Kooman Boycheff Memorial Tournament at Paradise Valley
6th Event and 1st Major of 2001 Season 
Saturday, April 7, 2001

The first major of the year took place in the midst of some crazy weather. A near-season-high 72 participants (Wente Vineyards had 74) braved weather that included light rain, hail, high winds, overcast skies and then (remarkably) calm, sunny weather. It was quite an impressive display. The golf was also somewhat impressive. Steve Desimone won low gross, shooting an even par 72. Mark Steppan, playing in spite of several recent construction-related injuries, gave Steve a run for his money through 12 holes of even-par golf. On the 13th hole, however, Mark boarded a bogey train, which he rode into the clubhouse. Ken Lloyd, last year's winner and clutch performer, wasn't able to maintain pace this year. Matching a personal best 78, Aaron Walburg won low net with a 63. Elliott Friedman took second in his flight to pull even with Mark Steppan in the GOY race. (By the way, this page has 66 pictures! A new record for a single tournament. It also includes pictures of 61 of the 72 participants.)

Right to left are Rollie Otto, Ken Lloyd, Mark Steppan and Steve Desimone. From the outset, this foursome was favored to harbor the low gross winner of the 2001 Kooman Boycheff Memorial. Between the two of them Ken and Steve won it 5 of the past 7 years. Mark Steppan who had been coming on strong of late was also a favorite. Mark had recently experienced a few injuries, and wasn't even sure he'd participate. He braved them and performed well in spite of them. Steve shot an even 72 and won by 4 strokes. Jim Peretti's 76 was the next best score.

Steve on the first tee. Steve first won the Kooman Boycheff Memorial 20 years ago, in 1981. This would be his 7th time.

Steve on #16 after a booming drive.

Mark on the first tee. Mark played 12 holes of even-par golf, but then ran into trouble on the last 1/3 of the course. Through the first 12 though, he was even with Steve. The nagging injuries probably became a factor in the later part of the round.

Mark on the 16th hole. The 14th hole had been the real turning point. Off the tee his ball plugged in a sand trap and the resulting double bogey left him 3 strokes behind Steve at that point.

Ken on the 16th hole. Ken was unable to successfully defend his title.

Rollie Otto on #16. Rollie was neck and neck with Steve on the first tee, but fell back soon after.

Jeff Hazel, Rory McDonough, Mark Northfield, and Gary Vollen prepare for battle. Jeff's 80(net 71) earned him 3rd place in the first flight.

Jeff on the first tee. 

Rory on #1.

Ken Alton and Jim Peretti. Jim's 76(net 69) earned him 1st place in the first flight. He also placed second in the low gross event.

Jeff Day warming up on the range.

Andrew Kang and Tom Furtado on the range.

On the 18th green are Andrew Kang, Dan Copenhagen, Tom Furtado and Pete Yozzo.

Pete Yozzo completes his round by holing this 7-footer.

Getting ready for the back 9 are Eddie Reed, John Scott, John Robertson, and Charlie Flowers. Charlie's 85(net 70) garnered him 3rd place in the third flight. John Robertson's 78 put him in a tie for third in the low gross event.

Eddie Reed hitting in on #1.

Eddie on #10.

John Robertson teeing off on #10.

Charlie Flowers putting on #1

Charlie placing one down the middle on #10.

John Scott hitting out of the greenside bunker on #12.

Mike O'Neill gauging his putt on #8. Mike played a very solid round(81, net 69), but was edged out of the money in the second flight by one stroke.

Mike staring after his approach at #10.

Dennis Smith hitting his approach shot at #10.

Mike Henry, Dennis Smith, and Mike O'Neill accessing the prospects on the difficult-to-drive18th hole. 

Dennis watching his drive on #18.

Mike Henry rescues a ball from a fairway bunker on #9. 

Mikes drive on #18.

Mike's approach on #18.

Aaron Walburg's drive on #7. Aaron shot a personal-best 78 and won the day's low net with 63. On the 7th tee, however, prospects weren't great. An O.B. on #5 and the resulting triple bogey added to a 5-over par start through 6 holes. A birdie here on #7 began an improbable run of 1-over-par golf through the final 12 holes. 

