nos. 1, 11 and 14.
‘I was just trying to shoot the ball in the fairways like I always try to do,’ Davis said. ‘If you can do that and leave yourself in the right spot on your approach, you can score here. I was doing that all day yesterday.
‘I had a tough putt on No. 9 and made a good two-putt there, but outside of that, I was in pretty good shape on every green.’
Through seven holes on Sunday, Davis saw his lead whittled to two. It was while his group was on its way to the tee box on the eighth hole that the rain became its heaviest.
After retreating to the clubhouse and waiting for the seemingly never-ending rain to slow, Davis was declared the winner.
‘There’s just no way we can get the rest of the tournament in,’ club pro Troy Newport said to the players in the clubhouse. ‘It’s on the rule sheet how we do things, guys.’
‘I hated to win like that and would have rather to have gone on and finished,’ Davis said.
Shooting 71s and being placed via a card playoff, Tim Pavey was second, Jon Mathes was third, Jason White fourth, Chad (Smoothie) Miller fifth, and Phil Denziger sixth.
Finishing in the money in the top eight were past champion Brent Miller and Josh Thompson.
For the second time in just three weeks, Alan Hess of Corydon recorded a hole-in-one at the Old Capital Golf Club.
Playing in the first round of the Old Capital Invitational on Saturday, Hess aced the seventh hole with a four-iron from about 165 yards.
Hess was playing in a foursome with Ron Meriwether, John Daily and Don Gossman. It’s the fifth time he’s hit a hole-in-one and the fourth time in a little less than four years.
Due to the unusual format of the finish, the list of results below only includes the top eight finishers in each flight. A complete list of results will be listed in the coming days on the web at www.oldcapitalgolf.com
The tie-breaker method used was the back nine total, then the last six-hole total, then the last three-hole total and then hole No. 18.
44th annual Old Capital Invitational
at Old Capital Golf Club (par-72)
Championship Flight (18 holes)
Neal Davis 68
Tim Pavey 71
Jon Mathes 71
Jason White 71
Chad Miller 71
Phil Denziger 71
Josh Thompson 71
First Flight (18 holes)
Mitch Metzinger 74
Robert Glordan 74
Mark Day 74
Kris Hobbs 74
Mike Ford 74
Bobby Burgan 74
Kevin Evans 74
Jim Richardson 74
Second Flight (27 holes)
Larry Harmon 112
Ryan Britt 115
Alan Reed 116
Darin Ward 117
David Leuthart 117
Steve Humphries 118
Rob Higdon 119
Steve Stearns 120
Third Flight (27 holes)
Robert Morris 118
Bill Thomas 120
Josh Pruett 121
Scott Schmitt 122
Bob Burgan 122
Terry Senior 122
Scott Striegel 123
Thomas Butt 124
Fourth Flight (27 holes)
Travis McIntosh 121
Larry Pendleton 122
David Smith 123
Erik Davis 124
Roger Miller 124
John Werner 125
Richard Timberlake 126
Tim Coffman 127
Fifth Flight (27 holes)
Darryl Evans 126
Jeffery Shaffer 127
Jerred Wolfe 127
Thomas Chapman 128
Bob Barringer 128
Philip Bennett 131
Jeff Dye 131
Tim Collins 132
Sixth Flight (36 holes)
L.C. Nash 175
Mike Martin 178
Paul Davenport 179
Dustin Crawhorn 179
Scott Dunaway 180
Ken Bickett 181
John Taylor 182
Charles Braun 183
Seventh Flight (36 holes)
Todd Griffin 185
Nevin Ledford 187
Dean Stout 189
Butch Sadler 191
Gilbert Bezy 194
Brian Doutaz 194
Jerry Bartram 194
Louis York 196
Eighth Flight (36 holes)
Tom McNeal 201
Ed Pendleton 204
Jerry Thompson 206
Drew Apple 206
Bill Coleman 210
Bill Mills 210
Terry Walts 213
Byron Ayers 216