TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The annual SCGA Tournament of Club Champions (38th edition) was recently completed in six flights of play on four golf courses in the Palm Springs area. Locally, we didn’t have anyone win or earn a top- five finish to receive one of the coveted silver platters, but we did have a few competitors.

Here is a summary of those that competed and each had to be a winner of their own club’s championship to be eligible.

In the Championship Flight at Silver Rock Resort, Bill Frankhouser, Jr., was the top local player with a 79 and a tie for 52nd while Chris Wieland from Horse Thief GC was 77th with an 82. The winner was Joe Ryon from the Taylor Made/Adidas GC in a two hole playoff over Craig Calkins from the Hacienda GC after both players shot 2-under 70s. Three players tied at 1-under 71 for the top 5.

In the Seniors Division at Bermuda Dunes CC, Stockdale Country Club’s Dave Westerfeld was the lowest local player with an 80, good for equal 48th while John Sayre from the Kern Valley Men’s Club was equal 90th. Jung Kim from Antelope Valley CC was the winner at 4-under 68 and it took a 73 for a top five.

In the net flights, Julian Williamson from BCC was the only local player at the Classic Club for the Bobby Jones Flight. Williamson shot 77 and was tied for 20th. Igor Suvorov of the JAG Group GC won with a net 1-under 71 and it took a score of 73 for a top five. We had no local players in the Jack Nicklaus Flight.

At the Indian Wells Resort (Players Course), Casey Reed from Stockdale CC was the lone local player and he was 35th with an 85. It took a net score of 72 for a top 5 and the winner was Tim Kozick from the Nauti Nine GC with a net 65.

Father/Son (Daughter) Challenge

The 15th Father/Son Challenge, sponsored by PNC will be played Saturday and Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. The 18-team field will consist of former and current PGA Tour players and either their son, daughter or other family member in a scramble format.

The likes of Jack Nicklaus (son Gary), Arnold Palmer (grandson Will Wears), Lee Trevino (son Daniel) and Fuzzy Zoeller (daughter Gretchen) will be competing along with 14 other famous players. NBC will air the tournament both days starting at 3 p.m. and The Golf Channel will show a replay at 8:30.

Skills Challenge

The TYCO Golf Skills Challenge will be Dec.29-30  at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla. This event will pit four, two-player teams, five of whom played in the Ryder Cup Matches this year.

The teams consist of Justin Rose/Peter Hanson, Mark O’Meara/Nick Price, Dustin Johnson/Keegan Bradley and Jach Johnson/Kyle Stanley.

The players will compete in six skills challenges – Long Drive, Mid-Iron Shot, Bunker Shot, Chip Shot, Trouble Shot and Short-Iron Shot and then they will play in a Reverse Scramble in which they will play their worst shot of the two until they hole out. That’s always a fun one!

NBC will air both days of competition from 4-6 p.m.

SCGA selling PGA Tour Tournament tickets

You can get your advanced tickets to the Northern Trust Open at Riviera CC Feb.14-17 or the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines GC Jan.24-27, thru the SCGA and receive a special bonus.

All ticket purchasers will receive a Calloway Gift Card equal to the price of their ticket purchased with the SCGA receiving a bit of the revenue.

Tickets are $20 for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and $30-$295 at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera. This is a great way to get your tickets in advance, help out the SCGA and get a few bucks to spend on Calloway stuff! Log onto the SCGA.org to find out how.

Chip shots

Tee to Green has received a few e-mails wondering if there is going to be another “Performance of the Year” award. Unfortunately, there is no longer a sponsor for this award, so there will not be a 2012 recipient but hopefully a sponsor will be secured for 2013. But there will be a future column before the end of the year recognizing the nice achievements of individuals and teams for the 2012 local golf year.

-- In case you haven’t heard by now, local first year pro Bhavik Patel finished equal 49th in the Final Stage Qualifying for the PGA Tour two weeks ago. Patel didn’t earn his PGA Tour card, but did secure exempt status to the Web.com Tour, the PGA Tour’s minor league and now avenue to the PGA Tour. A column in January will be devoted to Patel’s plans for 2013 but as of right now he plans on playing in the first three Web.com Tour events which are all out of the country in Chile’, Panama and Columbia. Once Patel starts his play on the Web.com Tour, Tee to Green will provide weekly updates.

-- Updated information (stats, etc.) on local players that are now competing in college golf (Men and Women) is always encouraged by Tee to Green as are golf related stories and information you believe that the readers would want to know about. Send the info to gautney@att.net.