On the #18 green are Todd Fitchen, Mike Gainza, Bill Hoover, and Todd Adair. Todd Fitchen's 108(net 73) left him just one stroke shy of 5th flight money.

Mike Gainza finishing out on #18.

Todd Adair holes out this 3-footer on #18.

As we've stated before on this web site. Please don't feed the bears. Left to right in this troublesome pack are Lloyd Crenna, Don Wade, Yun Akinaga, and Jack King. Yun Akinaga's net 67 garnered him second place in the 3rd flight. Jack King's net 72 won him third in the 5th flight. Jack also won the CTP in his flight. This was Jack's second CTP for the year, which places him in a tie for second with John Robertson behind Steve Desimone, who leads with 3 CTPs.

Mark Holman, Edgar Johnson, Todd Kirby, and Barry Woods on the 18th green. Barry's 80(net 68) earned him 3rd place in the second flight. 

Barry missed this 8-footer on #18 which, had he made it, would have edged him into second place over rival second-flighter Ken Alton.

Todd Kirby shot an impressive 74 and won the Blind Bogey flight.

Ram Sharma hits out of a fairway bunker on #18. Ram's 95(net 66) earned him 1st place in the fifth flight.

Doris White hits her approach shot at #18.

Geraldine Lauro chipping onto the 18th green.

Martha Kimmich hitting a long iron on #18. Martha took 2nd place in the Blind Bogey flight.

Bob Sternbach trying out a strange new swing. Evidently it didn't work out too well, however,  at least it had some entertainment value for his fellow golfers. Bob's new swing involves freezing over the ball for several seconds in a mid-finishing stance, before descending into his back swing and then hitting the ball. If he can perfect this new swing Bob will rival Ram Sharma for "Most-Peculiar-Swing-in-the-Club".

Kelly Alvarez teeing off on #18. Kelly played his strongest ball in over 18 months, shooting an 86(net 64). His 40 on the front was particularly solid, for it put him on pace to shoot a net 58(tying a club record). However, Kelly suffered a minor collapse on the final three holes, each of which he double bogeyd. Even so, Kelly won the fourth flight with ease.

Don Davis watches his delicate chip on #17.

Jerry Powell giving it a good run on this long putt at #17. Jerry's 91(net 73) was one stroke shy of fourth-flight money.

Dale Steele on #17.

2000 Golfer-of-the-Year Scott Meredith on #17. His 88(net 71) left him one stroke shy of third-flight money.

Left to right are Elliott Friedman, Chris Maters, Randy Ballew, and Ed Biglin. Elliott Friedman's 88(net 69) garnered him 2nd place in the fourth flight behind flight winner Kelly Alvarez. Elliott gained 4 points on Mark Steppan in the GOY race, and now the two are tied for first with 23 points.

Randy Ballew observes his 50-footer on #17.

Chris Maters putting on #17.

Ed Biglin narrowly misses this 10-footer on #17.

Laura Kim, Sam Scalise, Errol Mauchlan, and Dave Chia on #17th. 

Dave Chia hitting out of trouble on #17.

Sam Scalise chipping onto #17.

Errol Mauchlan missing this touchy downhill putt on #17.

Glenda & Ted Goode, Fritz Stern, and Charles Upshaw on the 17th green. Charles Upshaw earned 3rd place in the Blind Bogey flight.

Charles hitting his approach at #17.

Glenda Goode chipping onto #17.

Ted Goode blasting out of a greenside bunker at#17.

Fritz Stern performs a chip-shot at #17.

In front of the club house, John Robertson pulls his ball from the 18th hole.

The winner's table. Winners at this table are Gregg Thornton, Paul Higaki, David Lee and Mary Pastore. Gregg and Mary each won their flight's CTP contests. Gregg's shot to 14'-2" won the third flight's CTP. Mary's shot to 14'-9" won the fourth flight's CTP. Paul's 88(net 70) earned him 3rd place in the fourth flight. David Lee's 98(net 70) gave him a 2nd place finish in the fifth flight.

Rollie Otto joins the beer brigade at the scorer's table. Ken and Steve maintaining order with mathematics and drinking.

Steve showing off his 2001 Kooman Boycheff Memorial Low Gross trophy. For this photo Steve wanted to kiss the trophy, but we thought it might be kind of un-cool. Steve lacks self-control when cameras are out and tends to really ham it up. He also tends to get all sentimental and teary-eyed. Soon after this shot we graciously put away our camera to give Steve a chance to compose himself.

Steve presenting Aaron with the 2001 Kooman Boycheff Memorial Low Net trophy. Steve was very impressed with Aaron's performance and attire.

Actually, that first picture was posed. The real Low Net Trophy had been missing for several years, but was mysteriously returned (mailed to Steve in package without return address) several weeks after the tournament. This picture was taken 3 months later using the real(and newly engraved) trophy.

Low Gross Results(top 24):

Low Net Results(top 24):

Flight Results:

Kooman Memorial Trophies:

1st Flight

2nd Flight

3rd Flight

4th Flight

5th Flight

Blind Bogey

 Tie-breaker for BB flight is low gross:

NC* - No contest (nobody hit green)

(Results tabulated by club manager Steve Desimone and club president Ken Lloyd)

Full Results:

 

	1st Flight	Hcp	Out	In	Grs	Net	Tie	Place
1	j.peretti	7	37	39	76	69	35.5	1st
2	s.desimone	2	35	37	72	70	36.0	2nd
3	j.hazel	9	39	41	80	71	36.5	3rd
4	k.lloyd	6	39	39	78	72	36.0
5	j.robertson	6	38	40	78	72	37.0
6	m.steppan	2	36	43	79	77	42.0
7	e.biglin	8	43	43	86	78	39.0
8	r.mcdonough	8	42	44	86	78	40.0
9	d.webb	6	45	40	85	79	37.0
10	c.maters	8	45	42	87	79	38.0
11	v.hall	6	43	46	89	83	43.0	ctp 6-3

 

	2nd Flight	Hcp	Out	In	Grs	Net	Tie	Place
1	r.hill	12	38	40	78	66	34.0	1st
2	k.alton	13	39	41	80	67	34.5	2nd
3	b.woods	12	39	41	80	68	35.0	3rd
4	m.oneill	12	41	40	81	69	34.0
5	d.lozow	10	38	41	79	69	36.0
6	m.armstrong	9	42	38	80	71	33.5
7	s.obana	9	39	43	82	73	38.5	ctp 3-5
8	r.ballew	12	40	48	88	76	42.0
9	t.adair	12	50	39	89	77	33.0
10	d.copenhagen	10	45	43	88	78	38.0
11	r.guevara	12	45	45	90	78	39.0
12	m.birnbach	13	40	51	91	78	44.5
13	m.holman	13	43	50	93	80	43.5

 

	3rd Flight	Hcp	Out	In	Grs	Net	Tie	Place
1	a.walburg	15	39	39	78	63	31.5	1st
2	y.akinaga	17	41	43	84	67	34.5	2nd
3	c.flowers	15	43	42	85	70	34.5	3rd
4	s.meredith	17	44	44	88	71	35.5
5	e.reed	14	40	47	87	73	40.0
6	g.thornton	14	45	43	88	74	36.0	ctp 14-2
7	e.johnson	14	46	45	91	77	38.0
8	m.northfield	14	41	50	91	77	43.0
9	r.otto	16	42	51	93	77	43.0
10	m.henry	15	42	52	94	79	44.5
11	j.day	17	49	48	97	80	39.5
12	m.kitchener	15	46	52	98	83	44.5
13	a.kang	16	46	57	103	87	49.0
14	d.chia	14	DQ	45		DQ	38.0

 

	4th Flight	Hcp	Out	In	Grs	Net	Tie	Place
1	k.alvarez	22	40	46	86	64	35.0	1st
2	e.friedman	19	44	44	88	69	34.5	2nd
3	p.higaki	18	43	45	88	70	36.0	3rd
4	m.pastore	20	47	45	92	72	35.0	ctp 14-9
5	r.greenwood	19	45	46	91	72	36.5
6	t.goode	20	42	50	92	72	40.0
7	j.powell	18	47	44	91	73	35.0
8	s.scalise	18	47	44	91	73	35.0
9	d.smith	19	46	47	93	74	37.5
10	g.lauro	20	43	51	94	74	41.0
11	l.crenna	22	47	52	99	77	41.0
12	d.wade	19	50	48	98	79	38.5
13	f.stern	22	54	55	109	87	44.0

 

	5th Flight	Hcp	Out	In	Grs	Net	Tie	Place
1	r.sharma	29	45	50	95	66	35.5	1st
2	d.lee	28	50	48	98	70	34.0	2nd
3	j.king	26	51	47	98	72	34.0	3rd, ctp11-7
4	t.fitchen	35	53	55	108	73	37.5
5	l.kim	36	52	57	109	73	39.0
6	g.vollen	25	46	52	98	73	39.5
7	d.steele	32	53	53	106	74	37.0
8	b.hoover	25	49	51	100	75	38.5
9	t.furtado	25	47	54	101	76	41.5
10	d.white	35	57	55	112	77	37.5
11	b.sternbach	25	51	52	103	78	39.5
12	e.mauchlan	32	58	55	113	81	39.0
13	g.goode	44	59	70	129	85	48.0

 

	BB Flight	Hcp	Out	In	Grs	Net	Tie	Place
1	t.kirby	4	39	35	74	70	33.0	1st
2	c.upshaw	28	47	53	100	72	39.0	3rd
3	m.kimmich	22	43	51	94	72	40.0	2nd
4	p.yozzo	16	46	46	92	76	38.0
5	j.scott	14	41	49	90	76	42.0
6	m.gainza	14	46	46	92	78	39.0
7	don.davis	18	48	51	99	81	42.0
8	t.podoll	12	44	52	96	84	46.0

Gross Scores:

 

	Member	Hcp	Out	In	Grs	Net
1st	s.desimone	2	35	37	72	70
2nd	t.kirby	4	39	35	74	70
3rd	j.peretti	7	37	39	76	69
4th	r.hill	12	38	40	78	66
	k.lloyd	6	39	39	78	72
	j.robertson	6	38	40	78	72
	a.walburg	15	39	39	78	63
8th	d.lozow	10	38	41	79	69
	m.steppan	2	36	43	79	77
10th	k.alton	13	39	41	80	67
	m.armstrong	9	42	38	80	71
	j.hazel	9	39	41	80	71
	b.woods	12	39	41	80	68
14th	m.oneill	12	41	40	81	69
15th	s.obana	9	39	43	82	73
16th	y.akinaga	17	41	43	84	67
17th	c.flowers	15	43	42	85	70
	d.webb	6	45	40	85	79
19th	k.alvarez	22	40	46	86	64
	e.biglin	8	43	43	86	78
	r.mcdonough	8	42	44	86	78
22nd	c.maters	8	45	42	87	79
	e.reed	14	40	47	87	73
24th	r.ballew	12	40	48	88	76
	d.copenhagen	10	45	43	88	78
	e.friedman	19	44	44	88	69
	p.higaki	18	43	45	88	70
	s.meredith	17	44	44	88	71
	g.thornton	14	45	43	88	74
30th	t.adair	12	50	39	89	77
	v.hall	6	43	46	89	83
32nd	r.guevara	12	45	45	90	78
	john.scott	14	41	49	90	76
34th	m.birnbach	13	40	51	91	78
	r.greenwood	19	45	46	91	72
	e.johnson	14	46	45	91	77
	m.northfield	14	41	50	91	77
	j.powell	18	47	44	91	73
	s.scalise	18	47	44	91	73
40th	m.gainza	14	46	46	92	78
	t.goode	20	42	50	92	72
	m.pastore	20	47	45	92	72
	p.yozzo	16	46	46	92	76
44th	m.holman	13	43	50	93	80
	r.otto	16	42	51	93	77
	d.smith	19	46	47	93	74
47th	m.henry	15	42	52	94	79
	m.kimmich	22	43	51	94	72
	g.lauro	20	43	51	94	74
50th	r.sharma	29	45	50	95	66
51st	t.podoll	12	44	52	96	84
52nd	j.day	17	49	48	97	80
53rd	j.king	26	51	47	98	72
	m.kitchener	15	46	52	98	83
	d.lee	28	50	48	98	70